Socio-economic and Regional Differences in Walkability and Greenspace Around Primary Schools: A Census of Australian Primary School Neighbourhoods.

Socio-economic inequality in the physical activity environment surrounding primary schools may contribute to socio-economic gradients in physical activity and childhood obesity levels. Using a cross-sectional study design, ordinary least squares and logistic regressions were fitted to assess variation in walkability and greenspace within 1 km of primary schools (n = 7133) according to area-level socio-economic position (SEP) and remoteness. Effect modification by school location (major cities or regional/remote) was assessed through stratified analyses. Walkability scores significantly increased from low to high school neighbourhood SEP (p < 0.01) and from remote/very remote to major city locations (p < 0.01). Greenspace area (hectares) in the school neighbourhood was greater in highest compared to lowest SEP areas (ß = 18.75, 95%CI 6.63, 30.87) and less in major cities compared to remote/very remote locations (ß = - 23.9, 95%CI - 39.7, - 8.1). Schools in highest SEP areas and major cities had higher odds of having any greenspace in their neighbourhood, compared to those in lowest SEP and remote/very remote locations (OR 5.93, (95% CI 4.50, 7.05), OR 20.19, (95% CI 16.05, 25.39) respectively). Stratified results (major cities or regional/remote locations) found the highest SEP school neighbourhoods had higher walkability scores and more greenspace compared to lowest SEP school neighbourhoods in both strata, although overall SEP gradient in walkability and greenspace area only remained in major cities. Walkability and greenspace infrastructure in the school neighbourhood could be improved in areas of lower SEP so that all school children have the opportunity for physical activity.

Environmental diagnoses and effective planning of Protected Areas in Brazil: Is there any connection?

Protected Areas (PAs) are essential to maintaining biodiversity, while effective management plans (MPs) are essential for the management of these areas. Thus, MPs must have relevant data analyses and diagnoses to evaluate ecological conditions of PAs. We evaluated the environmental diagnoses of 126 Brazilian federal PAs, the methods used to collect data and defined the diagnostic level of PMs according to the type and number of analyzes performed for each PA category. We found a low level of diagnosis in MPs. Primary field data or research programs resulted in environmental diagnostics of higher levels. Participatory workshops and secondary data, most used in Extractive Reserves, were related to low levels of diagnoses. The most frequent analysis was the identification of threats (97% of MPs), while the least frequent were the definition of conservation targets and future scenarios for management (1.6% of MPs). Our results show that the diagnoses of the MPs need to be more analytical to generate useful information for decision-making. MPs should prioritize data analysis and specific management studies, focused on the use of natural resources, the status of conservation targets, future scenarios, and key information to planning.

A Mixed Method Study to Inform the Implementation and Expansion of Pop-Up Parks for Economic, Behavioral, and Social Benefits.

The availability of parks and urban green spaces has been associated with a number of benefits, including increased physical activity, improvements in mental health, increases in social interactions, improvements to the environment, and increases in property values. The installation of temporary pop-up parks in urban areas is one way for urban communities to obtain these benefits. In this mixed-methods study, quantitative and qualitative data were gathered by researchers, the city council, a local investment company, and community residents that informed the initiation, iteration, and incremental expansion of a series of temporary, summer pop-up parks in the downtown business district of the City of Los Altos in Northern California over a 4-year period (2013-2016). Results showed that the parks were visited by a large, multigenerational group of users who engaged in leisure-time physical activity, shopped at local stores, attended programed events, and socialized with others. Direct observation and survey data gathered in year 2014 also indicated that foot traffic into businesses directly fronting on a pop-up park (n = 8) was higher during a 4-day period when the park was in place, as compared to a similar 4-day period before the park was installed. The majority of downtown business owners/managers reported no decrease in sales compared to the month before the pop-up park was installed. City sales tax data indicated increases in year-on-year sales tax revenue in the summer quarter of 2014 and 2016 compared with the year (2015) when there was no downtown pop-up park. Perspectives of community residents collected before, during, and after the installation of the pop-up parks indicated that the pop-up park created a vibrant space in an otherwise underutilized area that was enjoyed by a variety of people in a host of ways (e.g., children playing, families relaxing, people shopping and eating at downtown stores and restaurants, people of all ages attending scheduled park events). These results informed a number of discussions and meetings between key stakeholders about the pop-up parks, culminating in a temporary park that was held in a new location in 2017 that was substantially larger in size, installed for a longer time period, cost more, and had more scheduled park events. Results from this prospective investigation of the initial impacts of pop-up parks in this urban location provide insights regarding the potential benefits and viability of such temporary parks for residents and businesses alike.

