scholarly journals Green Exercise: How Are Characteristics of Urban Green Spaces Associated with Adolescents’ Physical Activity and Health?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 4281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Akpınar
Keyword(s):  
General Health ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Green Exercise ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Soccer Fields ◽  
Negative Relationships

This study investigates associations between characteristics of urban green spaces (UGSs) and adolescents’ self-reported green exercise (GE), general health, and body mass index (BMI). Data were collected through face-to-face personal interviews with 384 adolescents ages 13–19 between 1 March and 31 May, 2018 in UGSs in Aydın, Turkey. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine associations controlling for confounding factors. Stratified analyses were also conducted to determine differences between boys and girls. Positive associations with the duration of GE included many trees, lawns, soccer fields and basketball courts, play equipment, and self-reported general health. Whereas increased BMI was associated with increased benches/ seating, lawns and exercise trails were positively associated with self-reported general health. Negative relationships with increased BMI included many trees, open areas, and outdoor fitness equipment. Increased distance from UGSs was negatively associated with the frequency of GE. In stratified analyses, positive associations between boys’ duration of GE and self-reported general health were found. Whereas soccer fields and basketball courts were associated with girls’ frequency of GE, exercise trails and play equipment were correlated with girls’ self-reported general health. Negative associations with the boys’ frequency of GE included increased BMI and screen time. Whereas increased distance from UGSs was negatively associated with girls’ frequency of GE, many trees, lawns, exercise trails, play equipment, open areas, flowerbeds, and outdoor fitness equipment were negatively correlated with girls’ increased BMI. Findings suggest that adolescents’ GE and health could be promoted with many trees, lawns, flowerbeds, open areas, play and outdoor fitness equipment, exercise trails, and soccer fields and basketball courts. Findings of this study should be tested with longitudinal or intervention studies in future research.

scholarly journals The Socioeconomic Welfare of Urban Green Areas and Parks; A Literature Review of Available Evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7863
Author(s):  
Antonios Kolimenakis ◽  
Alexandra D. Solomou ◽  
Nikolaos Proutsos ◽  
Evangelia V. Avramidou ◽  
Evangelia Korakaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Exclusion Criteria ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Urban Green Areas ◽  
Green Areas

Urban green areas present a lucid example for the harmonious co-existence of the artificial and natural environments best illustrated by their interdependence and interconnection in urban spaces. Urban green areas are essential for the health and wellbeing of citizens. The present study aimed to investigate those multiple benefits for citizens that arise through the existence of urban green areas, as well as important policy dimensions that should be considered when designing the expansion of urban green spaces in urban development. The study was based on a literature review to examine for available evidence on the benefit levels derived by the existence of urban green areas. An extended literature review was followed by a structured review, based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, which partly followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The search was conducted in two databases, and a total of 1674 articles and abstracts were identified through the database searches. After removing 114 duplicates, 1560 records were initially screened based on title and abstract. Following inclusion and exclusion criteria, 14 articles were incorporated in the structured review and a total of 47 in the extended review. The extended literature review identified 33 additional articles examining aspects of benefits that did not fall under the pre-established inclusion and exclusion criteria used in the structured review, such as health benefits and other social parameters associated with urban green spaces. The selected studies were allocated in five principal groups according to study types: three of the them consisted of studies employing “willingness to pay” (WTP) methods, five were based on property values, two studies assigned monetary values, while another two assigned CO2 values, and, finally, two studies were based on qualitative criteria. The results indicated benefits to citizens and increased welfare levels gained by the existence of urban green areas. The conducted review revealed a number of findings and recommendations that could direct future research and urban policy. Those hints could assist local authorities as well as stakeholders in order to measure and assess the benefits of green spaces and urban parks and promote measures and programs to assist their further deployment.

Urban Green Spaces for Sustainable Community Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 271-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
José G. Vargas-Hernández ◽  
Karina Pallagst ◽  
Justyna Anna Zdunek-Wielgołaska
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Management Innovation ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces

This chapter aims to analyze the strategic management innovation in sustainable management of urban green spaces for neighborhood and community development. The report is intended to review the available theoretical and empirical literature on urban green spaces in the main related topics of community and neighborhood development, sustainable management, and strategic management innovation. The research methods employed are the analytical from a functionalist approach moving later into the critical analysis and finally from a holistic or integrative point of view. Finally, this chapter adopts a provocative and prescriptive strategic management approach of urban green spaces by presenting some research gaps and suggesting future research.

scholarly journals Relationship between Urban Green Spaces and Cancer: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1751
Author(s):  
Marion Porcherie ◽  
Nyan Linn ◽  
Anne Roué Le Gall ◽  
Marie-Florence Thomas ◽  
Emmanuelle Faure ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Green Spaces ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Qualitative Synthesis ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Indirect Measures ◽  
Scoping Reviews

This scoping study aims to explore the relationships between urban green spaces (UGSs) and the onset, remission and recovery of cancer. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews (protocol published in 2018). Eligibility criteria for papers were: (1) to be concerned with UGSs, (2) reporting effects of UGSs on cancer-related outcomes including direct or indirect measures, (3) reporting randomized controlled trials, prospective cohort studies, case studies, observational studies, non-comparative studies, (4) in English or French. The search covered primary studies in the published and unpublished (grey) literatures searching by hand and electronic databases (MEDLINE, Green File, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and ScienceDirect). Among 1703 records screened by two reviewers independently, 29 were included for qualitative synthesis. We classify the cancers concerned and the effects reported i.e., protective effect, risk or without association. The most investigated cancers are bladder, breast and lung cancer. Our study also identified contributing factors and their mediating effects between UGSs and cancer. Even though the strength of the evidence of the associations between UGSs and cancer is still weak due to the low number of studies and their design, results highlight the wide variety of possible mediating factors between the use of green spaces and cancer occurrence, remission and/or prevention. Knowledge gaps and future research perspectives should be oriented to qualitative research on protective factors with an attention to equity in UGS access and use.

