Green space and health

Natural environments, including green spaces, have been associated with improved mental and physical health and wellbeing and are increasingly recognized as a mitigation measure to buffer the adverse health effects of urban living. This chapter provides an overview of (1) urban green spaces; (2) the methods that are applied to characterize exposure to these spaces; (3) the potential mechanisms through which green spaces could exert their health effects; (4) the health effects associated with contact to green spaces; and (5) the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in such effects. To date, a range of methods including questionnaires, field surveys, GPS, remote-sensing data, and land cover/land use maps have been applied to characterise use of green spaces, access to these spaces, their amount in vicinity of participants living and/or working environments, and their quality. The mechanism underlying health effects of green spaces are yet to be established but stress reduction/cognitive restoration, mitigation of the exposure to air pollution, noise, and heat, enhancing social cohesion/interactions, increasing physical activity, and enriching micro- and macro-biodiversity and environmental microbial input have been suggested to be involved. Exposure to green spaces has been associated with, among others, improved perceived general health, better pregnancy outcomes (e.g. birth weight), enhanced brain development in children, better cognitive function in adults, improved mental health, lower risk of a number of chronic diseases (e.g. diabetes and cardiovascular conditions), and reduced mortality. Given the many benefits of green space, health of urban residents who often have limited access to these spaces can be improved by increasing the amount of green space.