Mental Health Outcomes in Barcelona: The Interplay between Gentrification and Greenspace

Green spaces exposure and the risk of common psychiatric disorders: A meta-analysis

Objective

To explore the effects of green spaces exposure on common psychiatric disorders.

Methods

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and MEDLINE were screened and articles published prior to November 15, 2023 were included. Analyses were performed on common psychiatric disorders, categorized into depression, anxiety, dementia, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). And the subgroup analyses were conducted for depression, anxiety, dementia, and schizophrenia.

Results

In total, 2,0064 studies were retrieved, 59 of which were included in our study; 37 for depression, 14 for anxiety, 8 for dementia, 7 for schizophrenia and 5 for ADHD. Green spaces were found to benefit the moderation of psychiatric disorders (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.89 to 0.92). Green spaces positively influence depression (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.86 to 0.93), regardless of the cross-sectional or cohort studies. Green spaces can also help mitigate the risk of anxiety (OR = 0.94, 95%CI:0.92 to 0.96). As an important index for measuring green spaces, a higher normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) level related to a lower level of depression (OR = 0.95, 95%CI:0.91 to 0.98) and anxiety (OR = 0.95, 95%:0.92 to 0.98). The protection was also found in dementia (OR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93 to 0.96), schizophrenia (OR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.67 to 0.82), and ADHD (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.86 to 0.92) results.

Conclusion

Green spaces decrease the risk of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, dementia, schizophrenia, and ADHD. Further studies on green spaces and psychiatric disorders are needed, and more green spaces should be considered in city planning.

Methods in Public Health Environmental Justice Research: a Scoping Review from 2018 to 2021

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The volume of public health environmental justice (EJ) research produced by academic institutions increased through 2022. However, the methods used for evaluating EJ in exposure science and epidemiologic studies have not been catalogued. Here, we completed a scoping review of EJ studies published in 19 environmental science and epidemiologic journals from 2018 to 2021 to summarize research types, frameworks, and methods.

RECENT FINDINGS

We identified 402 articles that included populations with health disparities as a part of EJ research question and met other inclusion criteria. Most studies (60%) evaluated EJ questions related to socioeconomic status (SES) or race/ethnicity. EJ studies took place in 69 countries, led by the US (n = 246 [61%]). Only 50% of studies explicitly described a theoretical EJ framework in the background, methods, or discussion and just 10% explicitly stated a framework in all three sections. Among exposure studies, the most common area-level exposure was air pollution (40%), whereas chemicals predominated personal exposure studies (35%). Overall, the most common method used for exposure-only EJ analyses was main effect regression modeling (50%); for epidemiologic studies the most common method was effect modification (58%), where an analysis evaluated a health disparity variable as an effect modifier. Based on the results of this scoping review, current methods in public health EJ studies could be bolstered by integrating expertise from other fields (e.g., sociology), conducting community-based participatory research and intervention studies, and using more rigorous, theory-based, and solution-oriented statistical research methods.

Urban health inequality in shifting environment: systematic review on the impact of gentrification on residents' health

The impacts of changing neighborhoods, and the influence of neighborhood stability on residents' health have not received enough attention in the literature; one of the most important aspects is gentrification. Research on the impact of gentrification on residents' health has gradually increased in recent years, mainly from North America. Based on the guidelines of PRISMA 2020 and SCIE, 66 papers were included for analysis, six aspects of selected studies are discussed: the research design, theoretical framework, methods of analysis, definition and measurement of gentrification effects, and impact pathways. In general, most of the literature in this field can be seen as using an ecological research design, of which cross-sectional research accounts for a large proportion. The identified effects vary in their direction as well as strength due to difference in population, temporal, and geographical characteristics. Gentrification could affect health outcomes through the combination of economic, social, and physical environment factors. Existing research could be improved in the following aspects: (1) The definition and measurement of gentrification should be both generic and site-specific; Various measurement methods should be compared to enhance the robustness of the results. Furthermore, more consideration should be given to the impact of spatial issues; (2) As for health outcomes, it is suggested to expand the scope of the discussion of health outcomes and strengthen the biological explanation of the influencing mechanisms. It is also necessary to determine the research time points according to the characteristics of the incubation period of different diseases; (3) As for research design, applying longitudinal research design is more likely to improve the reliability; (4) Theoretical frameworks should be addressed to link the definition and measurement of gentrification, patterns of health outcomes, methodology and pathways.

Fractured lives in fractured cities: Towards a critical understanding of urban violence in the context of market-driven urban restructuring processes in Bogotá and Rio de Janeiro

Based on a comparative case study on two neighborhoods in Bogota and Rio de Janeiro (2017-2019) and a comprehensive literature review, this article proposes a critical Public Health approach to urban violence and makes a case for understanding the phenomenon in the context of market-driven urban territorial restructuring processes that assume specific qualities in cities of the Global South. The case studies are based on focus groups and semi-structured interviews with residents, specialists and community leaders. It is argued that urban violence is a key public health challenge, particularly in Latin America, given its dimensions and its impact on the populations' life and health. In this regard it configures "fractured lives" in what urban scholars have termed "fractured cities" - essentially unequal and polarized cities that are not merely sites of urban violence but, as we argue in this article, fundamentally shape urban violence, its qualities, dynamics and dimensions. The study is informed by a unique theoretical articulation between Latin American Social Medicine and Collective Health, critical (Latin American) geographical theory and authoritarian neoliberalism literature and shows how urban violence is directly implied in the territorial making and un-making of the cities, driven by commodification as well as both legal and illegal capitalist market logics, that include but are not limited to drug trade. The cases reflect the violence implied in permanent threats of eviction and displacement, "necropolitical" police/military interventions and what is described as a silent imposition of a "slow death" on infrastructure, the neighborhood and ultimately also its residents, which "fracture" the lives of significant parts of the urban population, produce "ill-being" and bring about health consequences that are rarely considered in relation to urban violence.