Research on urban country parks based on emergency medical facilities for public health emergencies-a case study of Guangzhou, China.

As COVID-19 has swept across the world, the escalating number of confirmed and suspected cases overwhelmed the admission capacity of the designated hospitals. Faced with such a grim situation, governments made a quick decision to build emergency medical facilities to address the outbreak. However, the emergency medical facilities faced a huge risk of epidemic spread and improper site could lead to serious secondary transmission. Using the disaster prevention and risk avoidance function of urban green space can solve the problem of selecting the location of emergency medical facilities to a certain extent, with country parks having a high degree of compatibility with the latter. Based on the location requirements of emergency medical facilities, using Analytic Hierarchy Process and Delphi method, through analyzing the type of country parks, effective risk avoidance area, spatial fragmentation, distance from water sources, wind direction, and distance from the city, quantification of 8 impact factors such as hydrogeology and traffic duration was conducted to comprehensively compare 30 country parks in Guangzhou. The results showed that the overall quality of country parks approximated a normal distribution, with Lianma Forest Country Park having the highest comprehensive score and the most balanced distribution of scores for various impact factors. Considering safety, expandability, rehabilitation, convenience, pollution prevention, and fecal isolation, it is a preferred destination for emergency medical facility construction.

Using automated active infrared counters to estimate footfall on urban park footpaths: behavioural stability and validity testing.

BACKGROUND: Using infrared counters is a promising unobtrusive method of assessing footfall in urban parks. However, infrared counters are susceptible to reliability and validity issues, and there is limited guidance for their use. The aims of this study were to (1) determine how many weeks of automated active infrared count data would provide behaviourally stable estimates of urban park footfall for each meteorological season, and (2) determine the validity of automated active infrared count estimates of footfall in comparison to direct manual observation counts. METHODS: Three automated active infrared counters collected daily footfall counts for 365 days on three footpaths in an urban park within Northampton, England, between May 2021 - May 2022. Intraclass correlation coefficients were used to compare the behavioural stability of abbreviated data collection schedules with total median footfall within each meteorological season (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter). Public holidays, events, and extreme outliers were removed. Ten one-hour manual observations were conducted at the site of an infrared counter to determine the validity of the infrared counter. RESULTS: At least four-weeks (28 days) of infrared counts are required to provide 'good' to 'excellent' (Intraclass correlation > 0.75, > 0.9, respectively) estimates of median daily footfall per meteorological season in an urban park. Infrared counters had, on average, -4.65 counts per hour (95% LoA -12.4, 3.14; Mean absolute percentage error 13.7%) lower counts compared to manual observation counts during one-hour observation periods (23.2 ± 15.6, 27.9 ± 18.9 counts per hour, respectively). Infrared counts explained 98% of the variance in manual observation counts. The number of groups during an observation period explained 78% of the variance in the difference between infrared and manual counts. CONCLUSIONS: Abbreviated data collection schedules can still obtain estimates of urban park footfall. Automated active infrared counts are strongly associated with manual counts; however, they tend to underestimate footfall, often due to people in groups. Methodological and practical recommendations are provided.

Environmental and Mobility Strategies During Early COVID-19: Insights From an Empirical Study Focusing on Park Visitations in El Paso, TX.

OBJECTIVES: We explored the importance of environmental and mobility strategies during early COVID-19 by age and ethnicity and investigated predictors of park visitations considering the COVID-19 impacts. BACKGROUND: Parks are safe and accessible venues to stay active and reduce social isolation, which is especially important considering COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns. METHODS: We analyzed online survey data from 683 residents (collected July 2020) of El Paso, TX, and objective measures of neighborhood park characteristics. Chi-square tests and mixed-effects logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the environmental/mobility strategies, personal and environmental factors, and park visitations, considering the COVID-19 impacts. RESULTS: The percentage of those who visited (1+ times/week) parks or trails/paths in the neighborhood dropped from 41.7% to 19.5% since the start of COVID-19 (OR = 0.015, p < .001). Before COVID-19, middle-aged and older adults were less likely to visit parks than younger adults, while this difference became insignificant during early COVID-19. Hispanic adults were more likely to visit parks than non-Hispanics both before and during early COVID-19. Positive environmental predictors of park visitations included park availability in the neighborhood, proximity to the closest park, seeing people being physically active in the neighborhood, and neighborhood aesthetics. CONCLUSIONS: Proximately located parks, trails, and paths well integrated into residential communities, and high aesthetic quality of the neighborhood are the potential features of pandemic-resilient communities and should be considered an important national priority to maintain and promote the health and well-being of the population, especially during pandemics like COVID-19.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on cultural ecosystem services from urban green spaces: a case from English Bazar Urban Agglomeration, Eastern India.

