Environmental Policy Plan Research Articles

Differences in Changes of Mobility Patterns Across the Globe—Evidence From a Natural Experiment

ABSTRACTThe impact of population mobility and transportation choices on the environment is significant. Sustainable mobility policies require an understanding of evolving mobility patterns. This study examines global mobility variations across countries using COVID‐19 Community Mobility Reports. Employing the k‐medoids algorithm and Dynamic Time Warping, we analyzed mobility dynamics. Results reveal diverse changes in population mobility. Around 52 Global North countries exhibit approximately 10% reduction in professional activity‐related traffic post‐COVID‐19. Regarding urban green space mobility, only 29 countries exhibit strong seasonality, with summer traffic in the northern hemisphere peaking at about 150% higher than winter traffic. Three groups of countries are identified concerning public transport mobility: returning to pre‐pandemic levels, experiencing a 25% increase, and nearly doubling from pre‐pandemic levels. This underscores the key determinants for sustainable mobility policy implementation. Fifteen highly developed countries share similar mobility patterns across six areas studied, facilitating the exchange of sustainable mobility solutions and best practices. This research underscores the importance of understanding and addressing evolving mobility patterns for effective environmental policy planning.

Coupling and interaction mechanism between green urbanization and tourism competitiveness based an empirical study in the Yellow River Basin of China

Exploring the spatial coupling relationship and interaction mechanism between green urbanization (GU) and tourism competitiveness (TC) is of great significance for promoting urban sustainable development. However, the lack of research on the interaction mechanism between GU and TC limits the formulation of effective environmental management policy and urban planning. Taking 734 counties in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) as the study area, this paper analyzes the spatial coupling relationship between GU and TC on the basis of comprehensive evaluation of GU and TC. Then, the interactive mechanism between GU and TC is systematically discussed, and the synergistic development strategy of the two is proposed. The results show that the GU level presents a multicore circle structure, with provincial capitals, prefecture-level urban districts and economically developed counties in east-central regions as high-value centers. The TC at county scale presents a multi-center spatial structure. Additionally, there is a significant positive spatial coupling between GU and TC in the YRB. The analysis further reveals that green urbanization level, social progress, population development, infrastructure construction, economic development quality, and eco-environmental protection has a observably influence on TC. Tourism competitiveness, service competitiveness, location competitiveness, resource competitiveness, market competitiveness, environmental influence, and talent competitiveness has a observably influence on GU. TC can promote GU, and the improvement of green urbanization level can support the development of tourism competitiveness. According to the spatial zoning method, 734 counties are divided into 6 categories, and the coordinated development strategy of GU and TC for each type of district is proposed.

Integrating a Gamified Digital Application in Naturebased Settings to Improve Physical Activity and Health Outcomes Among Central Pennsylvanians: Using a Socioecological, Cross-disciplinary Guiding Framework

Objectives: We evaluated the effectiveness of a community-facilitated, digital application intervention at increasing physical activity in central Pennsylvania. Methods: We employed a game-based digital application within partnership- guided, nature-based programming to encourage physical activity. Partnerships with local healthcare and park/ recreation entities were established to facilitate recruitment and intervention sustenance. Self-reported psychological and physiological changes were evaluated in a repeated-measures design, contextualized by thematic coding of qualitative responses, and interpreted via the Park Prescription Theory of Change. Results: Partnerships were formed among 3 local healthcare entities, Berks Nature, and community organizations to conduct the intervention. There were increases in physical activity duration and time spent outdoors. We identified positive, consistent trends in perceptions of healthful behaviors and quality of life, health satisfaction, and perceived accessibility and barriers. There were low rates of allergies or wheezing. The game-based application improved sentiments of belongingness and familial engagement. These findings mostly aligned with the Park Prescription Theory of Change. Conclusions: An innovative, cross-disciplinary means to improve physical activity can inform approaches at the regional or national level, as well as guide legislative efforts in public health, environmental policy, and urban planning.

