The Value of Urban Nature in Terms of Providing Ecosystem Services Related to Health and Well-Being: An Empirical Comparative Pilot Study of Cities in Germany and the Czech Republic

Ralf-Uwe Syrbe,Birgit Kochan,Patrycia Brzoska,Lenka Dubová,Olaf Bastian,Ina Neumann,Jiři Louda,Jan Macháč,Petr Meyer,Karsten Grunewald,Jan Brabec

doi:10.3390/land10040341

Abstract

The quality of life in our cities critically depends on the intelligent planning and shaping of urban living space, in particular urban nature. By providing a wide range of ecosystem services (ES), urban nature essentially contributes to the well-being of city dwellers and plays a major role in avoiding common diseases through its positive impact on physical and mental health. Health is one of the most important factors underlying human welfare and is, thus, vital to sustainable development. The ES of urban green space provide other social-cultural functions alongside public health, for example by fostering environmental justice and citizenship participation. Thus, they should always be considered when searching for solutions to urban problems. The aim of this research was to determine the impact of green areas in three selected cities on the health and well-being of people by self-reporting of green areas’ visitors. To this end, we posed the research question: which types and characteristics of urban green space are most appreciated by city dwellers? Based on our findings, we have drawn up recommendations for practices to promote better living conditions. We have also pinpointed obstacles to and opportunities for leisure time activities as well as ways of supporting the public health of citizens.

Highlights

We defined several research questions. (i) We wanted to find out if and how far people feel relaxed or stressed, positive or negative, alone or annoyed during a visit in an urban green space [37,43,44]. (ii) We were interested if people are aware of the health effects [33]. (iii) We wanted to find whether there are relations between age groups and special types of greenery they prefer [33,45]. (iv) we focused on analysis of whether the proximity of green spaces affects cause for a visit [18,46,47,48]
[12,46], urban nature significantly contributes to relaxation tionphysical and physical recovery— in the case ofillnesses mental and illnesses and stress—the and recovery— in the case of mental stress—the greenery greenery of plays our cities plays an important role in preventing modern diseases such as heart of our cities an important role in preventing modern diseases such as heart attack, stroke, diseases diseases of the musculoskeletal system as system well as as mental attack,arteriosclerosis, stroke, arteriosclerosis, of the musculoskeletal well suffering
The most popular ecosystem services in our three cities were the possibility of recreation and better air quality (93% of the respondents in both cases), which are the two most important aids to good health

Summary

Introduction

Since 2008, a majority of the world’s population has been living in cities. This share continues to grow: by 2030, 60% of the global population is expected to be urbanized [1]. Data for 2018 show 77.3% of Germans living in urban urbans, while in Czechia, the ratio is 73.8% [2]. The quality of life in cities depends on individual lifestyles and on the planning and design of the urban fabric. This article contributes to recognizing the importance of specific green spaces as a factor of cultural urban development and makes recommendations that will benefit public health and the quality of urban living

Objectives

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion