Not all types of nature have an equal effect on urban residents' well-being: A structural equation model approach

Putting tendencies and trajectories to work: useful tools for engaging with accounts of change and recovery?

Dominant understandings of recovery emphasise personal responsibility for initiating and sustaining changes in people's subjectivities and relationships to alcohol and other drugs. However, this potentially obscures the complexities and temporalities of change processes and the range of socio-material elements involved. Addressing this gap, critical drug studies scholars have productively employed the concepts of tendencies and trajectories to analyse how past events of drug consumption flow into current and future consumption events. Critiquing notions of personal responsibility within recovery processes, we apply the concepts of tendencies and trajectories to help explain recovery's emergence and continuities. Doing so helps decentre the individual as the agent responsible for improved capacity by broadening the perspective of developing health and wellbeing. In this paper, we provide a qualitative analysis of interviews with fourteen people with lived recovery experiences within an urban-rural setting in Melbourne, Australia. This analysis illustrates how recovery tendencies and trajectories are cultivated through repeated actions, habits, and practices over time. Applying the concept of trajectories to change narratives reveals how accumulated moments precede and follow turning points, supporting shifts in consumption patterns. These moments are not necessarily connected but, when considered collectively, contribute to a recovery trajectory and assemblage of health. In reflecting on the affordances of thinking, researching and doing with recovery tendencies and trajectories, we argue that analysing tendencies and trajectories illuminate opportunities where change lies within an endless combination of human and non-human forces. Applying these concepts to recovery research, practice, and policy engages with temporal and socio-material elements of recovery, offering a more emancipatory approach than is currently provided by common recovery theories and approaches that assume individuals are personally responsible for change.

Community environmental healing benefits: A systematic review comparing intervening variables, environments, and outcomes

As the smallest spatial unit in the city, the community should be an important space for healing the urban population. This paper presents a systematic review summarizing studies on community healing environments. The study identified 75 publications. The research findings are as follows: the main intervening variables include restorativeness, emotions and mood, stress, and well-being. Little attention has been paid to the intervening variables including social support, environmental preferences and satisfaction, place attachment, behavior types that respond to personal will, self-fulfillment, and the spirit of personal culture. The various types of natural environments in communities have been given focused attention for a long time. However, the superiority of the natural environment should not be a reason to underestimate the healing benefits of community spaces. The mechanisms by which environmental characteristics are transformed into positive individual influences through intervening variables should be explored.

Wilding cities for biodiversity and people: a transdisciplinary framework

Accelerating urbanisation and associated lifestyle changes result in loss of biodiversity and diminished wellbeing of people through fewer direct interactions and experiences with nature. In this review, we propose the notion of urban wilding (the promotion of autonomous ecological processes that are independent of historical land-use conditions, with minimal direct human maintenance and planting interventions) and investigate its propensity to improve biodiversity and people-nature connections in cities. Through a large interdisciplinary synthesis, we explore the ecological mechanisms through which urban wilding can promote biodiversity in cities, investigate the attitudes and relations of city dwellers towards urban wild spaces, and discuss the integration of urban wilding into the fabric of cities and its governance. We show that favouring assembly spontaneity by reducing planting interventions, and functional spontaneity by limiting maintenance practices, can promote plant diversity and provide ecological resources for numerous organisms at habitat and city scales. These processes could reverse biotic homogenisation, but further studies are needed to understand the effects of wilding on invasive species and their consequences. From a socio-ecological perspective, the attitudes of city dwellers towards spontaneous vegetation are modulated by successional stages, with grassland and woodland stages preferred, but dense shrubby vegetation stages disliked. Wild spaces can diversify physical interactions with nature, and enrich multi-sensory, affective and cognitive experiences of nature in cities. However, some aspects of wild spaces can cause anxiety, feeling unsafe, and the perception of abandonment. These negative attitudes could be mitigated by subtle design and maintenance interventions. While nature has long been thought of as ornamental and instrumental in cities, urban wilding could help to develop relational and intrinsic values of nature in the fabric of cities. Wildness and its singular aesthetics should be combined with cultural norms, resident uses and urban functions to plan and design urban spatial configurations promoting human-non-human cohabitation. For urban wilding to be socially just and adapted to the needs of residents, its implementation should be backed by inclusive governance opening up discussion forums to residents and urban workers. Scientists can support these changes by collaborating with urban actors to design and experiment with new wild spaces promoting biodiversity and wellbeing of people in cities.