Urban green space (UGS) provides multiple cultural ecosystem services (CES) and enhances people's physical and mental well-being. The importance of UGS was more critical during crisis periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, UGS has been under severe threats due to rapid urban expansion and climate change. Particularly, the cities in developing countries have experienced a dramatic loss of green spaces due to land use and land cover (LULC) change. This study aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CES perception obtained from two public UGS, i.e., Subhankar Sishu Uddyan (SSU) and Bandh Road (BR) in English Bazar Urban Agglomeration (EBUA), Eastern India. A survey was performed to assess the valuation of CES, CES obtained from UGS, and the use of CES difference during partial (unlock phases) and after lockdown periods. The non-parametric tests were carried out to understand the significant differences between CES and UGS perceived by the respondents. Explanatory factor analysis was also performed to find the association among CES for each UGS. The results reported substantial variations of UGS use during partial and after lockdown periods. During the after-lockdown period, the UGS mainly were used for social relations (51%), spending time with relatives and friends (25%), spending time with children (11%) in SSU and walking (25%), spending time with relatives and friends (21%), and physical activities (17%) in BR. During the partial lockdown period, a significant difference between SSU and BR was recorded from social relations and health value among all CES. After the full lockdown period, a significant difference was observed in recreation, social relations, health, and aesthetic value. The frequency and duration of UGS use during partial lockdown periods substantially increased. About 12% of the total visitor visited UGS daily after the lockdown, whereas it was 4% during the partial lockdown. The study's findings will assist urban planners and policymakers in understanding the need for UGS to promote the well-being of the citizens.

The Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the Contribution of Local Green Space and Nature Connection to Mental Health.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to green space and feeling connected to the natural environment have independently been associated with improved mental health outcomes. During the coronavirus pandemic, people experienced restrictions on access to the outdoors, and health data indicated a decline in mental health in the UK general population. METHODS: Data available from two independent surveys conducted prior to and during the pandemic enabled a naturally occurring comparison of mental health and its correlates prior to and during the pandemic. RESULTS: Survey responses from 877 UK residents were included in the analyses. Independent t-tests revealed significant declines in mental health scores during the pandemic. After controlling for age and gender, greater nature connection significantly predicted lower depression and stress and improved well-being. Percentage of green space did not significantly predict any mental health outcomes. Further, time point (pre- or during COVID) and the interaction of time point with green space and nature connection did not significantly predict any of the outcome measures. The findings indicate that nature connection may play an important role in promoting mental health. Strategies to improve mental health and reduce mental illness should consider the role of nature connection and the use of interventions that involve direct interaction with natural environments.

Green space justice amid COVID-19: Unequal access to public green space across American neighborhoods.

Countries around the world have resorted to issuing stay-at-home orders to slow viral transmission since the COVID-19 pandemic. During the lockdown, access to public park plays a central role in the public health of surrounding communities. However, we know little about how such an unprecedented policy may exacerbate the preexisting unequal access to green space (i.e., green space justice). To address this research void, we used difference-in-difference models to examine socioeconomic disparities, urban-rural disparities, and mobility disparities in terms of public park access in the United States. Our national analysis using the weekly mobile phone movement data robustly suggests the following three key findings during COVID-19: (1) The elderly, non-college-educated people, poor people, and blacks are less likely to visit public parks frequently, while unemployed people appear to be the opposite. (2) Compared to rural areas, populations in urban neighborhoods appear to visit public parks more frequently and they generally go to larger parks to minimize the risk of infection. (3) Populations in neighborhoods with higher private vehicle ownership or those with a higher density of transit stops would more frequently visit and travel a longer distance to public parks during the stay-at-home order. Our results imply that conventional inequality in green space access may still exist and even become worse during COVID-19, which could negatively impact people's health during isolation. We suggest that special attention should be paid to park-poor neighborhoods during the pandemic and in the post-pandemic recovery phase.

