Urban Green Space: Creating a Triple Win for Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Health Equity through Behavior Change

Kruize, Hanneke; van der Vliet, Nina; Staatsen, Brigit; Bell, Ruth; Chiabai, Aline; Muiños, Gabriel; Higgins, Sahran; Quiroga, Sonia; Martinez-Juarez, Pablo; Aberg Yngwe, Monica; Tsichlas, Fotis; Karnaki, Pania; Lima, Maria Luísa; García de Jalón, Silvestre; Khan, Matluba; Morris, George; Stegeman, Ingrid

doi:10.3390/ijerph16224403

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Urban Green Space: Creating a Triple Win for Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Health Equity through Behavior Change

^1,*,

¹,

¹,

²,

³,

⁴,

⁵,

⁶

Pablo Martinez-Juarez

^6,7,

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⁹,

⁹,

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Silvestre García de Jalón

³,

Matluba Khan

George Morris

⁵ and

Ingrid Stegeman

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Centre for Sustainability, Environment and Health, RIVM, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Institute of Health Equity, UCL, London WC1E 7HB, UK

Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), 48940 Leioa, Spain

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Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal

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European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro TR1 3HD, UK

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Department of Economics, Universidad de Alcalá, Plaza de la Victoria, 2, E-28802 Alcalá de Henares, Spain

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Health Economics Group, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter EX1 2LU, UK

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Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Institutionen för folkhälsovetenskap, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

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Institute of Preventive Medicine Environmental & Occupational Health, Prolepsis, 7, Fragoklisias street, 151 25 Marousi, Greece

¹⁰

EuroHealthNet, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(22), 4403; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224403

Received: 30 September 2019 / Revised: 31 October 2019 / Accepted: 7 November 2019 / Published: 11 November 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue A More Sustainable and Healthier Future for All: What Works?)

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Abstract

Urbanization, costs of green space maintenance, and diminishing connection between people and nature all exert pressures on urban green space. This is regrettable as green space has the potential to create wins for environmental sustainability, health, and health equity. This paper explores this potential triple win and investigates how to increase the use of urban green space through behavior change. A narrative literature review was conducted and was supplemented with literature suggested by experts. Results show that creating well-designed green spaces and stimulating people to use them can indeed deliver this triple win. Providing accessible, attractive, well-maintained green space with room for socialization, and where people feel safe, may increase the opportunity and motivation of people to use it more often. Informing and educating people and organizing activities may increase capability (and motivation) to use green space. Since the use of green space depends on life stage, lifestyle factors and individual values, it is important to involve potential users in its design. We recommend a specific focus on those groups who may benefit most from the use of green space. More evaluation is needed to inform effective green space interventions and to assess related economic, social, and environmental benefits. View Full-Text

Keywords: green space; health; environmental sustainability; health equity; behavior change

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Kruize, H.; van der Vliet, N.; Staatsen, B.; Bell, R.; Chiabai, A.; Muiños, G.; Higgins, S.; Quiroga, S.; Martinez-Juarez, P.; Aberg Yngwe, M.; Tsichlas, F.; Karnaki, P.; Lima, M.L.; García de Jalón, S.; Khan, M.; Morris, G.; Stegeman, I. Urban Green Space: Creating a Triple Win for Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Health Equity through Behavior Change. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 4403. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224403

AMA Style

Kruize H, van der Vliet N, Staatsen B, Bell R, Chiabai A, Muiños G, Higgins S, Quiroga S, Martinez-Juarez P, Aberg Yngwe M, Tsichlas F, Karnaki P, Lima ML, García de Jalón S, Khan M, Morris G, Stegeman I. Urban Green Space: Creating a Triple Win for Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Health Equity through Behavior Change. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(22):4403. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224403

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kruize, Hanneke, Nina van der Vliet, Brigit Staatsen, Ruth Bell, Aline Chiabai, Gabriel Muiños, Sahran Higgins, Sonia Quiroga, Pablo Martinez-Juarez, Monica Aberg Yngwe, Fotis Tsichlas, Pania Karnaki, Maria L. Lima, Silvestre García de Jalón, Matluba Khan, George Morris, and Ingrid Stegeman. 2019. "Urban Green Space: Creating a Triple Win for Environmental Sustainability, Health, and Health Equity through Behavior Change" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 22: 4403. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224403

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