Understanding How Green Space Naturalness Impacts Public Well-Being: Prospects for Designing Healthier Cities

Statement of problem: Urbanization has brought significant advancements in human well-being; however, it poses challenges to urban green spaces (UGSs), affecting environmental quality and public health. Research gap: Previous studies have established the importance of UGSs for urban well-being but have not sufficiently explored how the naturalness of these spaces-ranging from untouched natural areas to human-designed landscapes-affects mental health outcomes in the context of developing countries, particularly Brazil. Purpose: This study aimed to bridge the research gap by investigating the relationship between the degree of naturalness in UGSs and mental health among residents of Brazilian metropolitan areas. Method: Data were collected through an online survey involving 2136 respondents from various Brazilian urban regions. The study used Welch's ANOVA and Games-Howell post hoc tests to analyze the impact of UGS naturalness on mental health, considering depression, anxiety, and stress levels. Results and conclusions: The findings revealed that higher degrees of naturalness in UGSs significantly correlate with lower levels of mental distress. These results underscore the necessity of integrating natural elements into urban planning to enhance public health. Practical implications: Urban planners and policymakers are encouraged to prioritize the preservation and creation of naturalistic UGSs in urban environments to improve mental health outcomes. Future directions: Further research should explore the specific attributes of naturalness that most contribute to well-being and examine the scalability of these findings across different cultural and environmental contexts.

Urban park qualities driving visitors mental well-being and wildlife conservation in a Neotropical megacity

Green infrastructure has been widely recognized for the benefits to human health and biodiversity conservation. However, knowledge of the qualities and requirements of such spaces and structures for the effective delivery of the range of ecosystem services expected is still limited, as well as the identification of trade-offs between services. In this study, we apply the One Health approach in the context of green spaces to investigate how urban park characteristics affect human mental health and wildlife support outcomes and identify synergies and trade-offs between these dimensions. Here we show that perceived restorativeness of park users varies significantly across sites and is mainly affected by safety and naturalness perceptions. In turn, these perceptions are driven by objective indicators of quality, such as maintenance of facilities and vegetation structure, and subjective estimations of biodiversity levels. The presence of water bodies benefited both mental health and wildlife. However, high tree canopy coverage provided greater restoration potential whereas a certain level of habitat heterogeneity was important to support a wider range of bird species requirements. To reconcile human and wildlife needs in green spaces, cities should strategically implement a heterogeneous green infrastructure network that considers trade-offs and maximizes synergies between these dimensions.

Contact with nature for emotion regulation: the roles of nature connectedness and beauty engagement in urban young adults

Contact with nature has emotional benefits, but the psychological mechanism and potential moderator underlying the association between nature contact and emotion regulation remain unclear. The present study investigated how self-reported frequency of nature contact is associated with the use of emotion regulation strategies and explored the mediating role of nature connectedness (i.e., psychological connection to nature) and the moderating role of engagement with natural beauty. Employing mediation and moderated mediation analyses, in a cross-sectional sample of 2097 young adults aged 18-35 years old (M = 24.01, SD = 4.80) residing in urban China, we obtained three major findings. First, nature connectedness mediated the associations between direct/indirect nature contact and cognitive reappraisal as well as expressive suppression. Second, engagement with natural beauty moderated the path from direct/indirect nature contact to cognitive reappraisal in the mediation models. Third, engagement with natural beauty moderated the path from indirect nature contact to nature connectedness in the mediation models. Our study is the first to reveal mediating and moderating factors in the relationships among direct/indirect contact with nature, nature connectedness, engagement with natural beauty, and emotion regulation strategies. These findings provide support for the emotional health of nature contact and have implications for nature-based education and urban planning.