Assessing alternative methods for unsupervised segmentation of urban vegetation in very high-resolution multispectral aerial imagery.

To analyze types and patterns of greening trends across a city, this study seeks to identify a method of creating very high-resolution urban vegetation maps that scales over space and time. Vegetation poses unique challenges for image segmentation because it is patchy, has ragged boundaries, and high in-class heterogeneity. Existing and emerging public datasets with the spatial resolution necessary to identify granular urban vegetation lack a depth of affordable and accessible labeled training data, making unsupervised segmentation desirable. This study evaluates three unsupervised methods of segmenting urban vegetation: clustering with k-means using k-means++ seeding; clustering with a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM); and an unsupervised, backpropagating convolutional neural network (CNN) with simple iterative linear clustering superpixels. When benchmarked against internal validity metrics and hand-coded data, k-means is more accurate than GMM and CNN in segmenting urban vegetation. K-means is not able to differentiate between water and shadows, however, and when this segment is important GMM is best for probabilistically identifying secondary land cover class membership. Though we find the unsupervised CNN shows high degrees of accuracy on built urban landscape features, its accuracy when segmenting vegetation does not justify its complexity. Despite limitations, for segmenting urban vegetation, k-means has the highest performance, is the simplest, and is more efficient than alternatives.

Study of active neighborhoods in Detroit (StAND): study protocol for a natural experiment evaluating the health benefits of ecological restoration of parks.

BACKGROUND: Individuals living in deprived inner cities have disproportionately high rates of cancers, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, which have stress- and physical inactivity-related etiologies. This study aims to quantify effects of ecological park restoration on physical activity, stress and cardio-metabolic health outcomes. METHODS: The Study of Active Neighborhoods in Detroit is a quasi-experimental, longitudinal panel natural experiment with two conditions (restored park intervention (INT) and control (CNT)) and annual measurements at baseline and 3-years post-restoration. Individuals (sampled within 500 m of an INT/CNT park) serve as the unit of analysis. Restoration (n = 4 parks) involves replacing non-native plants and turf with native plants; creating trails; posting signage; and leading community stewardship events. The CNT condition (n = 5) is an unmaintained park, matched to INT based on specified neighborhood conditions. Recruitment involves several avenues, with a retention goal of 450 participants. Park measures include plant/avian diversity; usage of the park (SOPARC); signs of care; auditory environment recordings; and visual greenness using 360 imagery. Health outcomes include device-based physical activity behavior (primary outcome); salivary cortisol (secondary outcome); and several downstream health outcomes. Exposure to the INT will be assessed through visual contact time and time spent in the park using GPS data. Changes in health outcomes between years and INT versus CNT will be tested using generalized linear (mixed) models. DISCUSSION: Our study will examine whether restored urban greenspaces increase physical activity and lower stress, with public health planning implications, where small changes in neighborhood greenspaces may have large health benefits in low-income neighborhoods. STUDY REGISTRATION: Registration: OSF Preregistration registered March 31, 2020. Accessible from https://osf.io/surx7.

Improved Street Walkability, Incivilities, and Esthetics Are Associated with Greater Park Use in Two Low-Income Neighborhoods.

Parks may provide opportunities for people to increase their physical activity and improve health. Yet, parks are generally less plentiful and underutilized in low-income urban neighborhoods compared with more advantaged neighborhoods. Renovations within and around parks may improve park utilization but the empirical evidence supporting this relationship is scarce. This study assessed the impact of greenspace, housing, and commercial investments on street characteristics (walkability, amenities, incivilities/poor esthetics) and park use by examining park use over time in two low-income neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA (n = 17 parks), before and after neighborhood-based renovations that were primarily centered in one neighborhood. We used systematic observation of parks, park use, and street blocks surrounding parks to examine the impact of neighborhood changes on park use. We used difference-in-differences to test whether park use and street characteristics surrounding the parks improved more in the intervention neighborhood than in the comparison neighborhood. We also used zero-inflated negative binomial regression with interactions by time to test whether changes in street characteristics were associated with changes in park use over time. We found that improved walkability, incivilities, and esthetics surrounding parks in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods were associated with greater park use and may help increase visits to underutilized parks.

Contribution analysis to analyze the effects of the health impact assessment at the local level: A case of urban revitalization.

The health impact assessment (HIA) is a tool used to estimate the potential impact on health of non-health-related proposals prior to implementation. While it is increasingly used in Quebec, Canada, studies have not analyzed its medium-term impacts and potential long-term impacts. We conducted a contribution analysis using in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, as well as documents, observation and images related to HIA in order to analyze its impacts on the revitalization of road infrastructure, parks and green spaces, and residential housing. Our analysis not only reflects on the decision-making process through the adoption and implementation of HIA recommendations, but also on the link between actions implemented in the field and health outcomes.

A card game to renew urban parks: Face-to-face and online approach for the inclusive involvement of local community.

Urban parks are often designed and renewed using standardized models that fail to incorporate the different functions and services required by the local communities served. Furthermore, when the citizens are involved in co-design, the participation processes are seldom fully inclusive, and the results are not representative of the entire local community. The paper starts from these considerations for developing an innovative participatory design method to renew urban parks. This method simultaneously uses multiple and alternative participation tools for adapting to the different technical skills of the citizens and to their inclinations. Furthermore, it entails the analysis and interpretation of the expectations of the local community in light of the urban green network. The method uses the conceptual framework of the SWOT analysis and the Trochim's concept mapping for developing a card game playable face to face or online. The results of the card game are processed using the statistical analysis to identify the main design themes (the clusters), and to split the participants' suggestions into different design alternatives. Successively, the participants vote these alternatives for selecting the renewal design respondent to the local community's needs.

The Distribution and Accessibility of Urban Parks in Beijing, China: Implications of Social Equity.

As public service facilities, urban parks offer many benefits for daily life and social activities for residents. However, the accessibility of public parks to urban residents is often unevenly distributed in spaces that cannot be utilized fully. Here, we used the urban parks in Beijing, China as a case study and examined the relationship between urban park accessibility and population distribution at different administrative levels. Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve were used to evaluate the social equity of urban park accessibility, and the location quotient was used to identify the spatial difference between urban parks and resident population. The results of our study show that the urban park accessibility varies at district and subdistrict levels and that places with more urban parks usually have higher accessibility. Very importantly, the spatial equity is different from the social equity, a mismatch exists between the spatial distribution of urban parks and population, particularly for the elderly residents. These results generate valuable insights, as, in China and many developing countries, current urban public green space planning only uses the ratio of public green space to urban construction land and the per capita public green area.

Temporal road closures improve habitat quality for wildlife.

Increasing levels of human activity threaten wildlife populations through direct mortality, habitat degradation, and habitat fragmentation. Area closures can improve habitat quality for wildlife, but may be difficult to achieve where tourism or other economic drivers are a priority. Temporal closures that limit human use during specific times of day have potential to increase habitat quality for wildlife, while continuing to provide opportunities for human use. However, the effectiveness of daily temporal closures has not been tested. We assessed how implementation of a temporal road closure affected wildlife movements in Banff National Park. Parks Canada closed a popular 17 km stretch of road between 2000 and 0800 hours to improve habitat quality for wildlife. We assessed the effectiveness of the closure on nine mammal species using three sets of data: remote cameras, road surveys, and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) GPS data. In all three analyses, wildlife detection rates on the road doubled during the closure while remaining unchanged in reference areas. Our strong and consistent results suggest temporal closures are an important conservation tool that can increase habitat quality for wildlife while minimizing effects on people.

Physical Activity and Social Behaviors of Urban Children in Green Playgrounds.

INTRODUCTION: Nature exposure is associated with many wellbeing benefits. However, the influence of green space on the physical activity and social behaviors of children is not completely understood. The purpose of the study was to complete a stepwise impact evaluation of a large-scale playground greening project at a Title 1 elementary school in Los Angeles, California. METHODS: Physical activity and social interaction data were collected with direct observation and accelerometers pre-, immediately post-, and 4 months post-greening at control (students enrolled=393) and experimental (students enrolled=538) locations from 2016 to 2017. Effects of relevant variables on recess behavior were analyzed with linear mixed models in 2018. RESULTS: Zone popularity and recess behaviors did not change for control students during the study (p>0.05). Areas replaced by green space became the most popular for experimental students who transitioned from traditional playground games/sports to tag/chasing, gymnastics, climbing/jumping, and creative play. The percentage of students observed as sedentary decreased by 10.0% (95% CI=4.9%, 15.0%) at 4 months, p=0.003. Vigorous activity participation increased pre to post at the individual (48.5%, 95% CI=29.1%, 67.9%, p<0.001) and population level (41.2%, 95% CI=27.3%, 55.1%, p=0.003) and remained higher than pre-greening at 4 months (p<0.05) for girls in the experimental group only. The moderate to vigorous physical activity differential between green space and hardscape was greater for fifth graders than all other grades, p=0.002. Student physical and verbal conflict rates decreased below pre-greening rates after 4 months for the experimental group, p<0.001. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that adding green space to asphalt-covered schoolyards helps expose children to nature, increases daily activity levels, and promotes social wellbeing in sex- and age-dependent ways.

Planning for outdoor play: Government and family decision-making.

BACKGROUND: Despite indisputable developmental benefits of outdoor play, children with disabilities can experience play inequity. Play decisions are multifactorial; influenced by children's skills and their familial and community environments. Government agencies have responsibilities for equity and inclusion of people with disabilities; including in play. AIM: This multiple-perspective case study aimed to understand outdoor play decision-making for children with disabilities from the perspectives and interactions of: local government and families of primary school-aged children with disabilities. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Five mothers, four local government employees, and two not-for-profit organization representatives participated in semi-structured interviews. Inductive and iterative analyzes involved first understanding perspectives of individuals, then stakeholders (local government and families), and finally similarities and differences through cross-case analysis. FINDINGS: Local government focused more on physical access, than social inclusion. Local government met only minimal requirements and had little engagement with families. This resulted in poor understanding and action around family needs and preferences when designing public outdoor play spaces. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: To increase meaningful choice and participation in outdoor play, government understanding of family values and agency around engagement with local government needs to improve. Supporting familial collective capabilities requires understanding interactions between individuals, play, disability, and outdoor play environments.

Building Healthy Community Environments: A Public Health Approach.

Environmental quality has a profound effect on health and the burden of disease. In the United States, the environment-related burden of disease is increasingly dominated by chronic diseases. At the local level, public health practitioners realize that many policy decisions affecting environmental quality and health transcend the authorities of traditional health department programs. Healthy decisions about the built environment, including housing, transportation, and energy, require broad collaborative efforts. Environmental health professionals have an opportunity to address the shift in public health burden toward chronic diseases and play an important role in the design of healthy communities by bringing data and tools to decision makers. This article provides a guide for community leaders to consider the public health effects of decisions about the built environment. We present a conceptual framework that represents a shift from compartmentalized solutions toward an inclusive systems approach that encourages partnership across disciplines and sectors. We discuss practical tools to assist with environmental decision making, such as Health Impact Assessments, environmental public health tracking, and cumulative risk assessment. We also identify priorities in research, practice, and education to advance the role of public health in decision making to improve health, such as the Health Impact Assessment, as a core competency for environmental health practitioners. We encourage cross-disciplinary communication, research, and education that bring the fields of planning, transportation, and energy in closer collaboration with public health to jointly advance the systems approach to today's environmental challenges.

Design of natural elements in open spaces of cities with a Mediterranean climate, conditions for comfort and urban ecology.

More than half the world's population lives in cities that were designed with a complete disregard for nature. Then, it is vital that nature should be present in these spaces to provide ecological support for urban areas. Natural elements that are in these spaces should be designed with people's comfort in mind. This research explores the application of the PET and UTCI biometeorological comfort indices in urban microspaces, where the general environmental parameters of the city are not valid and each space must be measured individually. The research looked into the influence of the design of natural elements on improving comfort. The results show that in the children's playing spaces, the absence of thermal comfort and considerable thermal stress were detected in summer. This effect is more easily seen in the PET values. The benefits to comfort of having double layers of vegetation in the gardens have also been shown. The micro-droplets of water from the jets in the fountains are carried by the breeze and modify the human-biometeorological conditions around the fountains and reduce thermal stress. This improvement needs an appropriate design of the fountains and an awareness of the breeze patterns in these spaces.

Perception of Urban Environmental Risks and the Effects of Urban Green Infrastructures (UGIs) on Human Well-being in Four Public Green Spaces of Guangzhou, China.

Cities face many challenging environmental problems that affect human well-being. Environmental risks can be reduced by Urban Green Infrastructures (UGIs). The effects of UGIs on the urban environment have been widely studied, but less attention has been given to the public perception of these effects. This paper presents the results of a study in Guangzhou, China, on UGI users' perceptions of these effects and their relationship with sociodemographic variables. A questionnaire survey was conducted in four public green spaces. Descriptive statistics, a binary logistic regression model and cross-tabulation analysis were applied on the data from 396 valid questionnaires. The results show that UGI users were more concerned about poor air quality and high temperature than about flooding events. Their awareness of environmental risks was partly in accordance with official records. Regarding the perception of the impacts of environmental risks on human well-being, elderly and female respondents with higher education levels were the most sensitive to these impacts. The respondents' perceptions of these impacts differed among the different green spaces. The effects of UGIs were well perceived and directly observed by the UGI users, but were not significantly influenced by most sociodemographic variables. Moreover, tourists had a lower perception of the impacts of environmental risks and the effects of UGI than residents did. This study provides strong support for UGIs as an effective tool to mitigate environmental risks. Local governments should consider the role of UGIs in environmental risk mitigation and human well-being with regard to urban planning and policy making.

Military Emergency Medical Service System Assessment: Application of the National Park Service Needs Assessment and Program Audit to Objectively Evaluate the Military EMS System of Okinawa, Japan.

INTRODUCTION: As part of a Military Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system process improvement initiative, the authors sought to objectively evaluate the U.S. military EMS system for the island of Okinawa. They applied a program evaluation tool currently utilized by the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). METHODS: A comprehensive needs assessment was conducted to evaluate the current Military EMS system in Okinawa, Japan. The NPS EMS Program Audit Worksheet was used to get an overall "score" of our assessment. After all the data had been collected, a joint committee of Military EMS physicians reviewed the findings and made formal recommendations. RESULTS: From 2011 to 2014, U.S. military EMS on Okinawa averaged 1,345 ± 137 patient transports annually. An advanced life support (ALS) provider would have been dispatched on 558 EMS runs (38%) based on chief complaint in 2014 had they been available. Over 36,000 man-hours were expended during this period to provide National Registry Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)-accredited instruction to certify 141 Navy Corpsman as EMT Basics. The NPS EMS Program Audit Worksheet was used and the program scored a total of 31, suggesting the program is well planned and operating within standards. CONCLUSION: This evaluation of the Military EMS system on Okinawa using the NPS program assessment and audit worksheet demonstrates the NPS evaluation instruments may offer a useful assessment tool for the evaluation of Military EMS systems.

Promotoras Can Facilitate Use of Recreational Community Resources: The Mi Corazón Mi Comunidad Cohort Study.

INTRODUCTION: Limited research has documented interventions aimed at promoting use of existing recreational community resources among underserved populations. This study (HEART [Health Education Awareness Research Team] Phase 2) reports findings of an intervention (Mi Corazón Mi Comunidad) where community health workers facilitated use of diet and exercise programming at local recreational facilities among Mexican American border residents. The aim was to evaluate overall attendance rates and to assess which factors predicted higher attendance. METHOD: The design was a cohort study. From 2009 to 2013, a total of 753 participants were recruited across 5 consecutive cohorts. The intervention consisted of organized physical activity and nutrition programming at parks and recreational facilities and a free YWCA membership. Attendance at all activities was objectively recorded. Regression analyses were used to evaluate whether demographic factors, health status, and health beliefs were associated with attendance. Results Participants included mostly females at high risk for cardiovascular disease (72.4% were overweight/obese and 64% were [pre-]hypertensive). A total of 83.6% of participants attended at least one session. On average, total attendance was 21.6 sessions (range: 19.1-25.2 sessions between the different cohorts), including 16.4 physical activity and 5.2 nutrition sessions. Females (p = .003) and older participants (p < .001) attended more sessions. Participants low in acculturation (vs. high) attended on average seven more sessions (p = .003). Greater self-efficacy (p < .001), perceived benefits (p = .038), and healthy intentions (p = .024) were associated with higher attendance. Conclusions The intervention was successful in promoting use of recreational facilities among border residents at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Findings were similar across five different cohorts.