ASSESSMENT OF CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE LVIV REGION ON THE BASIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICES OF REMOTE SENSING

The ecological environment system is closely related to human daily life. With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, various human activities have brought great impacts on the local ecological environment. Timely and accurate evaluation of spatial and temporal changes in the quality of the ecological environment helps policy makers to understand the current status of the ecological environment in the region, and is of great significance for the rational development of ecological environmental protection and policies, which has become a research priority in the field of ecology. In this study, Lviv Oblast, an important region in western Ukraine, is taken as the study area, and the remote sensing ecological index remotely sensing ecological index (RSEI) of Lviv Oblast for 2015 and 2021 was constructed based on remote sensing technology, and the ecological quality of Lviv Oblast during six years was rapidly monitored and evaluated, and the results of the study show that the The average values of RSEI in 2015 and 2021 are 0.66 and 0.68, respectively, indicating a gradual improvement of ecological quality. This reflects the small impact of the deterioration of the ecological environment caused by human activities in the region in recent years.This study provides a methodological reference for evaluating the quality of the ecological environment in the Lviv region, which is of some value for the rational planning of local ecological and environmental protection strategies and policies for sustainable economic development.

Consistency between Environmental Performance and Public Satisfaction and Their Planning Intervention Strategies: A Policy Text Analysis of Urban Environmental Planning

The Chinese government has been working hard to improve environmental performance. However, considering that public feedback is not always complimentary, there is still room for improvement in its protection work. In China, environmental planning is the dominant direction of the government’s environmental governance. Therefore, an analysis of environmental planning could explain the policy incentives that lead to inconsistent performance and satisfaction, and could enable us to explore how to improve planning to more effectively achieve environmental governance goals. This study classified 37 Chinese cities into four types based on consistency in performance and satisfaction. Taking environmental planning policy as the research object, the planning work arrangements of different cities to improve environmental performance and public satisfaction were analyzed through hand-coding. Our study found that environmental planning in these cities puts more emphasis on basic and engineering arrangements that can effectively improve environmental performance, while work arrangements that involve improving public environmental satisfaction are relatively few. Moreover, (1) cities with high environmental performance and high public satisfaction have made relatively substantial arrangements in improving environmental performance and satisfaction during environmental planning; (2) cities with high environmental performance and low public satisfaction have a certain foundation for environmental governance, but tough governance or high public expectations weaken environmental satisfaction; (3) cities with low environmental performance and high public environmental satisfaction have low environmental performance values due to the huge energy consumption of resources or a lack of pollution disposal capacity; and (4) most of the cities with low environmental performance and low public environmental satisfaction share common geographical and historical environmental problems that make it challenging to considerably enhance public satisfaction and environmental performance in the short term. Based on the above findings, this paper believes that greater environmental governance can be achieved by promoting a change in environmental planning from the existing “elite” planning paradigm to a “participatory” planning model.

Short-term association between ambient air pollution and cardio-respiratory mortality in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Several epidemiological studies have reported associations between ambient air pollution and mortality. However, relatively few studies have investigated this relationship in Brazil using individual-level data. To estimate the short-term association between exposure to particulate matter <10 μm (PM10) and ozone (O3), and cardiovascular and respiratory mortality in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 2012 and 2017. We used a time-stratified case-crossover study design with individual-level mortality data. Our sample included 76,798 deaths from cardiovascular diseases and 36,071 deaths from respiratory diseases. Individual exposure to air pollutants was estimated by the inverse distance weighting method. We used data from seven monitoring stations for PM10 (24-hour mean), eight stations for O3 (8-hour max), 13 stations for air temperature (24-hour mean), and 12 humidity stations (24-hour mean). We estimated the mortality effects of PM10 and O3 over a 3-day lag using conditional logistic regression models combined with distributed lag non-linear models. The models were adjusted for daily mean temperature and daily mean absolute humidity. Effect estimates were presented as odds ratios (OR) with their 95% confidence interval (CI) associated with a 10 μg/m3 increase in each pollutant exposure. No consistent associations were observed for both pollutant and mortality outcome. The cumulative OR of PM10 exposure was 1.01 (95% CI 0.99-1.02) for respiratory mortality and 1.00 (95% CI 0.99-1.01) for cardiovascular mortality. For O3 exposure, we also found no evidence of increased mortality for cardiovascular (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.01) or respiratory diseases (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-1.00). Our findings were similar across age and gender subgroups, and different model specifications. We found no consistent associations between the PM10 and O3 concentrations observed in our study and cardio-respiratory mortality. Future studies need to explore more refined exposure assessment methods to improve health risk estimates and the planning and evaluation of public health and environmental policies.

Comparing environmental policy: Observational case of government website of Surakarta, Indonesia and Pingtung, Taiwan

Environmental policy practices in various countries and governments certainly differ, as one country may prioritize it, while others do not. Several factors including economic welfare, the human development index, and even the awareness of sustainable development may contribute to the variation. Comparing government performance in utilizing technological development and the internet is significant to assess the government’s performance in ensuring environmental sustainability and the establishment of smart governance at the same time. This paper discusses how the websites of local governments can be used to socialize and apply the environmental policy in Surakarta, Indonesia, and Pingtung, Taiwan. The two cities are chosen because of their contrasting condition where the prior has a limited but growing awareness of environmental policy, and the latter has already established systematic environmental policy planning and application. This research focuses on the observational analysis of the websites and will be supported by a literature study that is available on the Internet using search engines. The projected results showed the difference between both cities in actuating their environmental policies through websites and the factors that may cause it. Further findings can be found in the article.

Establishing a Nexus between On-Street Commercial Activities, Associated Environmental Risks Hazard Risks and Planning Policy: An Exploratory Analytical Approach

The paper established a nexus between on-street commercial activities, associated environmental and hazard risks and environmental planning policy in Ado Ekiti. In order to achieve the objectives, a series of survey was carried out. This included site visitation, field observation, and collection of relevant data through questionnaire. A total number of 800 lock up shops were identified in various locations in the study area meant for various commercial purpose and a further 1200 slots were added for hawkers, market induced service operators, road side traders, members of Drivers’ Unions, passengers, pedestrians etc, bringing the total number to 2000 out of which 10% was sampled totaling 200 respondents in all. The two hundred respondents were randomly stratified from the Atikankan, old garage, Mathew, Irona, Ojumose, Oke-Iyinmi and Idolofin area. Out of the 200 questionnaires, only 199 were filled and returned. The study revealed that on-street commercial activities were responsible for several environmental problems and other hazards in the study area, thereby frustrating environmental planning policy. It is recommended that a more efficient rerouting of traffic along major high ways and around market locations must e adopted. Markets like Oba’s Market, Bisi Market, Erekesan Market should be developed to meet the global standard. Enough parking spaces should also be provided around these Markets to ease the commercial activities in the study area among others.

Urban form, land use, and cover change and their impact on carbon emissions in the Monterrey Metropolitan area, Mexico

The process of rapid and uncontrolled urbanization has a strong relation with growing carbon emissions. This study analyses the urban expansion of the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA) Mexico from 1990 to 2019 using satellite imagery and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine its relation to carbon emission. The analysis considers as variables: population data, urban expansion, gross domestic product, motor vehicle inventory, vegetation displacement, and energy usage from residential and commercial sectors as key variables to relate CO 2 sink loss and CO 2 emissions per period. Results show that MMA increased 2.6 times its size from 30,761 to 80,962 ha. It is estimated that 28,393 ha of vegetation was removed including scrubs, grassland, forest, and agricultural land with a potential of absorption of 373,900 T CO 2 per year. In terms of CO2 emissions, the average per urban block in 2015 was 258 TCO 2. This investigation intents to establish an historical baseline of carbon emissions for the Mexican context due to urban land change and rapid urbanization by having a consistent comparison in intervals of five years considering the variables mentioned above and identify the magnitude of association with the Pearson's statistical test. It also gives the different research lines that will serve to complement the study to achieve a complete urban carbon budget for Mexican cities by using information that is yearly available that can guide future environmental policy and complement Local Urban Development Plans.

