Search Results (589)

The global rise in urban-related health issues poses significant challenges to public health, particularly in cities facing socio-economic crises. In Lebanon, 70% of the population is experiencing financial hardship, and healthcare costs have surged by 172%, exacerbating the strain on medical services. Given these conditions, improving the quality and accessibility of green spaces offers a promising avenue for alleviating mental health issues in urban areas. This study investigates the psychological impact of nine urban public spaces in Beirut through a comprehensive survey methodology, involving 297 participants (locals and tourists) who rated these spaces using Likert-scale measures. The findings reveal location-specific barriers, with Saanayeh Park rated highest in quality and Martyr’s Square rated lowest. The analysis identifies facility quality as the most significant factor influencing space quality, contributing 73.6% to the overall assessment, while activity factors have a lesser impact. The study further highlights a moderate positive association (Spearman’s rho = 0.30) between public space quality and mental well-being in Beirut. This study employs a hybrid methodology combining Research for Design (RfD) and Research Through Designing (RTD). Empirical data informed spatial strategies, while iterative design served as a tool for generating context-specific knowledge. Design enhancements—such as sensory plantings, shading systems, and social nodes—aim to improve well-being through better public space quality. The proposed interventions support mental health, life satisfaction, climate resilience, and urban inclusivity. The findings offer actionable insights for cities facing public health and spatial equity challenges in crisis contexts. Full article

Urban residential design influences local microclimates and human thermal comfort. This study combines empirical microclimate data with remotely sensed data on tree canopy cover, housing lot size, surface permeability, and roof colour to examine thermal differences between three newly built and three established residential suburbs in Western Sydney, Australia. Established areas featured larger housing lots and mature street trees, while newly developed suburbs had smaller lots and limited vegetation cover. Microclimate data were collected during summer 2021 under both heatwave and non-heatwave conditions in full sun, measuring air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) as an index of heat stress. Daily maximum air temperatures reached 42.7 °C in new suburbs, compared to 39.3 °C in established ones (p < 0.001). WBGT levels during heatwaves were in the “extreme caution” category in new suburbs, while remaining in the “caution” range in established ones. These findings highlight the benefits of larger green spaces, permeable surfaces, and lighter roof colours in the context of urban heat exposure. Maintaining mature trees and avoiding dark roofs can significantly reduce summer heat and improve outdoor thermal comfort across a range of conditions. Results of this work can inform bottom-up approaches to climate-responsive urban design where informed homeowners can influence development outcomes. Full article

Geographic disparities threaten equitable access for children to health-promoting safe green spaces, and quality early education in the communities in which they live and grow. To address gaps in the field, we integrated the fields of developmental psychology, public health, and environmental science to examine, at the population level, associations between the environmental burden, socioeconomic vulnerability, and kindergarten readiness in a diverse urban county. Three administrative datasets were integrated through an early childhood data sharing research partnership in Miami-Dade County. The Bruner Child Raising Vulnerability Index, the five domains of the Environmental Burden module from the Environmental Justice Index, and public school kindergarten readiness scores were aggregated at the census tract level. Analysis of variance and multiple regression analyses found associations between socioeconomic vulnerability and race/ethnicity. The socioeconomic vulnerability levels were highest in census tracts with a higher percentage of Black residents, compared to all other races/ethnicities. Areas of greater social vulnerability had lower kindergarten readiness and a higher environmental burden. A higher environmental burden predicted lower kindergarten readiness scores above and beyond race/ethnicity and socioeconomic vulnerability. The findings advance our understanding of global challenges to sustainable healthy child development, such as the persistence of a disproportionate environmental burden and inequitable access to resources such as green spaces and early education programs. The present study results can inform community health improvement plans to reduce risk exposures and promote greater access to positive environmental and educational resources for all children. Full article

Urban green spaces are increasingly recognized as important habitats for pollinators, and wildflower seed mixes marketed as pollinator-friendly are gaining popularity, though their actual conservation value remains poorly understood. This study provides the first systematic screening of commercially available seed mixes in Portugal, evaluating their taxonomic composition, origin, life cycle traits, and potential to support pollinator communities. A total of 229 seed mixes were identified. Although these have a predominance of native species (median 86%), the taxonomic diversity was limited, with 91% of mixes comprising species from only one or two families, predominantly Poaceae and Fabaceae, potentially restricting the range of floral resources available to pollinators. Only 21 seed mixes met the criteria for being pollinator-friendly, based on a three-step decision tree prioritizing native species, extended flowering periods, and visual diversity. These showed the highest percentage of native species (median 87%) and a greater representation of flowering plants. However, 76% of all mixes still included at least one non-native species, although none is considered invasive. Perennial species dominated all seed mix types, indicating the potential for the long-term persistence of wildflower meadows in urban spaces. Despite their promise, the ecological quality and transparency of the seed mix composition remain inconsistent, with limited certification or information on species origin. This highlights the need for clearer labeling, regulatory guidance, and ecologically informed formulations. Seed mixes, if properly designed and implemented, represent a largely untapped yet cost-effective tool for enhancing the pollinator habitats and biodiversity within urban landscapes. Full article