Country Parks as Sites of Emergency Medical Facility: A Case of COVID-19 in Hangzhou, China.

City parks are suitable sites for the construction of emergency medical facilities. A comparison of various types of city parks revealed that country parks fit closely with site selection conditions for emergency medical facilities. Based on the latter site selection requirements, eight impact factors such as park type, effective avoidance area, spatial fragmentation degree, water source protection area, wind direction, distance from city center, impermeability, and transport duration were quantified, and then 29 country parks in the Hangzhou Urban Area were compared using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The calculation results showed that Linglong Country Park has the highest score, taking into account the characteristics of safety, scalability, rehabilitation, convenience, pollution prevention, and isolation. Linglong can be given priority selection as a target location for emergency medical facilities. In addition, Silver Lake Country Park, Dongqiao Country Park, Taihuyuan Country Park, and Tuankou Country Park have higher scores and can be used as alternative targets for emergency plans. The scoring results prove that the evaluation method has a high degree of rigor, a significant degree of discrimination, and a high degree of consistency between the validity and weight assignment of each impact factor. In view of the different geographical conditions in each region, the weight assignment of each impact factor can be adjusted according to local conditions and can help make effective use of existing conditions and avoid disadvantages.

Associations of greenspace use and proximity with self-reported physical and mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic affected individual's mental and physical health. The aim of this study was to estimate associations between greenspace use and proximity with perceived mental and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed metropolitan Philadelphia residents, October 20-December 1, 2020, about walking time to the nearest greenspace from their home, frequency of greenspace use in the past 30 days, change in frequency of greenspace use during the COVID-19 pandemic, and perceived physical and mental health outcomes. We ran unadjusted and adjusted log-binomial regression models to derive Risk Ratio (RR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) estimates of associations of loneliness, physical and mental health outcomes with: (1) self-reported walking time to nearest greenspace; (2) reported greenspace use frequency; and (3) changes in greenspace use frequency. Of 485 survey participants, 244 (51.4%) reported feeling lonelier, 147 (31.37%) reported higher perceived stress, 261 (54.9%) reported worsened mental health, and 137 (28.7%) reported worsened physical health during vs. before the start of pandemic-restrictions in mid-March of 2020. After adjustment for gender, age, and change in financial status, RR estimates suggested modest protective associations between visiting greenspaces more frequently during vs. before the pandemic and worsened mental (RR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.70-1.00), and physical health (RR 0.77, 95% CI: 0.56-1.10), and loneliness (RR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.75-1.1) and perceived stress (RR 0.83, 95% CI: 0.61-1.13). Shorter walking distances to the nearest greenspace were associated with reduced risk of reporting worsened physical health and higher perceived stress; however, living shorter walking distances from greenspace were not associated with protection against worsened mental health or loneliness. These results suggest that active greenspace use may provide mental and physical health protection, particularly during a stressful public health crisis.

Systematic Review: Neurodevelopmental Benefits of Active/Passive School Exposure to Green and/or Blue Spaces in Children and Adolescents.