Predicting the Future of Protected Areas in the Region of the Highest Population Density in Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT The landscape surrounding protected areas (PAs) plays a big role in supporting the achievement of conservation goals. This paper examines demographic dynamics in the vicinity of Akagera National Park (ANP) both in time and space, considers its implication on land-use/land-cover (LULC) change of one of its neighboring districts, and involves the existing environmental planning policies to anticipate the fate of the ANP. Data retrieved from Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority (RLMUA) and from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) were reinforced with field observation and Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements taken within Gatsibo district where the study was conducted and injected into a Geographic Information System (GIS) for mapping and analysis. Findings revealed that in the next 50 years, the increasing human settlement and associated social-economic needs will erase any remnant wildlife hotspots in the ‘Unrestricted zone’ of the district and reclaim intrusion in its ‘Restricted zone’ of which ANP is part. This raises imminent fear of growing cases of encroachment of human activities into illegal and high-risk zones and a possible second de-gazettement of the park. The reversal of this trend requires the implementation of the local LULC plan and the promotion of the ecological lifestyle.

Environmental Legislation in European and International Contexts: Legal Practices and Social Planning toward the Circular Economy

Environmental issues and relevant policy plans are steadily involving the circular economy (CE) concept into business development. Such significant approaches to achieve environmentally sustainable economic development, they are supported and reinforced by dissatisfaction with the linear traditional approach of “take-make-dispose” model. This traditional production model is bounded on large quantities of directly accessible resources and energy. Therefore, at this study the transition of the linear take-make-dispose model was investigated toward the circularity approach of cost-effectiveness over eco-efficiency. In this respect the study focused on, mainly European, environmental legislation at the industrial sector and the abiding legal practices and social planning regarding CE. The collective presentation of directives and regulations was accompanied by representing those research considerations, social reflections, and legal practices’ impacting. The challenging issues and the key developmental prospects for future researches have been conclusively denoted.

Avaliação da evapotranspiração estimada pelo MODIS e do balanço hídrico para a bacia do Pontal-Pernambuco

A região semiárida do nordeste do Brasil tem forte tendência de diminuição da precipitação com as mudanças climáticas. Sabe-se que os impactos sociais, econômicos e ambientais serão muito altos se isso vier acontecer. A evapotranspiração e o balanço hídricos são variáveis importantes na tomada de decisão de políticas públicas relacionadas a chuva e recursos hídricos, uma vez que possibilita dar maior conhecimento do fornecimento de água em uma determinada região. Assim, avaliar diferentes metodologias de estimativas dessas variáveis proporciona uma importante contribuição para o planejamento de políticas públicas ambientais. Diante do exposto, este estudo tem o objetivo de avaliar a evapotranspiração estimada com MODIS e balanço hídrico obtido com o Soil Water Assessement Tools (SWAT) para a bacia do Pontal, Pernambuco, Brasil, para o ano de 2016. Os resultados mostram a grande dependência da evapotranspiração real e do escoamento superficial ao volume de chuva da bacia. Foi possível constatar, que as áreas de caatinga preservadas apresentaram as maiores evapotranspiração ao longo do ano. Destaca-se também o volume de água armazenado no solo nessas áreas. O maior volume escoado esteve presente na agropecuária e solo exposto. Esses resultados mostram os impactos das ações antrópicas sobre os recursos naturais da bacia do Pontal que podem acarretar maiores complicações na cobertura solo e balanço hídrico da região. Evaluation of evapotranspiration estimated by MODIS and water balance for the Pontal-Pernambuco basinA B S T R A C TThe semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil has a strong tendency to decrease precipitation with climate change. It is known that the social, economic, and environmental impacts will be very high if this happens. Evapotranspiration and water balance are important variables in public policy decision-making related to rain and water resources, as it allows for greater knowledge of the water supply in each region. Thus, evaluating different estimation methodologies for these variables provides an important contribution to the planning of environmental public policies. Given the above, this study aims to evaluate the evapotranspiration estimated with MODIS and the water balance obtained with the Soil Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) for the Pontal basin, Pernambuco, Brazil, for the year 2016. The results show the great dependence of actual evapotranspiration and runoff on the volume of rainfall in the basin. It was possible to verify that the preserved caatinga areas had the highest evapotranspiration throughout the year. Also noteworthy is the volume of water stored in the soil in these areas. The largest volume drained was present in agriculture and livestock and exposed soil. These results show the impacts of anthropic actions on the natural resources of the Pontal basin, which can lead to greater complications in the region's land cover and water balance.Keywords: Modeling, remote sensing, SWAT, MODIS.

