Effects of urban green spaces on human perceived health improvements: Provision of green spaces is not enough but how people use them matters.

Kowiyou Yessoufou,Mercy Sithole,Hosam O Elansary,Jun Yang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0239314

Kowiyou Yessoufou, Mercy Sithole + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239314

Copy DOI

Abstract

How could we explain the mechanism driving the effects of Urban Green Space (UGS) on human health? This mechanism is a complex one suggesting, on one hand, an indirect effect of UGS Provision (measured as quantity, quality or accessibility of UGS) on health through UGS Exposure (measured as visit frequency to UGS, duration of visit or intensity of activities taking place during the visit). On the other hand, UGS Provision may have an indirect effect on Exposure, mediated by people's perception of UGS. The mechanism further suggests that UGS Exposure may influence indirectly human Health but mediated by human motivation to use UGS. We tested these different expectations by fitting 12 alternative structural equation models (SEMs) corresponding to four different scenarios, depending on how UGS Provision was approximated. We show that SEMs where i) Provision is approximated as UGS quantity, and Exposure as duration (SEMi), ii) Provision is approximated as quantity, and Exposure as intensity (SEMii) and iii) Provision is approximated as distance of the closest UGS from people's house, and Exposure as intensity (SEMiii) are equally the best of all 12 SEMs tested. However, apart from the SEMi that has no significant path, SEMii and SEMiii have the same significant path (motivation ~ intensity; β = 7.86±2.03, p = 0.0002), suggesting that visits to UGS may be motivated by opportunities of physical activities offered by UGS. In all our scenarios, the best SEM is always the one where Exposure is measured as intensity, irrespective of how Provision is approximated. This suggests that it is not only UGS provision that matters the most in the mechanism linking UGS to human health improvement, but rather intensity, i.e. the type of activities people engage in when they visit UGSs. Overall, our findings support the theoretical model tested in this study.

Highlights

We show that structural equation models (SEMs) where i) Provision is approximated as Urban green spaces (UGSs) quantity, and Exposure as duration (SEMi), ii) Provision is approximated as quantity, and Exposure as intensity (SEMii) and iii) Provision is approximated as distance of the closest UGS from people’s house, and Exposure as intensity (SEMiii) are the best of all 12 SEMs tested
Urban green spaces (UGSs) are open spaces in the public or private domains referring to all forms of greenery that are widely recognized as important in creating liveable cities [1,2,3]
Irrespective of how provision and exposure were measured, the analysis shows that any of the 12 meta-models can be used to explain the relationships between UGS and health condition

Summary

Introduction

Urban green spaces (UGSs) are open spaces in the public or private domains referring to all forms of greenery (parks, green roofs, woodlands, community gardens, lawns, sporting fields, bushes, ornamental plant arrangements, etc.) that are widely recognized as important in creating liveable cities [1,2,3]. They create an urban ecological systems [4] which contribute tremendously to the creation of sustainable cities. Other UGS types have been showed to regulate the regional thermal environment, e.g. in Dalian, China [6]. On human health, UGSs have been reported to impact positively human health through a complex mechanism [8,9,10,11] illustrated in Fig 1 [10]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion