Green and blue spaces: crucial for healthy, sustainable urban futures

Abstract

Scientific knowledge of the health benefits of urban green and blue spaces is not being translated fast enough into practical and policy changes. Such changes are needed to improve the liveability of communities in large urban areas and to address the dual and growing challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. A vast array of options can facilitate better design of urban settings to enhance natural environments and improve health. One is to increase tree coverage and green space to reduce the higher temperatures in cities and towns compared with rural areas. These green spaces can also provide respite during heatwaves, which are projected to increase in frequency and intensity because of climate change. 1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeSummary for policymakers. in: Masson-Delmotte V Zhai P Pirani A Climate change 2021: the physical science basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge2021: 3-32 Google Scholar Urban greening could also address the inequities that arise because poor and marginalised populations generally live in hotter areas of cities. 2 Jay O Capon A Berry P et al. Reducing the health effects of hot weather and heat extremes: from personal cooling strategies to green cities. Lancet. 2021; 398: 709-724 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (59) Google Scholar Access to green spaces, such as forests, parks, grasslands, and recreational areas, and blue spaces, such as rivers, oceans, seas, and lakes, improves health and wellbeing. 3 Cissé G McLeman R Adams H et al. Health, wellbeing, and the changing structure of communities. in: Pörtner H-O Roberts DC Tignor M Climate change 2022: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge2022: 1041-1170 Google Scholar During the COVID-19 pandemic, green and blue spaces proved beneficial for mental 4 Pouso S Borja Á Fleming LE Gómez-Baggethun E White MP Uyarra MC Contact with blue–green spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown beneficial for mental health. Sci Total Environ. 2021; 756143984 Crossref PubMed Scopus (191) Google Scholar and physical health, 5 Yang Y Lu Y Yang L Gou Z Liu Y Urban greenery cushions the decrease in leisure-time physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic: a natural experimental study. Urban For Urban Green. 2021; 62127136 Crossref PubMed Scopus (30) Google Scholar although it is important to note that these benefits were not felt equitably. In New York, for example, wealthy, White residents were more likely to use urban green space during the pandemic than people who self-identified as being part of non-exclusive, census-based race and ethnicity categories, (eg, Asian, Black, African American, Hispanic or Latinx, or Native American), 6 Bianca L Christopher K Christopher F Timon MP Who benefits from urban green spaces during times of crisis? Perception and use of urban green spaces in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic. Urban For Urban Green. 2021; 65127354 Google Scholar raising important questions about how to increase equitable use. Cooling cities through urban green infrastructure: a health impact assessment of European citiesOur results showed the deleterious effects of UHIs on mortality and highlighted the health benefits of increasing tree coverage to cool urban environments, which would also result in more sustainable and climate-resilient cities. Full-Text PDF