Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study

Mitchell, Richard; Popham, Frank

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(08)61689-x

Cited by 1,600 publications

(1,193 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…They provide a location for exercise, social interaction, and reflection (Aldous 2007;Baur and Tynon 2010;Sugiyama et al 2010), and people with better access to urban parks live longer (Mitchell and Popham 2008), exercise more (Bai et al 2013;Thompson 2013), have better social cohesion (Kazmierczak 2013), and report better general health (van Dillen et al 2012). Public parks also provide important habitat for fauna and flora in an otherwise hostile urban landscape (Zhou and Chu 2012), and they have commonly been found to harbour much higher levels of biodiversity than the surrounding urban matrix (Matteson et al 2013;Strohbach et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is the role of trees and remnant vegetation in attracting people to urban parks?

et al. 2014

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Public parks commonly contain important habitat for urban biodiversity, and they also provide recreation opportunities for urban residents. However, the extent to which dual outcomes for recreation and conservation can be achieved in the same spaces remains unclear. We examine whether greater levels of (i) tree cover (i.e. park 'greenness') and (ii) native remnant vegetation cover (i.e. vegetation with high ecological value) attract or deter park visitors. This study is based on the park visitation behaviour of 670 survey respondents in Brisbane, Australia, detailing 1,090 individual visits to 324 urban parks. We first examined the presence of any clear revealed preferences for visiting parks with higher or lower levels of tree cover or remnant vegetation cover. We then examined the differences between each park visited by respondents and the park closest to their home, and used linear mixed models to identify socio-demographic groups who are more likely to travel further to visit parks with greater tree cover or remnant vegetation cover. Park visitation rates reflected the availability of parks, suggesting that people do not preferentially visit parks with greater vegetation cover despite the potential for improved nature-based experiences and greater wellbeing benefits. However, we discovered that people with a greater orientation towards nature (measured using the nature relatedness scale) tend to travel further for more vegetated parks. Our results suggest that to enhance recreational benefits from ecologically valuable spaces a range of social or educational interventions are required to enhance people's connection to nature.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is the role of trees and remnant vegetation in attracting people to urban parks?

et al. 2014

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“…Conversely, higher levels of neighborhood green space in low-income communities have been linked to lower levels of perceived stress and a steeper diurnal decline in cortisol secretion, 180,181 increased social contact, 182 improved mental health, 183,184 and lower all-cause mortality. 185 Although a social drift explanation (ie, people with mental health problems being more likely to move into poor neighborhoods) could at least partially explain some associations between the built environment and negative emotional states or poor mental health, it also has been shown that moving to less disadvantaged neighborhoods appears to decrease psychological distress. 186 Thus, economic, social, and physical environment factors appear to contribute to chronic negative psychological states, which may result in dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system 187 and associated increased blood pressure, greater adiposity, and insulin resistance (Biological Mechanisms section); increased likelihood of unhealthy behaviors (Behavioral Mechanisms section); additional chronic life stress [188][189][190][191][192][193][194][195][196] ; and the development and progression of CVD.…”

Section: Psychological Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Determinants of Risk and Outcomes for Cardiovascular Disease

Havranek¹,

Mujahid²,

Barr³

et al. 2015

Circulation

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732

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“…68,117 For instance, percent of green cover within a residential area is a common measure, 85,118 although this measure may not reflect actual exposure to green space. Adults tend to spend between 60 and 70 % of their time at home 119 and the rest of their time at a work or other locations.…”

Section: Refinement Of Measures Of Green Space Nature Health and Smentioning

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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Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study

Cited by 1,600 publications

References 41 publications

What is the role of trees and remnant vegetation in attracting people to urban parks?

What is the role of trees and remnant vegetation in attracting people to urban parks?

Social Determinants of Risk and Outcomes for Cardiovascular Disease

Nature-Based Strategies for Improving Urban Health and Safety

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