Urban Green Spaces: Public Health and Sustainability in the United States

By Viniece Jennings, Matthew H. E. M. Browning and Alessandro Rigolon

This book crosses disciplinary boundaries to investigate how the benefits of green spaces can be further incorporated in public health. In this regard, the book highlights how ecosystem services provided by green spaces affect multiple aspects of human health and well-being, offering a strategic way to conceptualize the topic. 

For centuries, scholars have observed the range of health benefits associated with exposure to nature. As people continue to move to urban areas, it is essential to include green spaces in cities to ensure sustained human health and well-being. Such insights can not only advance the science but also spark interdisciplinary research and help researchers creatively translate their findings into benefits for the public. The book explores this topic in the context of ‘big picture’ frameworks that enhance communication between the environmental, public health, and social sciences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: Mar 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9783030104696

Book preview

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Viniece Jennings, Matthew H. E. M. Browning and Alessandro Rigolon

Urban Green SpacesPublic Health and Sustainability in the United States

../images/428377_1_En_BookFrontmatter_Figa_HTML.png

Viniece Jennings

Integrating Human and Natural Systems, US Forest Service, Athens, GA, USA

Matthew H. E. M. Browning

Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, IL, USA

Alessandro Rigolon

Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, University of Illinois, Urban–Champaign, IL, USA

ISSN 2211-4165e-ISSN 2211-4173

SpringerBriefs in Geography

ISBN 978-3-030-10468-9e-ISBN 978-3-030-10469-6

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10469-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018965436

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

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Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.​1 Our Approach 2

1.​2 The Need for This Book Today 4

1.​3 Roadmap for This Book 5

References 5

2 Friend or Foe?​ An Overview of the Services and Disservices from Urban Green Spaces 7

2.​1 Introduction 8

2.​2 Green Space as a Friend 8

2.​3 Human Health Benefits of Green Space 9

2.​4 Community Revitalization Benefits of Green Space 17

2.​5 Ecological Benefits of Green Space 19

2.​6 Green Space as a Foe 21

2.​7 Health Concerns from Green Space 21

2.​8 Environmental Gentrification Concerns Related to Green Space 23

2.​9 Conclusion 24

References 25

3 Cultural Ecosystem Services Meet Broader Frameworks in Public Health 31

3.​1 Introduction 31

3.​2 Frameworks Linking Public Health and the Natural Environment 32

3.​3 Growing Awareness of the Public Health–Cultural Ecosystem Service Link 34

3.​4 Green Space Interventions in Public Health 36

3.​4.​1 Examples 36

3.​5 Implementation and Best Practices 40

3.​6 The Dose–Response Relationship 43

3.​7 Conclusion 44

References 44

4 Urban Green Space at the Nexus of Environmental Justice and Health Equity 47

4.​1 Introduction 47

4.​2 Research Highlights from Environmental Justice Studies on Urban Green Space 50

4.​2.​1 Distributional Injustice:​ Tree Cover and Vegetation 51

4.​2.​2 Distributional Injustice:​ Parks, Greenways, and Open Space 53

4.​2.​3 Procedural Injustice:​ What Contributes to Spatial Inequities?​ 54

4.​2.​4 Interactional Justice:​ Barriers to Meaningful Green Space Experiences for Marginalized Groups 56

4.​3 Green Space and Gaps in Health 57

4.​4 The Connection to Health Equity 58

4.​5 Conclusion 61

References 64

5 Planning Urban Green Spaces in Their Communities:​ Intersectional Approaches for Health Equity and Sustainability 71

5.​1 Introduction 72

5.​2 Intersectional Green Space Planning and Its Values 73

5.​3 Data Sources and Analysis 75

5.​4 Analysis of Green Space Planning Frameworks and Projects 76

5.​5 Intersections Between Recreation and Water Management 78

5.​5.​1 Frameworks 78

5.​5.​2 Projects 80

5.​6 Intersection Between Recreation, Transportation, and Land Use 82

5.​6.​1 Frameworks 83

5.​6.​2 Projects 86

5.​7 Intersections Between Recreation and Housing 87

5.​7.​1 Frameworks 87

5.​7.​2 Projects 88

5.​8 Advantages and Limitations of Intersectional Approaches:​ A Summary 90

5.​8.​1 Advantages 91

5.​8.​2 Limitations 91

5.​8.​3 Ways Forward 93

5.​9 Conclusion 93

References 95

6 Concluding Thoughts 101

References 102

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Viniece Jennings, Matthew H. E. M. Browning and Alessandro RigolonUrban Green SpacesSpringerBriefs in Geographyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10469-6_1

1. Introduction

Viniece Jennings¹  , Matthew H. E. M. Browning²   and Alessandro Rigolon²  

(1)

Integrating Human and Natural Systems, US Forest Service, Athens, GA, USA

(2)

Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, IL, USA

Viniece Jennings (Corresponding author)

Email: [e-mail]

Matthew H. E. M. Browning

Email: [e-mail]

Alessandro Rigolon

Email: [e-mail]

Urban green space includes vegetated areas in cities, such as parks, forests, gardens, and greenways (Taylor and Hochuli 2017). The presence of urban green space and the contact with nature these spaces provide play an important role in human health promotion and urban sustainability. For instance, green spaces offer a number of resources and benefits to humans, which are often described as ecosystem services. Urban green space is also considered as key infrastructure to achieve sustainable development in cities (Chiesura 2004). We understand sustainability as a tripartite concept involving the balance of environmental preservation, economic development, and social equity—often referred to as the three E’s (Campbell 1996).

In urban environments, green space includes a broad range of settings on public and private property, as well as tree canopy that span across these settings (see Fig. 1.1). Professionals such as urban planners, designers, recreation managers, transportation engineers and elected officials create policies and plans that impact the different types of green space included in Fig. 1.1. Producing and maintaining urban green space requires a broadminded view of sustainability, including the three E’s of environmental preservation, economic development, and social equity (Campbell 1996). Ecosystem services provide a framework to conceptualize environmental sustainability and urban green space together. Specifically, the benefits of urban green space can be identified within the ecosystem services framework and compared to preventive medicine and health promotion in ways that warrant further study (Jennings et al. 2016a), especially as it pertains to health disparities experienced by underserved groups such as low-income people and racial/ethnic minority people (Jennings and Johnson Gaither 2015).

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Fig. 1.1

Different types of urban green space

Over 30 years ago, the Brundtland Report proposed a vision of sustainable development that integrates environmental concerns, economic development, and social welfare (Brundtland Commission 1987). This report justified this integration by explaining the interdependence between the built and natural environment, natural resources, people, and economics (Brundtland Commission 1987). Today, the ideals of sustainable development continue to encourage professionals to accommodate the needs of current generations without forfeiting those of the future. Ongoing sustainable development requires urban planners, designers, and other built environment professionals to continue to recalibrate the values of today with the needs of tomorrow.

A key step to support sustainability is understanding the linkages between socio-ecological systems. The United Nations recently identified 17 sustainable development goals in their 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including supporting health and well-being, making sustainable communities, halting land degradation, reducing social inequalities, and others (U.N. 2017). As the world’s urban population continues to increase, it is important to further understand how urban green space (e.g., parks and tree canopy) supports sustained human health and well-being. Although scholars have articulated the benefits of green space to the public health community, the intricacies of this relationship continue to unfold. Studies from around the world have explored the role of urban green space in sustainability (Birch 2008; Chiesura 2004; Rigolon et al. 2018); however, the linkages between green space, sustainability, and health in the United States deserve a deeper discussion.

1.1 Our Approach

In this book, we describe how urban green space relates to public health and some sustainability issues in the United States. Although we do not cover all aspects of sustainability, we integrate different disciplinary perspectives to articulate how sustainability can be incorporated into the public health field and vice versa. For instance, we reinforce how the benefits of urban green space interact with multiple aspects of health and well-being to render strategic ways to conceptualize this topic. Such insights can help advance current scientific and professional debates but also prompt interdisciplinary research and partnerships that creatively translate academic findings to the public.

Urban sustainability, health promotion, and the benefits of urban green space intersect to create mutual areas of interest. Figure 1.2 illustrates these overlapping goals through key findings identified in the U.S. Healthy People 2020 Initiative and a recent report on Pathways to Urban Sustainability, which was published by the National Academy of Sciences (DHHS 2015; National Academies of Sciences 2016). In this book, we use an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes the overlapping goals between the elements included in Fig. 1.2.

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Fig. 1.2

Overlaps between urban sustainability, health promotion, and green space in cities

The Pathways to Urban Sustainability Report (National Academies of Sciences 2016) included key recommendations, such as suggesting that efforts to achieve sustainability in one location should not be at the expense of another location. Also, the report proposes that initiatives should include policies to reduce inequalities, that measurable characteristics to monitor progress should be used, and that policies should be synergistically linked (i.e., environmental, economic, and social) to generate co-benefits (National Academies of Sciences 2016). Healthy People 2020, led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a national health framework. It focuses on a holistic framework in public health with an emphasis on the conditions where people live, work and play—social determinants of health (DHHS 2015).

1.2 The Need for This Book Today

This book comes at a critical time. The United States and other countries around the world are facing a range of pressing concerns related to human health, climate change, and sustainable development. As we will discuss in the rest of this book, urban green space can help address some of these key concerns.

Health concerns in the U.S. include, among others, rising healthcare costs, significant health disparities, and large incidences of obesity. First, healthcare costs in the United States are extremely high compared to other developed countries and expected to continue to increase. In 2013, national spending reached $2.9 trillion, and in 2023, this figure is projected to be $5.1 trillion, a 5.8% annual growth rate (CMS 2015). Increased spending in healthcare costs can be attributed to several social and environmental factors such as physical inactivity, extreme heat events, and the inability to afford preventative health services (Knowlton et al. 2011; World Health Organization 2014). Second, low-income people and people of color in the U.S. tend to report significantly worse health than more privileged groups, which raises health equity issues (Ogden et al. 2014; Barr 2014). Limited access to health care and to physical activity opportunities are two of the drivers of such health disparities (Barr 2014). Third, the U.S. population has one of the highest obesity rates in the world in comparison to large developed countries (The GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators 2017). Over 33% of the U.S. population is considered obese, and the country has the highest rate of childhood obesity in the world (The GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators 2017).

Cities face the challenge of managing a growing population along with an array of environmental and social stressors. For example, factors such as urban sprawl (Hamidi et al. 2018), socioeconomic inequalities (Fuchs and Eggleston 2018), and place of residence can considerably diminish one’s quality of life and overall life expectancy. Likewise, addressing concerns such as social isolation, limited time in the outdoors (i.e., nature deficit) and relaying potential benefits from green space to marginalized groups are critical areas to improve as well pursue a long-term vision of stable cities. Hence, understanding the nexus between green space and urban health is a timely topic of discussion.

Urban green space is not a panacea for U.S. and global concerns related to health promotion and sustainability. Yet, a growing body of research has shown that urban green space may be part of the solutions for these concerns. For example, parks, trees, and greenways