Abstract
This systematic review aimed to investigate the type of physical activity carried out in green urban spaces by the adult population and to value its impact on the population’s health. Additionally, another purpose was to examine if the presence of outdoor gyms in green urban spaces can promote participation in physical activity among adults. Searches of electronic databases, with no time restrictions and up to June 2020, resulted in 10 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. A quantitative assessment is reported as effect size. Many people practiced walking activity as a workout, which showed improvements in health. Walking is the most popular type of training due to its easy accessibility and it not requiring equipment or special skills. Outdoor fitness equipment has been installed in an increasing number of parks and has become very popular worldwide. Further, outdoor fitness equipment provides free access to fitness training and seems to promote physical activity in healthy adults. However, other studies about outdoor fitness equipment efficiency are needed. People living near to equipped areas are more likely to perform outdoor fitness than those who live further away. The most common training programs performed in green urban spaces included exercises with free and easy access, able to promote physical health and perception.
Highlights
By 2030, three out of every five people of the worldwide population will live in an urban area [1]
Green spaces are defined as open spaces of ground, partially or completely covered by vegetation, including parks and gardens; they can be considered important because the characteristics of the environment in which people live are linked to the quality of their health, both physical and mental [2]
Different studies proposed different types of mechanics that could be summarized in the following ways: (1) restoration theory, in which the intrinsic quality of natural outdoor environments influences the health perception and well-being from seeing or watching a green space [5,6,7]; (2) biodiversity increase, the link between green space and a healthy environment, which is influenced by the immune response, lower temperature and lower air and noise pollution [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]; (3) opportunity to perform physical activity (PA) [5,6,16,17]; (4) enhancement of social interaction [17,18,19,20]
Summary
By 2030, three out of every five people of the worldwide population will live in an urban area [1]. Green spaces are defined as open spaces of ground, partially or completely covered by vegetation, including parks and gardens; they can be considered important because the characteristics of the environment in which people live are linked to the quality of their health, both physical and mental [2]. There has been an increase in the literature focused on the importance of green urban spaces and several studies have highlighted a relationship between exposure to the natural environment and better health perception [2], but the mechanisms that explain this relationship are not so clear [3,4].
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