New urban models for more sustainable, liveable and healthier cities post covid19; reducing air pollution, noise and heat island effects and increasing green space and physical activity

The positive effects of Green Spaces on health are thought to be achieved through the mechanisms of mitigation, instoration and restoration. One of the benefits of Green Spaces may be the restoration of attention and so the objective of this research is testing empirically whether exposure to a green environment improves attention in school children. For so doing, we first used a split-unit statistical design in each of four schools, then combined the primary results via meta-analysis. The Attention Network Test (ANT) was used to measure attention before and after exposure and a total of 167 seven-year-old students participated in the experiments. Overall, our experimental results do not support the hypothesis that students’ exposure to activities in green vs. grey spaces affected their performance in ANT. This was so despite the fact that neither age nor gender biases have been detected and despite that our experiments have been proved to be sufficiently statistically powerful. It would be advisable to consider air pollution and noise. We also recommend that participants attend the experiment with mental exhaustion to maximize the ability to detect significant changes.

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Green space, air pollution, traffic noise and cardiometabolic health in adolescents: The PIAMA birth cohort

Environment International ◽

10.1016/j.envint.2019.104991 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 131 ◽

pp. 104991 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Lizan D. Bloemsma ◽

Ulrike Gehring ◽

Jochem O. Klompmaker ◽

Gerard Hoek ◽

Nicole A.H. Janssen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Birth Cohort ◽

Green Space ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Cardiometabolic Health

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Urbanization and greenness in HBSC survey: association with overweight and obesity in adolescents

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.712 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

V Bellisario ◽

R Bono ◽

G Squillacioti ◽

M Caputo ◽

I Gintoli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Population Density ◽

Weight Status ◽

Overweight And Obesity ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Children Health ◽

Public Health Strategies

Abstract Background Childhood obesity is an important public health issue worldwide and includes different risk factors, such as environmental pollutants exposure or physical activity. Neighborhood composition and green spaces availability could contrast obesogenic lifestyles and promote healthy habits, whereas, urbanization and traffic volume exposure are inversely associated with physical activity and worsen effects on childhood health. Methods This project analyzed students involved in the HBSC survey from the Piedmont Region. Data were collected in 2018, following the protocol. All the subjects were georeferenced within buffers around schools. Green-spaces availability was measured by Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI-satellite images) while urbanization was calculated by population density, traffic intensity (satellite measurements) and air pollution concentration (sampling stations). Results Overall, the sample included 3022 subjects, with amount 50% male/female and 30% for each age group (11-13-15 years old). Concerning weight status, above 14% of the all sample is obese or overweight, with, respectively, 20% among boys and 11% among girls. Preliminary analyses showed an association between weight status and population density (rural vs urbanized areas). Currently, we are analyzing the association with greenness and the other measures of urbanization. Conclusions Our preliminary findings suggest that high urbanization levels impact health implementing weight in children. We are testing the hypothesis that greenness positively influences weight status and reduce negative effects of urbanization and air pollution. The managing of these risk factors must be deepened and corroborated by active preventive Public Health strategies for improving children health. Key messages Urbanization and greenness may influence weight status in children. Public Health strategies must be improved for children health.

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Association between Green Space Structure and the Prevalence of Asthma: A Case Study of Toronto

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18115852 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (11) ◽

pp. 5852

Author(s):

Yuping Dong ◽

Helin Liu ◽

Tianming Zheng

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Green Space ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Chronic Inflammatory Disease ◽

Space Structure ◽

Tree Diversity ◽

Underlying Mechanisms ◽

Index Tree

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that can be caused by various factors, such as asthma-related genes, lifestyle, and air pollution, and it can result in adverse impacts on asthmatics’ mental health and quality of life. Hence, asthma issues have been widely studied, mainly from demographic, socioeconomic, and genetic perspectives. Although it is becoming increasingly clear that asthma is likely influenced by green spaces, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear and inconsistent. Moreover, green space influences the prevalence of asthma concurrently in multiple ways, but most existing studies have explored only one pathway or a partial pathway, rather than the multi-pathways. Compared to greenness (measured by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, tree density, etc.), green space structure—which has the potential to impact the concentration of air pollution and microbial diversity—is still less investigated in studies on the influence of green space on asthma. Given this research gap, this research took Toronto, Canada, as a case study to explore the two pathways between green space structure and the prevalence of asthma based on controlling the related covariates. Using regression analysis, it was found that green space structure can protect those aged 0–19 years from a high risk of developing asthma, and this direct protective effect can be enhanced by high tree diversity. For adults, green space structure does not influence the prevalence of asthma unless moderated by tree diversity (a measurement of the richness and diversity of trees). However, this impact was not found in adult females. Moreover, the hypothesis that green space structure influences the prevalence of asthma by reducing air pollution was not confirmed in this study, which can be attributed to a variety of causes.

