Vitamin G: effects of green space on health, well-being, and social safety

Groenewegen, Peter; Berg, A.E. van den; Vries, S. de; Verheij, Robert

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-6-149

Cited by 384 publications

(253 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…126 It will also be important that future studies include small, medium, and large urban areas in both developed and less-developed countries. The types of urban green space that would benefit a large city in a developed country may be different than in a medium-sized city in a less-developed country.…”

Section: Interdisciplinary and Cross-sector Collaboration For Policy-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

2015

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Place-based programs are being noticed as key opportunities to prevent disease and promote public health and safety for populations at-large. As one key type of place-based intervention, nature-based and green space strategies can play an especially large role in improving health and safety for dwellers in urban environments such as US legacy cities that lack nature and greenery. In this paper, we describe the current understanding of place-based influences on public health and safety. We focus on nonchemical environmental factors, many of which are related to urban abandonment and blight. We then review findings from studies of nature-based interventions regarding impacts on health, perceptions of safety, and crime. Based on our findings, we suggest that further research in this area will require (1) refined measures of green space, nature, and health and safety for cities, (2) interdisciplinary science and cross-sector policy collaboration, (3) observational studies as well as randomized controlled experiments and natural experiments using appropriate spatial counterfactuals and mixed methods, and (4) return-on-investment calculations of potential economic, social, and health costs and benefits of urban greening initiatives. KEYWORDS Urban nature, Green space, Place-based interventions, Public health, CrimeThere is growing support of place-based programs to help prevent disease and promote public health and safety. [1][2][3][4][5] This movement is largely motivated by increasing findings that public health interventions targeted at individuals or behaviors have limited effect on health and safety outcomes at a population scale. 6 For example, educational programs that promote behavioral change among very specific, targeted population groups may not impact broader societal issues such as the actual contexts within which unhealthy behaviors like tobacco use, lack of exercise, poor diet, distracted driving, and violence occur. 7-9 Moreover, programmatic impact is rarely sustained beyond the small study populations that are targeted. When funding ends, program impact thus also often ends unless, in very rare instances, the program itself somehow becomes institutionalized or part of a larger social norm.Place-based programs rest on increasing evidence that in addition to biological and individual attributes, everyday environments have a potentially strong and Kondo is with the USDA-Forest Service, Northern Research Station,

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Section: Interdisciplinary and Cross-sector Collaboration For Policy-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

2015

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“…This loss of green spaces has important effects on health and well-being, in part, through their role in providing places for moderate to vigorous physical activity. 19 Increasing the speed of traffic encourages more driving. When people drive more, this impacts negatively on the health of all road users, including car occupants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speed Kills: The Complex Links Between Transport, Lack of Time and Urban Health

Tranter

2010

J Urban Health

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Road safety experts understand the contribution of speed to the severity and frequency of road crashes. Yet, the impact of speed on health is far more subtle and pervasive than simply its effect on road safety. The emphasis in urban areas on increasing the speed and volume of car traffic contributes to ill-health through its impacts on local air pollution, greenhouse gas production, inactivity, obesity and social isolation. In addition to these impacts, a heavy reliance on cars as a supposedly 'fast' mode of transport consumes more time and money than a reliance on supposedly slower modes of transport (walking, cycling and public transport). Lack of time is a major reason why people do not engage in healthy behaviours. Using the concept of 'effective speed', this paper demonstrates that any attempt to 'save time' through increasing the speed of motorists is ultimately futile. Paradoxically, if planners wish to provide urban residents with more time for healthy behaviours (such as exercise and preparing healthy food), then, support for the 'slower' active modes of transport should be encouraged. INTRODUCTIONDecreasing the speed of urban transport can have positive impacts on the economy, the environment and health. This paper outlines the main themes of existing research on these impacts and then explores the possibility that there is a more subtle, but no less important, link between speed and health. The paper argues that speed has a cost that can be measured in money and in time. This can produce a paradox whereby 'faster' modes of transport lead to a loss of time. Lack of time, or time pressure, has been identified as an important factor in urban health, due to its negative impact on mental health but also due to its impact on the ability or willingness of people to engage in physical exercise or to avoid fast (junk) food.The arguments about the health impacts of speed apply most clearly to the use of private motor vehicles, and this paper focuses on the health impacts of increasing the speed of cars. However, some of the arguments are also relevant to other highspeed modes. For example, high-speed trains can encourage urban sprawl, the complex negative health impacts of which are outlined below.Tranter is with the School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, UNSW@ADFA, Canberra, ACT, Australia.Correspondence: Paul Joseph Tranter, PhD, School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, UNSW@ADFA, Canberra, ACT, Australia. (E-mail: paul.tranter@adfa.edu.au) EXISTING UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE LINKS BETWEEN SPEED AND HEALTHSpeed is most commonly seen as a health issue in relation to road crashes. There are several other ways in which the speed of motorised traffic is linked to factors that have clear negative health impacts. Increasing the speed of motorised traffic increases levels of pollution. 1 High car speeds can affect levels of physical activity through reductions in active transport, including children's independent mobility. Local social interactions are disrupted by high...