scholarly journals Mapping Methodology of Public Urban Green Spaces Using GIS: An Example of Nagpur City, India

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shruti Lahoti ◽  
Mohamed Kefi ◽  
Ashish Lahoti ◽  
Osamu Saito
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Data ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Thematic Map ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
The City

Faced with a lack of fine grain data availability, in rapidly emerging urban centers of developing nations, the study explored a mapping methodology to create thematic map of public urban green space (UGS). Using GIS, a thematic map of Nagpur city, India was prepared. The objective was to prepare spatial data that are relevant for planners and policy makers, with detailed UGS typologies and to update the status of overall availability and distribution of hierarchical recreational green spaces in the city. The spatial and non-spatial data with added attributes gathered through fieldwork resulted in a holistic dataset, with high accuracy of thematic map (0.93 kappa coefficient). The recorded status of different typologies as well as the distribution of recreational UGS shows disparity in the distribution of UGS. The eastern part of the city grossly lacks UGS provisions, which is compensated by the western part with larger availability of natural green spaces. The mapping methodology is novel and effective for recording qualitative status, analyzing their spatial distribution and prioritizing the provisions of UGS. Future research integrating these spatial data with more qualitative research can provide a holistic view on benefits of UGS provisions and thus facilitate effective UGS governance aiming towards better green infrastructure and hence broader urban sustainability.

scholarly journals How to plan urban green space in cold regions of China to achieve the best cooling efficiency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Pang ◽  
Jingyuan Zhao ◽  
Jianxin Zhang ◽  
Li Yang
Keyword(s):  
Green Space ◽  
Influencing Factor ◽  
Urban Green Space ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cold Regions ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Cooling Effects

Abstract With the acceleration of urbanization, the urban heat island (UHI) effect has intensified. Urban green space can retard the UHI effectively. However, most existing work has only focused on hot regions, while little attention has been paid to cold regions. Furthermore, existing research does not classify urban green spaces according to the presence or absence of water, which will lead to inaccurate results. This paper takes four cities in cold regions of China as examples and studies the cooling effects of two different types of urban green space. The results indicate that for green spaces without water, the cooling intensity is related to the background temperature and area of the green spaces, while for green spaces containing water bodies, the area of the internal water body is the key influencing factor. Specifically, there is a threshold value of efficiency (TVoE) for the area of green spaces without water, while there is no TVoE for green spaces containing water bodies. Additionally, there is a TVoE for the water/land ratio of the green spaces containing water bodies in the four cities. The methods and results of this study can provide reference for future research and for urban planners designing urban green spaces.

scholarly journals The value of Twitter data for determining the emotional responses of people to urban green spaces: A case study and critical evaluation

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 818-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Roberts ◽  
Jon Sadler ◽  
Lee Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Twitter Data

Interactions between humans and nature are understood to be beneficial for human well-being. In cities, urban green spaces are believed to provide many benefits to urban populations in terms of mental and emotional well-being. Through a case study of 60 urban green spaces in Birmingham, United Kingdom, this article investigates the spatial and temporal variation of the emotions experienced by individuals whilst using urban green spaces. Using a dataset obtained from Twitter as the basis for emotional explorations, sentiment analysis was performed on over 10,000 tweets to ascertain the positivity/negativity of individuals. Positive responses were more common than negative responses across all seasons, with happiness and appreciation of beauty being the common positive emotions identified. For the negative responses, fear and anger were present in similar amounts, with fewer tweets indicating sadness and disgust. Our findings show that Twitter data is a viable source of information to researchers investigating human interaction and emotional response to space in cities. Such information has implications for urban planners and park managers, enabling the creation of evidence-based spaces which enhance positive outdoor experience. Limitations in using Twitter data are discussed and these should be considered in future research.

scholarly journals Relationship Between Urban Green Spaces and Cancer: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Porcherie ◽  
Nyan Linn ◽  
Anne Roué Le Gall ◽  
Marie-Florence Thomas ◽  
Emmanuelle Faure ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Green Spaces ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Qualitative Synthesis ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Indirect Measures ◽  
Scoping Reviews

This scoping study aims to explore the relationships between urban green spaces (UGSs) and cancer. We followed the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (protocol published in 2018). Eligibility criteria for papers were: 1) to be concerned with UGSs, 2) reporting effects of UGSs on cancer-related outcomes including direct or indirect measures, 3) reporting randomized controlled trials, prospective cohort studies, case studies, observational studies, non-comparative studies, 4) in English or French. The search covered primary studies in the published and unpublished (grey) literatures searching by hand and electronic databases (MEDLINE, Green File, CINAHL and ScienceDirect). Among 1703 records screened by two reviewers independently, 29 were included for qualitative synthesis. We classify the cancers concerned and the effects reported i.e. protective effect, risk or without association. The most investigated cancers are bladder, breast and lung cancer. Our study also identified contributing factors and their mediating effects between UGSs and cancer. Results highlight the wide variety of possible mediating factors between the use of green spaces and cancer occurrence, remission and/or prevention. Knowledge gaps and future research perspectives should be oriented to qualitative research on protective factors, the role of mental health in recovering from cancer and health inequalities.

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