Contribution of the Basilicata region to decarbonisation of the energy system: results of a scenario analysis

This paper investigates the energy system of the Basilicata region (southern Italy) to highlight, through a scenario analysis, its possible future development in compliance with the European Commission's long-term vision. The IEA-ETSAP methodology was utilized to model and analyse the Basilicata energy system in a business-as-usual scenario, based on the assumptions of the 2010 Regional Energy and Environmental Policy Plan, and in two low-carbon scenarios, decarbonisation and high energy efficiency, which, in line with the long-term European strategy, foresee an 85% carbon dioxide emission reduction and a 20% energy efficiency increase in 2050. The results highlight that electricity production from renewable energy sources (in particular wind energy), strongly supported by the regional policy, goes beyond the Basilicata Regional Energy-Environmental Plan forecast, with a further increase in the decarbonisation scenarios. In addition, solar thermal and highly efficient technologies are adopted in commercial and residential end-use sectors. An additional 9% reduction in energy consumption is achieved in the high energy efficiency scenario by passive houses. The proposed approach shows the usefulness of a modelling framework typically used for national and supranational analyses to support regional authorities in their decision-making process to obtain results in line with the European and national strategies. Application to the Basilicata region shows the usefulness of a consolidated framework for policy assessment at a local scale to assess regional contribution to the achievement of national climate mitigation targets that tend towards climate neutrality.

Spatiotemporal dynamics and exposure analysis of daily PM2.5 using a remote sensing-based machine learning model and multi-time meteorological parameters

Identifying spatiotemporal characteristics of daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations is essential for assessing air quality and understanding the environmental consequences of urbanization. More importantly, exposure analysis can provide basic information for appropriate decision making. This paper demonstrates an integrated method incorporating satellite-based aerosol optical depth, machine learning models and multi-time meteorological parameters to analyze spatiotemporal dynamics and exposure levels of daily PM2.5 in the economically developed Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2016 to 2018. Ten-fold cross validation (CV) was implemented to evaluate the model performance. Compared to the models with daily means of meteorological fields, the models with multi-time meteorological parameters had higher CV coefficient of determination (R2) and lower CV root mean square error (RMSE) values. The model with the best performance achieved sample- (site-) based CV R2 values of 0.88 (0.88) and RMSE values of 10.33 (10.35) μg/m3. The YRD region was seriously polluted (exceeding the World Health Organization Interim Targets-1 standard of 35 μg/m3) during our study period, especially in Jiangsu Province, but with an improving trend. The residents in Zhejiang Province suffered the least from exposure, with 39 days (4% of the total days) characterized as over polluted (daily average > 75 μg/m3) in our study period. Air pollution in Shanghai Municipality mitigated the most from 2016 to 2018. With the advantages of high-accuracy and high-resolution (daily and 0.01 ° × 0.01 ° resolutions), the proposed method can guide for environmental policy planning.

