Natural Environment and Health: The Effect of Socio-Cultural Context on Health Effects of Natural Environments

Dear Colleagues,

We are organizing a Special Issue on “Natural Environment and Health: The Effect of Socio-Cultural Context on Health Effects of Natural Environments” in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The venue is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes articles and communications in the interdisciplinary area of environmental health sciences and public health. For detailed information on the journal, we refer you to http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph. 

As the proportion of the global population living in urban areas continues to rise, the opportunities for humans to interact with natural environments reduce. There is a convergent literature suggesting that access to green and blue spaces (i.e., natural environments) is important for health, particularly mental health. However, it is also increasingly apparent that the context, in terms of the socio-demographic, cultural and geographical factors, might dictate the extent, or even the existence of such health protective effects. For example, there is evidence that the strength of associations can vary with socio-economic status and ethnicity, and that an association between natural environment exposure and health observed in one city or country cannot be assumed in another, where a range of cultural and other contextual factors are at play. Moreover, the majority of natural environment-health research is from high income countries, with a dearth of evidence from low-middle income countries.

This Special Issue seeks to further or understanding of how the various cultural and contextual factors influence the potential health benefits of natural environments. Papers that can add to this area are invited. Studies might include, but are not limited to: Multi-city or international analyses; studies that include low income counties; qualitative research; and studies that include various ethnic, cultural or socioeconomic groups. We welcome papers not only on presenting novel results, but also papers presenting methodological aspects, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Dr. Christopher J. Gidlow
Prof. Dr. Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.