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“…Na vertente que nos interessa aqui, estão em causa três elementos centrais e interligados, em que a articulação transporte/ planeamento urbano poderá ter efeitos significativos: a redução da emissão de poluentes e de gases de efeito estufa, que requer uma redução das distâncias percorridas e/ ou transferências modais (Aguilera e Mignot, 2010; Newman e Kenworthy, 2000; Ewing e Cervero, 2010); a qualidade de vida local, que geralmente é tratada como um aspecto ambiental, eventualmente social mas não distribucional, incluindo aspectos como o ruído e outros geradores de incómodos, bem como a saúde (Groenewegen et al, 2006;Santana, Santos e Nogueira, 2009); o consumo de solos, considerado elevado e caracterizado, para além dos números (total de áreas artificializadas), pela fragmentação dos espaços periurbanos (La Greca et al, 2011;Arrington e Parker, 2001).…”

Section: Progresso Social Generalizado Capitalização Económica E Salunclassified

Conciliar os transportes e o ordenamento urbano: avanços recentes e aplicabilidade em áreas metropolitanas portuguesas

Padeiro¹

2012

CCT

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Transit-oriented planning has been one of the most popularized methods of public intervention during the last decades. Its main goal consists of hampering urban sprawl, which is generally considered excessive. In this paper 2 , a literature review is made on transit oriented planning, and some lines of thought are outlined about its conditions of applicability in Portugal. First, the diversity of its definitions is highlighted, as well as the implementation challenges (1). Second, the relationship between transit-oriented planning and the economic/environmental/social dimensions is analyzed (2). Finally, the Portuguese case is questioned, suggesting the need for an evolution of the public action tools in urban planning and transport decisions (3).Keywords: Transports; Urban Planning; Transit-oriented Development; Land Use; Mobility. IntroduçãoA articulação entre os sistemas de transporte e o planeamento urbano tem vindo nas últimas décadas a ganhar protagonismo na retórica urbanística e na literatura científica. Não sendo uma problemática nova, tem sido no entanto fortemente mobilizada num contexto de forte expansão urbana facilitada pela generalização do uso do automóvel e pelo investimento que constantemente privilegiou as redes viárias, inclusive nos países da Europa ocidental com longa tradição em matéria de transportes públicos (Figueira de Sousa e Nunes da Silva, 2005; Larroque, Margairaz e Zembri, 2002;Hart, 1993). Aproximar os territórios habitados e as redes continua a ser visto como um meio de garantir uma maior rentabilidade e uma diminuição dos riscos financeiros do sector dos transportes colectivos estruturalmente deficitários, bem como de limitar o crescimento das manchas urbanas geralmente considerado excessivo por várias razões de ordem ambiental, económica, estética e social.Os transportes constituem um elemento central do funcionamento das cidades (Rodrigue, Comtois e Slack, 2009), e o seu papel tem acompanhado os avanços teóricos da economia espacial e da geografia urbana. De facto, a sua relação com o espaço encontra-se no ponto de convergência de todos os modelos explicativos da localização urbana, desde Von Thünen até à Nova Economia Geográfica (Krugman, 1991a), pela vantagem diferencial que constitui uma localização próxima da rede, e pela concorrência que logicamente se produz à sua volta. O tamanho das cidades tem estado sempre subordonado aos limites dados aos (e pelos) meios de 1 jmpadeiro@campus.ul.pt. 2 Este texto insere-se no âmbito de um projecto de investigação financiado pela FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), "Instrumentos de planeamento e integração transporte-ordenamento: contributo para a análise da implementação e dos efeitos de políticas integradas", no âmbito de uma bolsa de pós-doutoramento (SFRH/BPD/75833/2011).

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Vitamin G: effects of green space on health, well-being, and social safety

Cited by 384 publications

References 30 publications

Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

Speed Kills: The Complex Links Between Transport, Lack of Time and Urban Health

Conciliar os transportes e o ordenamento urbano: avanços recentes e aplicabilidade em áreas metropolitanas portuguesas

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