Spatial Characteristics of Urban Green Spaces and Human Health: An Exploratory Analysis of Canonical Correlation.

Chia-Tsung Yeh,Ya-Yun Cheng,Tsai-Yun Liu

doi:10.3390/ijerph17093227

Abstract

In highly urbanized areas, urban green spaces (UGSs) are important natural and cultural entities. Previous studies have shown some evidence of positive relationships between UGSs and human health. Most of these studies relied on self-reported health data and often used institutional quantitative measures of UGSs instead of the spatial characteristics of UGSs. This study analyzed the relationships between the spatial characteristics of UGSs and morbidity of diseases, which were considered variables of human health in the Taipei Metro. The Longitudinal Health Insurance Database of Taiwan was applied as the source of morbidity of diseases. A canonical correlation analysis was performed by using the six variables of spatial characteristics of UGSs as predictors and three variables of morbidity as criterion variables to evaluate the multivariate shared relationships between the two variable sets. The results found a strong canonical correlation between the spatial characteristics of UGSs and human health. Furthermore, the results revealed that living in districts with a higher area percentage of green spaces and denser vegetation cover, as well as exposure to more aggregative and irregular-shape green spaces, can reduce the morbidity of diseases.

Highlights

Green space can be defined as lands that consist predominantly of unsealed, pervious, soft surfaces, such as soil, grass, shrubs, and trees, with few structures present [1]
We analyzed the spatial characteristics of urban green spaces (UGSs) of the districts in the study area based on the land use investigation map and the FRAGSTATS 4.2 software
Using the database of the National Health Insurance Research of Taiwan and applying the statistical method of canonical correlation analysis distinguish this study from previous ones

Summary

Introduction

Green space can be defined as lands that consist predominantly of unsealed, pervious, soft surfaces, such as soil, grass, shrubs, and trees, with few structures present [1]. Green spaces in urban areas provide important ecosystem services, such as air quality improvement, atmospheric carbon dioxide reduction, and recreational and cultural values [2,3,4]. Amenities in green spaces encourage urban residents to increase physical activities, to pursue more leisure and recreation, and to have contact with the natural environment. Easy access to green spaces increases physical activity [5,8,9] and promotes physical and mental health of urban residents [6,10,11,12,13]. Urban green spaces (UGSs) can facilitate social interactions, social networking, social support, social inclusion, and improve the mental health of residents [15,16,17]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion