IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i5p612-d799198.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effect of Urban Green Space in the Hilly Environment on Physical Activity and Health Outcomes: Mediation Analysis on Multiple Greenery Measures

Author

Listed:
  • Peijin Sun

    (Research Section of Environment Design, School of Architecture and Fine Art, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, China)

  • Yan Song

    (Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA)

  • Wei Lu

    (Research Section of Environment Design, School of Architecture and Fine Art, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, China)

Abstract

Background: Green spaces reduce the risk of multiple adverse health outcomes by encouraging physical activity. This study examined correlations between urban green space and residents’ health outcomes in hilly neighborhoods: if they are mediated by social cohesion, visual aesthetics, and safety. Methods: We used multiple green space indicators, including normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) extracted from satellite imagery, green view index (GVI) obtained from street view data using deep learning methods, park availability, and perceived level of greenery. Hilly terrain was assessed by the standard deviation of the elevation to represent variations in slope. Resident health outcomes were quantified by their psychological and physiological health as well as physical activity. Communities were grouped by quartiles of slopes. Then a mediation model was applied, controlling for socio-demographic factors. Results: Residents who perceived higher quality greenery experienced stronger social cohesion, spent more time on physical activity and had better mental health outcomes. The objective greenery indicators were not always associated with physical activity and might have a negative influence with certain terrain. Conclusions: Perceived green space offers an alternative explanation of the effects on physical activity and mental health in hilly neighborhoods. In some circumstances, geographical environment features should be accounted for to determine the association of green space and resident health outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Peijin Sun & Yan Song & Wei Lu, 2022. "Effect of Urban Green Space in the Hilly Environment on Physical Activity and Health Outcomes: Mediation Analysis on Multiple Greenery Measures," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:612-:d:799198
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/612/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/612/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lu, Yi & Sarkar, Chinmoy & Xiao, Yang, 2018. "The effect of street-level greenery on walking behavior: Evidence from Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 41-49.
    2. Sugiyama, T. & Francis, J. & Middleton, N.J. & Owen, N. & Giles-CortI, B., 2010. "Associations between recreational walking and attractiveness, size, and proximity of neighborhood open spaces," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(9), pages 1752-1757.
    3. Coombes, Emma & Jones, Andrew P. & Hillsdon, Melvyn, 2010. "The relationship of physical activity and overweight to objectively measured green space accessibility and use," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 816-822, March.
    4. de Vries, Sjerp & van Dillen, Sonja M.E. & Groenewegen, Peter P. & Spreeuwenberg, Peter, 2013. "Streetscape greenery and health: Stress, social cohesion and physical activity as mediators," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 26-33.
    5. Eliyahu Greenberg & Asya Natapov & Dafna Fisher-Gewirtzman, 2020. "A physical effort-based model for pedestrian movement in topographic urban environments," Journal of Urban Design, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 86-107, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Saranathan Pragati & Radhakrishnan Shanthi Priya & Chandramouli Pradeepa & Ramalingam Senthil, 2023. "Simulation of the Energy Performance of a Building with Green Roofs and Green Walls in a Tropical Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Yu Zheng & Shan Wang & Jinli Zhu & Shuo Huang & Linli Cheng & Jianwen Dong & Yuxiang Sun, 2023. "A Comprehensive Evaluation of Supply and Demand in Urban Parks along “Luck Greenway” in Fuzhou," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dong-ah Choi & Keunhyun Park & Alessandro Rigolon, 2020. "From XS to XL Urban Nature: Examining Access to Different Types of Green Space Using a ‘Just Sustainabilities’ Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-25, August.
    2. Jiang, Wenhao & Stickley, Andrew & Ueda, Michiko, 2021. "Green space and suicide mortality in Japan: An ecological study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    3. Jing Shen & Jian Cui & Mengfei Li & Caitlin Vitosky Clarke & Yuanyuan Gao & Ruopeng An, 2021. "Green Space and Physical Activity in China: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Victoria Houlden & Scott Weich & João Porto de Albuquerque & Stephen Jarvis & Karen Rees, 2018. "The relationship between greenspace and the mental wellbeing of adults: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-35, September.
    5. Shima Hamidi & Somayeh Moazzeni, 2019. "Examining the Relationship between Urban Design Qualities and Walking Behavior: Empirical Evidence from Dallas, TX," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-14, May.
    6. Sara Tabatabaie & Jill S. Litt & Amanda Carrico, 2019. "A Study of Perceived Nature, Shade and Trees and Self-Reported Physical Activity in Denver," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-14, September.
    7. Kim, Jinhee & de Leeuw, Evelyne & Harris-Roxas, Ben & Sainsbury, Peter, 2023. "Five urban health research traditions: A meta-narrative review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    8. Lu, Yi & Sarkar, Chinmoy & Xiao, Yang, 2018. "The effect of street-level greenery on walking behavior: Evidence from Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 41-49.
    9. Lingchao Meng & Kuo-Hsun Wen & Richard Brewin & Qiong Wu, 2020. "Knowledge Atlas on the Relationship between Urban Street Space and Residents’ Health—A Bibliometric Analysis Based on VOSviewer and CiteSpace," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-20, March.
    10. Jiancheng Lu & Xiaolong Luo & Ningning Yang & Yang Shen, 2021. "Multiple Pathways: The Influence Mechanism of Greenspace Exposure on Mental Health—A Case Study of Hangzhou, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, March.
    11. Yupei Jiang & Honghu Sun, 2021. "Exploring the Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Leisure Walking Based on the Demand of Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, April.
    12. Karolina Kais & Marlena Gołaś & Marzena Suchocka, 2021. "Awareness of Air Pollution and Ecosystem Services Provided by Trees: The Case Study of Warsaw City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-24, September.
    13. Gao, Jiong & Ma, Shoufeng & Wang, Lei & Shuai, Ling & Du, Huibin, 2023. "Does greenness bring more green travelling? Evidence from free-floating bike-sharing in Beijing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    14. Jing Jing, 2022. "Seeing Streetscapes as Social Infrastructure: A Paradigmatic Case Study of Hornsbergs Strand, Stockholm," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 510-522.
    15. Nabetse Baruc Blas-Miranda & Ana Lilia Lozada-Tequeanes & Juan Antonio Miranda-Zuñiga & Marcia P. Jimenez, 2022. "Green Space Exposure and Obesity in the Mexican Adult Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-13, November.
    16. Watanabe, Hajime & Maruyama, Takuya, 2024. "A Bayesian sample selection model with a binary outcome for handling residential self-selection in individual car ownership," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    17. Matthew Dennis & David Barlow & Gina Cavan & Penny A. Cook & Anna Gilchrist & John Handley & Philip James & Jessica Thompson & Konstantinos Tzoulas & C. Philip Wheater & Sarah Lindley, 2018. "Mapping Urban Green Infrastructure: A Novel Landscape-Based Approach to Incorporating Land Use and Land Cover in the Mapping of Human-Dominated Systems," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-25, January.
    18. Habibi, Tahereh & Ponedelnik, Alena A. & Yashalova, Natalia N. & Ruban, Dmitry A., 2018. "Urban geoheritage complexity: Evidence of a unique natural resource from Shiraz city in Iran," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 85-94.
    19. Lingchao Meng & Kuo-Hsun Wen & Zhijie Zeng & Richard Brewin & Xiaolei Fan & Qiong Wu, 2020. "The Impact of Street Space Perception Factors on Elderly Health in High-Density Cities in Macau—Analysis Based on Street View Images and Deep Learning Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-19, February.
    20. Meryem Hayir-Kanat & Jürgen Breuste, 2019. "Which Natural Areas are Preferred for Recreation? An Investigation of the Most Popular Natural Resting Types for Istanbul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-14, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:612-:d:799198. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.