How People's COVID-19 Induced-Worries and Multiple Environmental Exposures Are Associated with Their Depression, Anxiety, and Stress during the Pandemic

This study investigates how people's perceived COVID-19 risk, worries about financial hardship, job loss, and family conflicts, and exposures to greenspace, PM2.5, and noise (in people's residential neighborhoods and daily activity locations) are related to their depression, anxiety, and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a two-day activity-travel diary, a questionnaire, and real-time air pollutant and noise sensors, a survey was conducted to collect data from 221 participants living in two residential neighborhoods of Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic. Linear regression was conducted to explore the relationships. Significant associations between people's COVID-19-related worries and exposures to grassland and PM2.5 with depression, anxiety, and stress were found in the results. These associations with depression, anxiety, and stress vary depending on people's demographic attributes. These results can help direct the public authorities' efforts in dealing with the public mental health crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nature contact and general health: Testing multiple serial mediation pathways with data from adults in 18 countries

The role of neighbourhood nature in promoting good health is increasingly recognised in policy and practice, but consistent evidence for the underlying mechanisms is lacking. Heterogeneity in exposure methods, outcome measures, and population characteristics, little exploration of recreational use or the role of different types of green or blue space, and multiple separate mediation models in previous studies have limited our ability to synthesise findings and draw clear conclusions. We examined multiple pathways linking different types of neighbourhood nature with general health using a harmonised international sample of adults. Using cross-sectional survey data from 18 countries (n = 15,917), we developed a multigroup path model to test theorised pathways, controlling for sociodemographic variables. We tested the possibility that neighbourhood nature (e.g. greenspace, inland bluespace, and coastal bluespace) would be associated with general health through lower air pollution exposure, greater physical activity attainment, more social contact, and higher subjective well-being. However, our central prediction was that associations between different types of neighbourhood nature and general health would largely be serially mediated by recent visit frequency to corresponding environment types, and, subsequently, physical activity, social contact, and subjective well-being associated with these frequencies. Several subsidiary analyses assessed the robustness of the results to alternative model specifications as well as effect modification by sociodemographics. Consistent with this prediction, there was statistical support for eight of nine potential serial mediation pathways via visit frequency which held for a range of alternative model specifications. Effect modification by financial strain, sex, age, and urbanicity altered some associations but did not necessarily support the idea that nature reduced health inequalities. The results demonstrate that across countries, theorised nature-health linkages operate primarily through recreational contact with natural environments. This provides arguments for greater efforts to support use of local green/blue spaces for health promotion and disease prevention.

The impact of small-scale green infrastructure on the affective wellbeing associated with urban sites

The largest public space in any city is its streets. Investments which incorporate small-scale green infrastructure into streetscapes can bring more nature into the lives of urban residents worldwide, including those living in even the most economically and spatially constraint places. However, little is known about the impact of such small-scale investments on urban residents' affective perceptions of their local environments and how to design these investments to maximise their positive impacts. In the current study, we use photo simulation techniques and an adapted form of the Positive and Negative Affective Schedule to examine the impact of small-scale green infrastructure interventions on the affective perceptions of low, middle and high-income sites in Santiago Chile. Our results, based on 62,478 reports of affective perceptions from 3,472 people, indicate that green infrastructure investments can both promote positive affect and, to a lesser, but still substantial extent reduce negative affect. The magnitudes of these relationships vary across discrete affective measures and for many of these measures, both positive and negative, a minimum of 16% increase in green coverage is required to see an impact. Finally, we find people associated lower affect with low, compared to middle and high, income sites but that these affective inequalities can be addressed, at least in part, through green infrastructure interventions.

Population-weighted exposure to green spaces tied to lower COVID-19 mortality rates: A nationwide dose-response study in the USA

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge loss of human life globally. However, few studies investigated the link between exposure to green space and risk of COVID-19 mortality rate, while also distinguishing the effects of various types of green space, considering the spatial distribution of human population and green space, and identifying the optimal buffer distances of nearby green space. It is critical and pressing to fill these significant knowledge gaps to protect and promote billions of people's health and life across the world. This study adopted a negative binomial generalized linear mixed-effects model to examine the association between the ratios of various types of green space, population-weighted exposure to those various types of green space, and COVID-19 mortality rates across 3025 counties in the USA, adjusted for sociodemographic, pre-existing chronic disease, policy and regulation, behavioral, and environmental factors. The findings show that greater exposure to forest was associated with lower COVID-19 mortality rates, while developed open space had mixed associations with COVID-19 mortality rates. Forest outside park had the largest effect size across all buffer distances, followed by forest inside park. The optimal exposure buffer distance was 1 km for forest outside park, with per one-unit of increase in exposure associated with a 9.9 % decrease in COVID-19 mortality rates (95 % confidence interval (CI): 6.9 %-12.8 %). The optimal exposure buffer distance of forest inside park was 400 m, with per one-unit of increase in exposure associated with a 4.7 % decrease in mortality rates (95 % CI: 2.4 %-6.9 %). The results suggest that greater exposure to green spaces, especially to nearby forests, may mitigate the risk of COVID-19 mortality. Although findings of an ecological study cannot be directly used to guide medical interventions, this study may pave a critical new way for future research and practice across multiple disciplines.

