Quality or quantity? Exploring the relationship between Public Open Space attributes and mental health in Perth, Western Australia

Francis, Jacinta; Wood, Lisa; Knuiman, Matthew; Giles-Corti, Billie

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.01.032

Cited by 316 publications

(199 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…The first one focused on preferences for investing in the quantity or quality of their city's public green spaces. In all three cities, respondents show a preference for investing in the quality of public green spaces (range by city, 62-67%), which seems to echo the criticisms that have been expressed in recent years against an emphasis on the provision of green space quantities and a reorientation of urban planning priorities towards urban green space quality [47][48][49][50]. The second question focused on preferences for investments in small public green spaces or in a large public park.…”

Section: Global Perceptions and Desires For Public Urban Green Spacesmentioning

confidence: 83%

Preferences for Urban Green Space Characteristics: A Comparative Study in Three Portuguese Cities

et al. 2018

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Many studies have argued that a better understanding of people's preferences about public urban green spaces may inform urban planners to effectively provide and manage urban green spaces to meet users' needs. The aim of this study is to examine urban residents preferred public green space characteristics and investigate whether similarities and differences can be highlighted in three different Portuguese cities. Through a web-based questionnaire based on the best-worst scaling (BWS) method, residents of Lisbon, Porto and Évora (n = 750) were asked to select the most and least important public green space characteristic among thirteen attributes. The results suggest a consensus about some green space characteristics across cities but also the existence of some local variations in city residents' preferences. Overall, this study can support public authorities and urban planners as they strive to effectively design and manage urban green spaces to meet users' needs.

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Section: Global Perceptions and Desires For Public Urban Green Spacesmentioning

confidence: 83%

Preferences for Urban Green Space Characteristics: A Comparative Study in Three Portuguese Cities

et al. 2018

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“…A third found that social cohesion mediated relationships between quantity and quality of streetscape greenery and both overall health and mental health (25). In contrast, Francis et al (39) found neither sense of community nor social support to be an important mediator of the relationship between the quality of public open space and mental health. No studies were identified on mediation by aggressive behavior, fear of crime, and/or crime rates.…”

Section: Social Cohesionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Nature and Health

Hartig

Mitchell

Vries

et al. 2014

Annu. Rev. Public Health

2,616

1,803

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Urbanization, resource exploitation, and lifestyle changes have diminished possibilities for human contact with nature in many societies. Concern about the loss has helped motivate research on the health benefits of contact with nature. Reviewing that research here, we focus on nature as represented by aspects of the physical environment relevant to planning, design, and policy measures that serve broad segments of urbanized societies. We discuss difficulties in defining "nature" and reasons for the current expansion of the research field, and we assess available reviews. We then consider research on pathways between nature and health involving air quality, physical activity, social cohesion, and stress reduction. Finally, we discuss methodological issues and priorities for future research. The extant research does describe an array of benefits of contact with nature, and evidence regarding some benefits is strong; however, some findings indicate caution is needed in applying beliefs about those benefits, and substantial gaps in knowledge remain.

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“…10,13 Safe and attractive cities with access to high quality public open space also benefit health by encouraging recreational physical activity 14 and promoting mental health. 15,16 Despite this combination of benefits from creating physical activityfriendly cities, 13 there remains a gap between research, and policy and practice. Sprawling low-density communities with poor access to shops, services, and public transport continue to be built around major cities worldwide.…”

Section: The Case For Urban Design That Facilitates Active Transportamentioning

confidence: 99%

Translating active living research into policy and practice: One important pathway to chronic disease prevention

Giles-Corti

Sallis

Sugiyama

et al. 2015

J Public Health Pol

Self Cite

141

105

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Global concerns about rising levels of chronic disease make timely translation of research into policy and practice a priority. There is a need to tackle common risk factors: tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and harmful alcohol use. Using evidence to inform policy and practice is challenging, often hampered by a poor fit between academic research and the needs of policymakers and practitioners -notably for active living researchers whose objective is to increase population physical activity by changing the ways cities are designed and built. We propose 10 strategies that may facilitate translation of research into health-enhancing urban planning policy. Strategies include interdisciplinary research teams of policymakers and practitioners; undertaking explicitly policy-relevant research; adopting appropriate study designs and methodologies (evaluation of policy initiatives as 'natural experiments'); and adopting dissemination strategies that include knowledge brokers, advocates, and lobbyists. Conducting more policy-relevant research will require training for researchers as well as different rewards in academia.

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Quality or quantity? Exploring the relationship between Public Open Space attributes and mental health in Perth, Western Australia

Cited by 316 publications

References 65 publications

Preferences for Urban Green Space Characteristics: A Comparative Study in Three Portuguese Cities

Preferences for Urban Green Space Characteristics: A Comparative Study in Three Portuguese Cities

Nature and Health

Translating active living research into policy and practice: One important pathway to chronic disease prevention

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