Social Inequalities in Environmental Resources of Green and Blue Spaces: A Review of Evidence in the WHO European Region

Abstract

Residential green and blue spaces and their potential health benefits have received increasing attention in the context of environmental health inequalities, because an unequal social distribution of these resources may contribute to inequalities in health outcomes. This systematic review synthesised evidence of environmental inequalities, focusing on availability and accessibility measures of green and blue spaces. Studies in the World Health Organisation (WHO) European Region published between 2010 and 2017 were considered for the review. In total, 14 studies were identified, where most of them (n = 12) analysed inequalities of green spaces. The majority had an ecological study design that mostly applied deprivation indices on the small area level, whereas cross-sectional studies on the individual level mostly applied single social measures. Ecological studies consistently showed that deprived areas had lower green space availability than more affluent areas, whereas mixed associations were found for single social dimensions in cross-sectional studies on the individual level. In order to gain more insights into how various social dimensions are linked to the distribution of environmental resources within the WHO European Region, more studies are needed that apply comparable methods and study designs for analysing social inequalities in environmental resources.

Urban Green Space: Creating a Triple Win for Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Health Equity through Behavior Change

“…Ecological studies consistently show that deprived areas have lower green space availability than more affluent areas. However, associations in cross-sectional studies on the individual level were mixed and dependent on the type of socio-economic indicator and the green space measures applied [77]. Despite having greater access to public green space, those with higher educational attainment complained more often about lack of access to recreational or green areas than those with lower levels of education [75].…”

Environmental Justice in The Netherlands: Presence and Quality of Greenspace Differ by Socioeconomic Status of Neighbourhoods

“…They found that the higher-income groups within this region generally had better access to environmental amenities, especially to public greenspace, while the lower-income groups lived in places with somewhat lesser environmental quality. More recently, Schüle and others concluded that this was also the case in several other European countries [26]. However, high-income groups do not always have more greenspace nearby.…”

Social Inequalities in Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution: A Systematic Review in the WHO European Region

“…In conformity with the other two systematic reviews on environmental inequalities [19,23] we defined in this review a descriptive analysis as a provision of quantitative resource measures across social dimensions in a cross table without performing a statistical test. We compared the highest to the lowest social group in order to assess if environmental inequalities exist or not.…”