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Built and Social Environmental Factors and Health and Wellbeing

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (24 March 2023) | Viewed by 6337

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Australian Geospatial Health Laboratory, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia
Interests: environmental and social determinants of health

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Several studies have linked built environmental factors with health behaviour, health outcomes, and wellbeing, which has led to urban design concepts such as ‘liveability’ and ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’. However, limitations and gaps exist in the current literature. For example, the importance of built environment factors in relation to health and wellbeing may vary according to other environmental factors (built and or social), as well as individual factors, and more studies are needed to understand such variation in effects.  In addition, a few studies have empirically assessed pathways linking environmental factors to outcomes, focusing on environments beyond the residential (e.g., workplace, transit corridors, and activity spaces), improvements in standard methods to operationalise environmental exposures or their effects, or the incorporation of knowledge translation and real-world impacts.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect studies reporting on the relationships between built and social environmental factors and health and wellbeing, with a focus on addressing the above points. This includes a focus on studies assessing mediating and moderating factors, studies on advances in data capture/expression such as the incorporation of technology for capture of measures, and studies with findings that can directly inform urban redesign/renewal or with clear policy implications.

Potential topics include (but are not limited to):

  • Pathways between built/social environmental factors and health/wellbeing (i.e., mediation);
  • Effect modification (by individual or environmental factors) of associations between environmental factors and health/wellbeing;
  • Novel and/or improved data collection approaches (e.g., use of GPS, wearables, phone apps, activity spaces etc.);
  • Studies that incorporate real-world impact or have clear potential for real-world impact.

Dr. Suzanne J. Carroll
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • built environment
  • liveability
  • urban form
  • social environment
  • health
  • wellbeing
  • mediation
  • effect modification
  • urban renewal
  • urban design
  • policy

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1879 KiB  
Article
Enjoyed by Jack but Endured by Jill: An Exploratory Case Study Examining Differences in Adolescent Design Preferences and Perceived Impacts of a Secondary Schoolyard
by Gweneth Leigh, Milica Muminovic and Rachel Davey
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4221; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054221 - 27 Feb 2023
Viewed by 3547
Abstract
The school grounds provide students opportunities for respite, relaxation and relief from daily stresses during breaks in the school day. However, it is unclear whether secondary schoolyard designs adequately support the diverse and evolving needs of adolescents, particularly at a time when they [...] Read more.
The school grounds provide students opportunities for respite, relaxation and relief from daily stresses during breaks in the school day. However, it is unclear whether secondary schoolyard designs adequately support the diverse and evolving needs of adolescents, particularly at a time when they are experiencing rapid emotional and physical developmental change. To investigate this, quantitative methods were used to explore differences in perceptions of schoolyard attractiveness and restorative quality based on student gender and year level. A school-wide survey was administered to approximately 284 students in years 7 to 10 at a secondary school in Canberra, Australia. Results indicate significant declines in student perceptions of schoolyard attractiveness and restorative quality. Higher ratings of schoolyard likeability, accessibility, personal connection and restorative quality of ‘being away’ were associated with male students across all year levels. Further work is needed to explore how schoolyard environments can better support the design preferences and well-being needs of older and female students. Such information would help planners, designers and land managers develop schoolyard designs that are more equitable in their benefits to secondary school students of different genders and year levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Built and Social Environmental Factors and Health and Wellbeing)
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21 pages, 882 KiB  
Article
Structural Model for Socially Sustainable Public Housing Decision-Making in Chile
by Leonardo Sierra, Maximiliano Lizana, Catalina Pino, Amilkar Ilaya-Ayza and Briguitte Neculman
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2543; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032543 - 31 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2335
Abstract
Normally the social approaches addressed in public housing policies are unclear in the implementation processes. Indeed, public agencies do not have systems that integrate clear social criteria to consider the social assessment of public housing projects. Therefore, the inclusion of social sustainability in [...] Read more.
Normally the social approaches addressed in public housing policies are unclear in the implementation processes. Indeed, public agencies do not have systems that integrate clear social criteria to consider the social assessment of public housing projects. Therefore, the inclusion of social sustainability in planning and early decision-making is limited. In addition, social development technically involves variables that are not normally independent, and its completeness means their relationships must be considered to sum up the impacts. Thus, this work proposes a structural model that explains an integral interrelation of social criteria that determines socially sustainable housing projects for the vulnerable population in Chile. For this, a theoretical model was constructed and validated using a structural equation model (SEM). This system derives from the application of a survey applied to 188 professionals related to the development of public housing. From this, a model of social sustainability of public housing is validated with ten social criteria and eleven unidirectional interrelations, structured in two dimensions: the functional conditions of the home and the environmental conditions of the house. In the first dimension, the relation between the Improvement in family economic availability and Spaces for family development stands out. In the second, the strongest link is between Community health and safety and the Integration of the design in the context. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Built and Social Environmental Factors and Health and Wellbeing)
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