Green spaces, especially nearby forest, may reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate: A nationwide study in the United States

The coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing global crisis that has profoundly harmed public health. Although studies found exposure to green spaces can provide multiple health benefits, the relationship between exposure to green spaces and the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate is unclear. This is a critical knowledge gap for research and practice. In this study, we examined the relationship between total green space, seven types of green space, and a year of SARS-CoV-2 infection data across 3,108 counties in the contiguous United States, after controlling for spatial autocorrelation and multiple types of covariates. First, we examined the association between total green space and SARS-CoV-2 infection rate. Next, we examined the association between different types of green space and SARS-CoV-2 infection rate. Then, we examined forest-infection rate association across five time periods and five urbanicity levels. Lastly, we examined the association between infection rate and population-weighted exposure to forest at varying buffer distances (100 m to 4 km). We found that total green space was negative associated with the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate. Furthermore, two forest variables (forest outside park and forest inside park) had the strongest negative association with the infection rate, while open space variables had mixed associations with the infection rate. Forest outside park was more effective than forest inside park. The optimal buffer distances associated with lowest infection rate are within 1,200 m for forest outside park and within 600 m for forest inside park. Altogether, the findings suggest that green spaces, especially nearby forest, may significantly mitigate risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Beyond Accessibility: A Multidimensional Evaluation of Urban Park Equity in Yangzhou, China

Evaluating park equity can help guide the advancement of sustainable and equitable space policies. Previous studies have mainly considered accessibility when evaluating park equity while ignoring the selectivity and convenience of entering parks and residents’ recognition of parks. Measuring equity based mainly on spatial thinking has resulted in the social aspects of parks receiving insufficient attention. In this study, we therefore integrated the spatial and social equity of parks and developed a multidimensional framework to evaluate park equity in four dimensions: accessibility (Ai), diversity (Di), convenience (Ci), and satisfaction (Si). Empirical analysis from Yangzhou, China showed that: (1) in Yangzhou’s built-up districts, 23.43% of the communities received high- or relatively high-level park access but 17.72% received little or no park access. (2) The Gini coefficient indicated that all three dimensions showed a mismatch with population distribution, except for satisfaction (Si), which showed a relatively reasonable match. (3) Park access was generally better in communities with better locations, environments, and facilities. High-income groups enjoyed significantly better park access than low- and middle-income groups. These findings could help urban planners and policymakers develop effective policies to reduce inequality in park access.

How Urban Residents Perceive Nature Education: A Survey from Eight Metropolises in China

“Nature education” has become a striking trend in the field of environmental and sustainable development education in mainland China in recent years, which is considered to be a powerful force to realize the 11th goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, namely, “Sustainable Cities and Communities”. Chinese urban residents’ perceptions of “nature education” are fundamental to the success of “nature education” but we still know very little about it. This study aims to gather insights on the awareness, attitudes, and behaviors towards nature and nature education. In this paper, online questionnaires and random sampling methods were used. An online questionnaire survey was conducted among urban residents in eight representative cities in China, namely, Beijing (n = 313), Shanghai (n = 314), Guangzhou (n = 307), Shenzhen (n = 308), Chengdu (n = 206), Xiamen (n = 207), Hangzhou (n = 203), and Wuhan (n = 206). This study implied that Chinese urban residents are willing to accept nature education. There is a strong sense among the Chinese public in cities that living in harmony with nature, improving wellbeing through healthy and sustainable actions, and enjoying and protecting nature are desirable actions. However, respondents were slightly less likely to consider the emotional benefits and the development of social and functional (technical) skills as important elements of participating in nature education. The results also confirm that Chinese urban residents’ perceptions of nature education can be positively predicted by the individual’s relationship with nature and the individual’s experience related to nature education. These are important key messages for nature education organizations to communicate. The results of the study put forward some questions worthy of in-depth consideration for the development of China’s nature education, which can provide a foundation and direction for the further development of nature education in China.