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Health Impacts of Urban Bicycling in Mexico

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18052300 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 2300

Author(s):

David Rojas-Rueda

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Health Risks ◽

Health Benefits ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Traffic Fatalities ◽

Premature Deaths ◽

Air Pollution Exposure ◽

Pollution Exposure

Background: Bicycling has been associated with health benefits. Local and national authorities have been promoting bicycling as a tool to improve public health and the environment. Mexico is one of the largest Latin American countries, with high levels of sedentarism and non-communicable diseases. No previous studies have estimated the health impacts of Mexico’s national bicycling scenarios. Aim: Quantify the health impacts of Mexico urban bicycling scenarios. Methodology: Quantitative Health Impact Assessment, estimating health risks and benefits of bicycling scenarios in 51,718,756 adult urban inhabitants in Mexico (between 20 and 64 years old). Five bike scenarios were created based on current bike trends in Mexico. The number of premature deaths (increased or reduced) was estimated in relation to physical activity, road traffic fatalities, and air pollution. Input data were collected from national publicly available data sources from transport, environment, health and population reports, and surveys, in addition to scientific literature. Results: We estimated that nine premature deaths are prevented each year among urban populations in Mexico on the current car-bike substitution and trip levels (1% of bike trips), with an annual health economic benefit of US $1,897,920. If Mexico achieves similar trip levels to those reported in The Netherlands (27% of bike trips), 217 premature deaths could be saved annually, with an economic impact of US $45,760,960. In all bicycling scenarios assessed in Mexico, physical activity’s health benefits outweighed the health risks related to traffic fatalities and air pollution exposure. Conclusion: The study found that bicycling promotion in Mexico would provide important health benefits. The benefits of physical activity outweigh the risk from traffic fatalities and air pollution exposure in bicyclists. At the national level, Mexico could consider using sustainable transport policies as a tool to promote public health. Specifically, the support of active transportation through bicycling and urban design improvements could encourage physical activity and its health co-benefits.

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Assessing Inequitable Urban Heat Islands and Air Pollution Disparities with Low-Cost Sensors in Richmond, Virginia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su122310089 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (23) ◽

pp. 10089

Author(s):

Andre M. Eanes ◽

Todd R. Lookingbill ◽

Jeremy S. Hoffman ◽

Kelly C. Saverino ◽

Stephen S. Fong

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Low Income ◽

Green Space ◽

Low Cost ◽

Early Morning ◽

Urban Heat Islands ◽

Urban Heat ◽

Adverse Environmental Conditions ◽

East End ◽

The City

Air pollution and the urban heat island effect are consistently linked to numerous respiratory and heat-related illnesses. Additionally, these stressors disproportionately impact low-income and historically marginalized communities due to their proximity to emissions sources, lack of access to green space, and exposure to other adverse environmental conditions. Here, we use relatively low-cost stationary sensors to analyze PM2.5 and temperature data throughout the city of Richmond, Virginia, on the ten hottest days of 2019. For both hourly means within the ten hottest days of 2019 and daily means for the entire record for the year, the temperature was found to exhibit a positive correlation with PM2.5. Analysis of hourly means on the ten hottest days yielded a diurnal pattern in which PM2.5 levels peaked in the early morning and reached their minima in the mid-afternoon. Spatially, sites exhibiting higher temperatures consistently had higher PM2.5 readings, with vulnerable communities in the east end and more intensely developed parts of the city experiencing significantly higher temperatures and PM2.5 concentrations than the suburban neighborhoods in the west end. These findings suggest an uneven distribution of air pollution in Richmond during extreme heat events that are similar in pattern but less pronounced than the temperature differences during these events, although further investigation is required to verify the extent of this relationship. As other studies have found both of these environmental stressors to correlate with the distribution of green space and other land-use factors in cities, innovative and sustainable planning decisions are crucial to the mitigation of these issues of inequity going forward.

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Outdoor air pollution, green space, and cancer incidence in Saxony: a semi-individual cohort study

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-018-5615-2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Thomas Datzmann ◽

Iana Markevych ◽

Freya Trautmann ◽

Joachim Heinrich ◽

Jochen Schmitt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Cohort Study ◽

Cancer Incidence ◽

Green Space ◽

Outdoor Air ◽

Outdoor Air Pollution

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Green Roof as a Green Material of Building in Mitigating Heat Island Effect in Taipei City

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.193-194.368 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 193-194 ◽

pp. 368-371 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Chen Yi Sun ◽

Yi Jiung Lin ◽

Wen Pei Sung ◽

Wen Sheng Ou ◽

Kang Ming Lu

Keyword(s):

Green Space ◽

Thermal Environment ◽

Green Roof ◽

Office Building ◽

Heat Island ◽

Environmental Benefit ◽

Island Effect ◽

Taipei City ◽

Thermal Influence ◽

Maximum Cool

A large amount of research has been published in Taiwan on the reduction of the urban temperature for different strategies. The most important strategy for reducing ambient temperature is increasing green space in city. For analyzing the effect of the vegetation on the thermal environment, this paper collects temperature data from one green roof and one normal roof which are belong to a same office building to analyze the thermal influence of vegetation. The result of this research shows that in summer the maximum cool effect of green roof was -1.60 oC and -0.26 oC in average. Therefore, it can also provide useful data to governments for calculating the environmental benefit if they carry out a green roof policy in mitigating heat island effect in the future.

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