Greening Urban Spaces: A Healthy Community Design
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (24 March 2023) | Viewed by 32696
Special Issue Editors
Interests: greenspace and health; ecosystem service modelling; urban green infrastructure management
Interests: ecosystem services valuation and management; nature and public health; green national accounts
Interests: ecological restoration; land and resource management; ecosystem services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
There will be 68% of people living in urban areas by the year 2050 (UN, 2019). Cities play a central role in advancing economic and social developments and addressing the challenges that humanity face today. Although cities provide access to better health services, urban life is also associated with factors that are deleterious to human health, such as increased stress and mental fatigue, pollution, sedentary lifestyles and disconnection to the natural environment (Berman et al., 2008, Gruebner et al., 2017). There is a growing consensus across many academic fields and health promotion policy areas that the provision of accessible and high-quality greenspace is a vital element in combating the adverse health effects of urbanization. A large body of evidence has shown a link between greenspace and multiple health outcomes including higher birth weight, lower Body Mass Index, lower risk for mental and cardiovascular illnesses of various kinds, as well as all-cause mortality (Markevych et al., 2017). Additionally, greenspace provision has been included in indicators and monitoring frameworks for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015) and health indicators of sustainable cities by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2012, 2016). However, there are still research gaps that need to be addressed before the health benefits of greenspaces can be fully integrated into practice. This Special Issue aims to close these gaps by encouraging research focused on the following topics:
- Interactions with microorganisms, animals, plants, and/or landscapes for health, especially in developing countries or deprived communities;
- Biodiversity and human health;
- Greenspace quality and human health;
- Greenspace and health inequity;
- Individual and environmental factors that influence nature exposure;
- Advanced research methods in nature-health enquiry, such as prospective longitudinal designs, random controlled trials, meta-analyses and innovative technologies;
- Application cases of greenspace intervention for healthy communities and healthy cities;
- Implement science—decision supporting tools, institutional innovations that facilitate integrating green interventions into practice.
Papers addressing these topics are invited for this Special Issue, especially those combining a high academic standard coupled with a practical focus on providing optimal greenspace solutions.
Dr. Hongxiao Liu
Dr. Tong Wu
Dr. Yuan Li
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- nature-based solution
- greenness
- built environment
- nature exposure
- health inequality
- well-being
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