Building capacity for mainstreaming nature-based solutions into environmental policy and landscape planning

Nature-based solutions (NBS) is a term often used to refer to adequate green infrastructure that provides multiple benefits to society whilst addressing societal challenges. They are defined as actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Malta, the smallest member state of the EU, has been characterised by rapid economic growth and urbanisation and Maltese citizens had the highest rate of exposure to pollution, grime or other environmental problems, in the EU. The project ReNature aims to establish and implement a nature-based solutions research strategy for Malta with a vision to promote research and innovation and develop sustainable solutions whilst improving human well-being and tackling environmental challenges. Here, we introduce the opening of ReNature collection of research articles in the Open Access Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) journal to publish unconventional research outputs and training materials. It will host key outputs relating to the sustainable use of biodiversity, biodiversity – ecosystem functioning, green infrastructure and ecosystem service assessments across rural-urban gradients, equitable access to the benefits derived from nature in cities and socio-environmental justice, payments for ecosystem services, and designing nature-based solutions.

Mapping of land-use/land-cover changes and its dynamics in Awash River Basin using remote sensing and GIS

Understanding the dynamics of land-use and land-cover change at a basin scale, including its driving causes, is vital for the development and planning of appropriate environmental management policies and strategies. The aim of this research was to analyse and understand the long-term dynamics of land-use/land-cover changes and population growth in the Awash River Basin (ARB) using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS). Landsat images for 1988, 2002, and 2018 were processed, classified and analysed. The accuracy assessment showed that the classification was relatively acceptable and effective in detecting the long-term land-use changes in ARB. Cropland increased by 12% between 1988 and 2002, and by 2018 it had increased by 15%. Similarly, the built-up area expanded by 52 km2 (184%) between 1988 and 2002, and by 2018 it had reached 225%. The analysis showed that the cropland and built-up area expanded at the expense of forest and shrubland, with shrubland and forest reducing by 4% and 25% respectively over the 30 year study period. Higher levels of deforestation, combined with population growth, urbanization and cropland expansion, have impacted on the available water resources and runoff in the area. The findings from this study can help in the design of sustainable environmental management strategies and practices to ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem and natural resources. The results can also be used to address food security issues in the ARB since we see an increasing trend in population growth with a commensurate decrease in agricultural land, thereby increasing food security concerns.

Coleta e Reciclagem de Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos: Contribuição ao Debate da Sustentabilidade Ambiental

Objetivo (obrigatório): Refletir sobre a coleta seletiva dos resíduos sólidos urbanos e o que acarreta à sociedade o consumo desenfreado sem considerar o descarte dos produtos que ela própria consome.Método (obrigatório): O método é um estudo de caso com pesquisa qualitativa, contemplando dados secundários do IBGE, PMGIRS, PERS e do SNIS. Aplicaram-se questionários à SMMASS; à Conesul e à COOMCAT.Originalidade/Relevância (obrigatório): Centra-se nas discussões sobre a coleta seletiva com vistas à reciclagem de resíduos sólidos urbanos, em Santa Cruz do Sul-RS, pela perspectiva do desenvolvimento local e regional.Resultados (obrigatório): A questão educacional-ambiental é igualmente uma estratégia de enfrentamento dos problemas relacionados à reciclagem dos resíduos sólidos urbanos. Embora haja leis aprovados desde 2010 somente a legislação vigente ainda é insuficiente. Falta interesse da sociedade no correto descarte dos resíduos urbanos o que revela indiferença com quem trabalha na reciclagem (catadores). É importante trabalhar com a qualidade de vida no intuito de promover o desenvolvimento local e regional.Contribuições teóricas/metodológicas (obrigatório): O referencial teórico está estruturado a partir da abordagem sobre a política de planejamento no âmbito dos resíduos sólidos urbanos e as discussões sobre os estilos de vida e a educação ambiental a partir do consumo e do descarte dos resíduos sólidos urbanos. Ao final, apresenta-se o caso dos resíduos sólidos urbanos, em Santa Cruz do Sul-RS. Esta pesquisa discute ainda como a coleta seletiva e o processo de reciclagem de resíduos sólidos urbanos estão pautados no contexto das políticas de planejamento ambiental, no município de Santa Cruz do Sul-RS, no período de 2013 a 2016, e a partir da vigência do Plano Municipal de Gestão Integrada de Resíduos Sólidos (PMGIRS).Contribuições sociais / para a gestão (opcional): Ressalta-se a importância de trabalhar a conscientização ambiental na coleta seletiva de resíduos sólidos, juntamente com as questões socioambientais desde cedo, por meio de uma postura educacional, assim como o entendimento de que somos todos corresponsáveis pelo que a sociedade produz e descarta.