In high-density and land-scarce urban environments such as Taipei—a typical example of compact development in East Asia—informal green spaces (IGSs)—defined as unmanaged or unplanned vegetated urban areas such as vacant lots, street verges, and railway margins—play a growing role in urban environmental and social dynamics. This study explores residents’ perceptions of IGSs and examines how these spaces contribute to urban sustainability and land governance. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines the literature review, field observations, and a structured public opinion survey in Taipei’s Wenshan District, the study identifies key perceived benefits and drawbacks of IGSs. Findings show that residents highly value IGSs for enhancing urban greenery, offering recreational opportunities, and promoting physical and mental health. However, concerns persist regarding safety, sanitation, and maintenance—particularly fears of waste accumulation, mosquito breeding, and risks to children. The results highlight the dual nature of IGSs as both vital ecological assets and potential sources of urban disorder. These insights underscore the need for inclusive, community-based governance models that can transform IGSs into legitimate components of green infrastructure. The study contributes to emerging discussions on adaptive urban land governance by proposing that informal spaces be strategically integrated into urban planning frameworks to enhance environmental equity, resilience, and citizen well-being. Full article

Visual perception of screen elements depends on their color, font, and position in the user interface design. Objects in the central part of the screen are perceived more easily than those in the peripheral areas. However, the peripheral space is valuable for applications like advertising and promotion and should not be overlooked. Optimizing the design of elements in this area can improve user attention to peripheral visual stimuli during focused tasks. This study aims to evaluate how different combinations of text and background color affect the visibility of moving textual stimuli in the peripheral areas of the screen, while attention is focused on a central task. This study investigates how background color, combined with white or black text, affects the attention of participants. It also identifies which background color makes a specific word most noticeable in the peripheral part of the screen. We designed quizzes to present stimuli with black or white text on various background colors in the peripheral regions of the screen. The background colors tested were blue, red, yellow, green, white, and black. While saturation and brightness were kept constant, the color tone was varied. Among ten combinations of background and text color, we aimed to determine the most noticeable combination in the peripheral part of the screen. The combination of white text on a blue background resulted in the shortest detection time (1.376 s), while black text on a white background achieved the highest accuracy rate at 79%. The results offer valuable insights for improving peripheral text visibility in user interfaces across various visual communication domains such as video games, television content, and websites, where peripheral information must remain noticeable despite centrally focused user attention and complex viewing conditions. Full article

The “Green Riyadh” project in Saudi Arabia represents a major initiative to enhance urban sustainability by expanding green spaces throughout Riyadh City. The initiative aims to improve air and water quality, increase tree and plant coverage, and promote environmental well-being for city residents. However, accurately assessing the extent and quality of green spaces remains a significant challenge. Current methods for evaluating green areas and measuring tree density are limited in precision and reliability, preventing effective monitoring and planning. This paper proposes an innovative solution that leverages live satellite imagery and advanced deep learning techniques to address these challenges. We collect extensive satellite data from two sources and then build two separate analytical pipelines. These pipelines process high-resolution satellite imagery to identify trees and measure green density in vegetated areas. The experimental results show significant improvements in accuracy and efficiency, with the YOLOv11 model achieving a mAP@50 of 95.4%, precision of 94.6%, and recall of 90.2%. These findings offer a scalable and reliable alternative to traditional methods, enabling comprehensive progress evaluation and facilitating informed decision-making for urban planning. The proposed methodology not only supports the objectives of the “Green Riyadh” project but also sets a benchmark for green space evaluation that can be adopted by cities worldwide. Full article

Due to global warming, the impact of heat waves on the sentimental health of urban residents has significantly intensified. However, the associative mechanism between diverse urban functional layouts and residents’ emotions at the street scale remains underexplored. Taking the five core urban areas of Chengdu as an example, this study used natural language processing technology to quantify the sentiments in social media texts and combined traditional geographical information for spatial analysis and correlation analysis, to explore the spatial distribution pattern of sentiments during heat waves (SDHW), as well as the correlation between SDHW and the functional categories of streets (FCS). The findings are as follows: (1) There are significant differences in the spatial distribution pattern of residents’ sentiments in the five core urban areas, and positive emotions within the Second Ring Road exhibit a higher proportion than those of peripheral areas, while negative sentiments are more gathered in the eastern area. (2) The street categories of green space, park, and public show a significant promoting role on residents’ positive sentiments. (3) There is an association between the industrial and commercial categories and negative sentiments, and the impact of the traffic category on residents’ sentiments shows spatial differences. (4) The combination of the residential category and other functional categories has a strong correlation with sentiments, indicating that a reasonable functional combination within residential areas plays a crucial role in promoting residents’ positive sentiments. The current study revealed the influence mechanism of the functional categories of streets on residents’ sentiments during heat waves, providing a scientific basis from the sentimental dimension for the optimization of street functional categories, heat wave emergency management, and the construction of resilient cities. Full article

Urban park vitality, a key indicator of public space performance, has garnered significant research attention. However, existing studies often neglect the temporal variability in vitality patterns, thus failing to accurately reflect actual park performance and limiting their relevance for strategic urban planning and sustainable resource allocation. This study constructs a “temporal behavior–spatial attributes–park typology” framework using high-precision (50 m) mobile signaling data to capture hourly vitality fluctuations in 59 parks of Hangzhou’s Gongshu District. Using dynamic time-warping-optimized K-means clustering, we identify three vitality types—Morning-Exercise-Dominated, All-Day-Balanced, and Evening-Aggregation-Dominated—revealing distinct weekday/weekend usage rhythms linked to park typology (e.g., community vs. comprehensive parks). Geographical Detector analysis shows that vitality correlates with spatial attributes in time-specific ways; weekend morning vitality is driven by park size and surrounding POI density, while weekday evening vitality depends on interactions between facility density and residential population. These findings highlight how transportation accessibility and commercial amenities shape temporal vitality, informing time-sensitive strategies such as extended evening hours for suburban parks and targeted facility upgrades in residential areas. By bridging vitality patterns with strategic planning demands, the study advances the understanding of how sustainable park management can optimize resource efficiency and enhance public space equity, offering insights for urban green infrastructure planning in other regions. Full article

High density old districts at the urban fringes of Asian megacities, such as Shenzhen, face significant thermal challenges due to dense building clusters, limited airflow, and heat retention. This study adopts an integrated approach combining Phoenics wind simulation, geographic information system (GIS) modeling, and spatial prototype analysis to assess and optimize the wind and thermal environments in these urban areas. It investigates how spatial configurations, including building density, height distribution, orientation, and green space integration, influence wind flow and thermal comfort. The results demonstrate that optimized spatial arrangements, including reduced building density, height adjustments, and strategic landscape design, improve ventilation and temperature regulation. Comparative analyses of different spatial prototypes reveal that radial configurations effectively channel external winds into the urban core, enhancing internal airflow, whereas rectangular layouts create wind shadows that hinder ventilation. Adjustments to building façades and vertical arrangements further mitigate pedestrian-level heat accumulation. Interventions in public spaces, including green roofs and vertical greening, offer cooling benefits and mitigate urban heat island effects. This study underscores the importance of aligning urban design with natural wind flow and offers a framework for sustainable landscape and architectural strategies in high-density, heat-prone environments. The findings offer valuable insights for urban planners and policymakers seeking sustainable development in similar megacities. Full article

The inequity in the distribution of green spaces in megacities has a detrimental effect on the physical and mental well-being of their inhabitants, highlighting the necessity for careful and strategic urban planning, along with appropriate regulatory interventions. Nevertheless, scholarly articles addressing the equity of access to urban green spaces primarily concentrate on urban parks, with limited studies examining the influence of alternative types of green spaces. This research initially recognized and categorized informal green spaces (IGS) located within the Third Ring Road of Chengdu, utilizing the UGS-1m dataset and area of interest (AOI) data, in accordance with a well-defined classification framework. Then, the G2SFCA method and Gini coefficient were employed to assess the impact of IGS on the green space accessibility, especially scenario analysis of open and shared use of green space. The findings indicate that (1) IGS in the narrow sense constitute 21.2% of the overall green spaces within the study area, resulting in a reduction of the Gini coefficient by 0.103; (2) IGS in the broad sense, including public affiliated green spaces, shows an even more positive effect on improving the equity of green space supply, with a reduction of the Gini coefficient by 0.28; (3) there exists great spatial disparity in accessibility improvement effect by different types of IGS, so public policies must be customized to reflect local circumstances, taking into account the practicality and associated costs of management and maintenance of various IGS as well as accessibility enhancement; (4) certain older residential areas may not be amenable to effective enhancement through the use of IGS alone, and these should then adopt a multidimensional greening strategy such as green-roof. The findings of this research offer valuable insights for the planning and management of green spaces in densely populated urban environments, thereby aiding in the development of more refined models for the development of “Garden Cities”. Full article

