Special Issue "Greening Cities for Improved Health"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Izhak Schnell
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography and Human Environment, Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
Interests: environmental, social and cultural geography

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cities are widely recognized as risky environments for human beings. Risks to health and wellbeing are measured in three groups of indices: physiological, such as through heart rate variability that affects the autonomic nervous system, salivary cortisol, and electric conductivity; emotional, such as sense of discomfort, cheerfulness, and relaxation; and cognitive, such as through memory tests and perceived restoration index. The environmental factors that are analyzed in studies include physical factors like noise, thermal load, and air pollution, and social factors like sense of discomfort, crime, transportation, and access to health services. Some studies even argue that stress and risk to health are intrinsic to urban environments and that restoration is intrinsic to green environments. Additional discussion then develops about the spaces that can be greened and their effect on city environments. The effect of size and distribution of parks, vegetation on houses walls and roofs, and the effects of different types of vegetation are also discussed.

Despite the large number of studies on the topic, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how to optimize the greening of cities for the best effect on health.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to add knowledge to the knowhow regarding greening of our cities. We invite authors to raise awareness on different aspects of the problem or to contribute relevant knowledge to any of the aspects of this issue as mentioned in the introduction.

Prof. Dr. Izhak Schnell
Guest Editor

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 papers will be 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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 1900 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.

Keywords

  • urban greenery
  • risk to health
  • wellbeing
  • environmental risk factors

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
How Perceived Adequacy of Open Public Space Is Related to Objective Green Space and Individuals’ Opinions of Area-Level Quality
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8516; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158516 - 30 Jul 2021
Viewed by 333
Abstract
There is substantial evidence of links between green spaces and better health status. However, the ways in which green space are measured are varied, including both objective and subjective measures. This paper examines factors associated with individuals’ perceiving a lack of open public [...] Read more.
There is substantial evidence of links between green spaces and better health status. However, the ways in which green space are measured are varied, including both objective and subjective measures. This paper examines factors associated with individuals’ perceiving a lack of open public space, including the objective quantity of green space and wider problems in the area. This is analysed using a combination of principal component analysis and logistic regression. We use data from the Healthy Ireland Survey 2016, a cross sectional survey of over 7000 adults in Ireland. The results suggest that objective green space has a significant negative association with whether an individual perceives a problem with lack of open public space. The analysis also reveals that area safety, area cleanliness, and area service provision are important factors explaining perceived adequacy of open public space. The findings of this analysis have implications for the methods by which researchers and policymakers measure and analyse green space in an area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Greening Cities for Improved Health)
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