Effects of green space on walking: Does size, shape and density matter?

The role of the built environment in improving public health through fostering physical activity has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. This study investigates relationships between walking activity and the configuration of green spaces in Greater London. Pedestrian activity for N = 54,910 walking trip stages is gathered through the London Travel Demand Survey (LTDS), with routes between origin and destination mapped onto the street network from the Integrated Transport Network of Ordnance Survey. Green spaces were extracted from UKMap and agglomerated to form London’s hundreds of parks. Regressions of pedestrian activity on park configuration, controlling for built environment metrics, revealed that catchments around smaller parks have more walking trips. Irregularity of park shape has the opposite effect. Park density, measured as number of parks inside a catchment, is insignificant in regression. Parks adjacent to retail areas were associated with pronounced increases in walking. The study contributes to landscape, urban management, environmental policy and urban planning and design literature. The evidence provides implications for performance-oriented policy and design decisions that configure a city’s green spaces to improve citizens’ public health through enhancing walkability.

Does Environmental Walkability Matter? The Role of Walkable Environment in Active Commuting.

Since walkability plays an important role in active commuting, several cities are actively promoting its integration into urban and environmental planning policies. This study examined the association between walkability and active commuting in Seoul, Korea. A multilevel logistic regression model was used to examine the correlation between Walkability Score and the probability of active commuting after controlling for individual variables. The analysis used 129,044 individual samples nested within 424 administrative districts (dongs). In this study, three models were tested: Model 1 contained only individual variables, Model 2 contained individual variables and Walkability Score, and Model 3 included neighborhood-level variables in addition to the variables of Model 2. The results showed that the Walkability Score was significantly correlated with the odds of active commuting. Specifically, every additional one-point increase in Walkability Score was associated with 0.3% higher odds of active commuting (Model 2: odds ratio (OR) = 1.003, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.001–1.005; Model 3: OR = 1.003, 95% CI = 1.001–1.006). Additionally, public transportation density was also positively correlated with the odds of active commuting. The odds of active commuting were positively correlated with younger age, female, lower-income, and having no car. Based on the findings, policy recommendations in urban planning and design, transport engineering, and environmental planning are provided.

Impact of Urbanization on PM2.5-Related Health and Economic Loss in China 338 Cities.

According to the requirements of the Healthy China Program, reasonable assessment of residents’ health risks and economic loss caused by urban air pollution is of great significance for environmental health policy planning. Based on the data of PM2.5 concentration, population density, and urbanization level of 338 Chinese cities in the year of 2015, the epidemiological relative risk (RR) was adopted to estimate the negative health effects caused by exposure to PM2.5. Meanwhile, the Value of Statistical Life (VSL) and Cost of Illness (COI) methods were used to calculate economic loss. The results show that PM2.5 pollution remains serious in 2015, which brings about many people suffering from all kinds of fearful health problems especially premature death and related diseases. The mortality and morbidity increase dramatically, and the total direct economic loss related to PM2.5 pollution in 2015 was 1.846 trillion yuan, accounting for 2.73% of total annual GDP. In addition, there was a strong correlation between urbanization level and health risks as well as economic loss, which implies that people who live in highly urbanized cities may face more severe health and economic losses. Furthermore, 338 cities were divided into four categories based on urbanization level and economic loss, of which the key areas (type D) were the regions where an increase in monitoring and governance is most needed. In the process of urbanization, policy makers should pay more attention to health costs and regional differentiated management, as well as promote the construction of healthy cities more widely.