This study addresses the problem of locating urban green spaces. Public health policies encompass a set of activities aimed at protecting individuals’ physical integrity and well-being, where prevention plays a critical role at both individual and collective levels. Having green spaces in urban areas is essential for providing mental relaxation, stimulating social cohesion and supporting physical activity. However, deciding where to place these green spaces is challenging, as various types of information must be considered, and the impact of such decisions needs thorough evaluation and visualization. To tackle this issue, we propose a methodology that combines mathematical programming with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS tools are crucial for capturing and incorporating real-world data, which supports the mathematical model and helps visualize solutions. Our proposed multi-objective model aims to maximize coverage and equity. We demonstrate the application of this methodology with a case study focused on Valencia, Spain, where 20 potential locations were identified, and five were selected. Full article

The article presents an innovative methodology supporting sustainable urban development through the strategic expansion of green infrastructure in Warsaw, based on the 3-30-300 concept. The proposed approach integrates a multi-criteria Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP) with Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, enabling objective and precise identification of suitable locations for new parks of at least 1 hectare in size. The analysis considers five key factors: distance from populated areas, land cover and use, surface temperature, proximity to nuisance facilities, and an NDVI index value. The study results demonstrated a significant increase in green space accessibility across the city. In all districts of Warsaw, the number of residential buildings meeting the criterion of a maximum 300 m distance to a park or forest increased—from 2% in Rembertów to 32% in Wilanów. The districts of Ursynów and Wilanów exceeded the 30% green space coverage threshold, while Białołęka reached 29%. These results indicate the real potential to achieve the goals of the 3-30-300 concept, contributing simultaneously to sustainable urban development, improved quality of life, mitigation of the urban heat island effect, increased biodiversity, and enhanced climate change adaptation. Spatial limitations related to high-density development were also identified—many districts lack available space for large parks. A viable solution supporting balanced development may lie in implementing smaller green forms, such as green squares or micro-parks, particularly in areas of planned development. The proposed methodology serves as a practical tool to support land-use management and sustainable spatial planning, addressing contemporary environmental, social, and urban challenges. Full article

Climate-amplified extreme heat events are particularly dangerous for city dwellers. Nature-based solutions such as urban greening may serve as an effective preventative strategy against extreme heat. Driven by historical injustices such as redlining, disadvantaged communities often face limited green space and a heightened risk of vulnerability to extreme heat in urban environments. This paper investigates community engagement strategies for heat-vulnerable community participation in urban greening research as a part of a broader transdisciplinary environmental research praxis focused on multistakeholder co-creation. We conducted semi-structured interviews with community leaders in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods in New York City to explore community co-creation in the design and implementation of tree planting, and compared these themes with interviews with urban tree professionals and other community groups. Overall, the participants agreed on broad themes of environmental justice, intergenerational engagement, community building, and socioecological relationships, although community leaders differed in both a greater emphasis of experiential knowledge and reduced focus on volunteer community stewardship. The findings inform our research process and associated community engagement, including building online resources and addressing community-specific concerns during the research process. We conclude by recommending future steps for facilitating multistakeholder conversations to build inclusive and equitable urban greening heat-adaptive strategies. Full article

Analyzing the population’s access to ecosystem services offered by urban greening constitutes a measure of environmental justice, as it directly affects the quality of life and health of the population living in cities. This article is committed to proposing a geoenvironmental model in a geographic information system (GIS), envisaged to estimate the share of urban forests and green spaces in territorial planning units (TPUs), corresponding to neighborhoods of a pilot city, using high-spatial-resolution images of the China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS-4A) and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). These data were combined by means of a Boolean analysis with social vulnerability indicators assessed from census data related to income, education, housing, and sanitation. This model ultimately aims to identify priority areas for urban afforestation in the context of environmental justice and is thus targeted to improve the inhabitants’ quality of life. The municipality of Goiânia, the capital of Goiás state, located in the Brazilian Central–West Region, was chosen as the study area for this experiment. Goiânia presents 19.5% of its urban territory (82.36 km²) covered by vegetation. The analyses indicate an inequity in the distribution of urban forest patches and green areas in this town, where 7.8% of the total TPUs have low priority, 28.2% have moderate to low priority, 42.2% have moderate to high priority, and 21.8% have high priority for urban afforestation. This urban greening imbalance is particularly observed in its most urbanized central nuclei, associated with a peripheralization of social vulnerability. These findings are meant to support initiatives towards sound territorial planning processes designed to promote more sustainable and equal development to ensure environmental justice and combat climate change. Full article