Today more than half of the world's population lives in urban areas. Children spend about 40 h a week in the school environment. Knowing the influence of school exposure to green/blue spaces could improve the children's health, creating healthier environments and preventing exposure to legal/illegal drugs. This systematic review summarized the main results of published studies on active or passive exposure to green or blue spaces in different domains of child neurodevelopment. In August 2022, five databases were searched and twenty-eight eligible studies were included in the analysis. Cognitive and/or academic performance was the most frequently studied (15/28). Most studies evaluate passive exposure to green/blue spaces (19/28) versus active exposure (9/28). Only three studies addressed the relationship between blue space and neurodevelopment. The main results point toward mixed evidence of a protective relationship between green/blue space exposure and neurodevelopment, especially in improving cognitive/academic performance, attention restoration, behavior, and impulsivity. Renaturalizing school spaces and promoting "greener" capacities for school environmental health could improve children's neurodevelopment. There was great heterogeneity in methodologies and adjustment for confounding factors across studies. Future research should seek a standardized approach to delivering school environmental health interventions beneficial to children's development.

The Perceptions and Use of Urban Neighborhood Parks Since the Outbreak of COVID-19: A Case Study in South Korea.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the stress of city dwellers is increasing, and some adapt to the pandemic by pursuing physical and psychological well-being in neighborhood parks. To improve the resilience of the social-ecological system against COVID-19, it is important to understand the mechanism of adaptation by examining the perception and use of neighborhood parks. The purpose of this study is to investigate users' perceptions and use of urban neighborhood parks since the outbreak of COVID-19 in South Korea using systems thinking. To verify the hypotheses about the relationship between variables involved in COVID-19 adaptive feedback, two research objectives were set. First, this study determined the causal structure leading to park visits using systems thinking. Second, the relationship between stress, motivation, and the frequency of visits to neighborhood parks was empirically verified. To conduct the research, the system of use and perceptions of parks were analyzed through a causal loop diagram to determine the feedback between psychological variables. Then, a survey was conducted to verify the relationship between stress, motivation for visits, and visit frequency, which are the major variables derived from the causal structure. A total of three feedback loops were derived in the first step, including a loop in which COVID-19 stress was relieved by visits to parks and a loop in which COVID-19 stress worsened due to crowding in parks. Finally, the relationship of stress leading to park visits was confirmed, and the empirical analysis showed that anger about contagion and social disconnection were linked as motives for park visits, and that park visits were mainly motivated by the desire to go out. The neighborhood park functions as an adaptive space for the stress of COVID-19 and will maintain its role as social distancing becomes more important to various socio-ecological changes. The strategies driven by the pandemic can be adapted in park planning to recover from stress and improve resilience.

Disparities in greenspace access during COVID-19 mobility restrictions.

More than half of the human population lives in cities and therefore predominantly experience nature in urban greenspace, an important contributor to wellbeing. As the world faces a pandemic which threatens the physical and mental health of billions of people, it is crucial to understand that all have the possibility to access nature exposure to alleviate some of these challenges. Here, for the first time, we integrate data from Facebook, Twitter, and Google Search users to show that people looked for greenspace during COVID-19 mobility restrictions but may not have always managed to reach it. We used a longitudinal approach, replicated in three European cities, to assess whether people spent more time in locations with more greenspace, and whether this change in urban density remained for the whole pandemic, pre-vaccine, period. We coupled this human density study with a longitudinal study of web search patterns for Parks and online discussion about urban greenspace. People searched for Parks near them more during the pandemic, particularly when they were allowed to visit them. They discussed in positive terms greenspace particularly more at the start of the pandemic. People spent more time in areas with greenspace when they could and that depended on the level of multiple deprivation of their neighbourhood. Importantly, while people sought greenspace throughout the first 20 months of the pandemic, this preference intensified through the waves of lockdown. Living in an affluent area conferred a greenspace advantage in London and Paris but we find that in Berlin greenspace in more deprived neighbourhoods were used more. Overall, urban greenspace occupied a greater place in people's lives during the pandemic. Whether people could realise greenspace access depended on the deprivation level of the neighbourhood. Public greenspace access should be integrated in national indices of deprivation given its importance for wellbeing.

Green spaces for mental disorders.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Mental illness is a global challenge, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Research suggests access to local green spaces is associated with better mental health, yet access is not always equitable. Evaluation of how nature-based interventions protect and support mental health is therefore required. RECENT FINDINGS: Accessible local green spaces are associated with better mental health. They encourage active behaviours and social interaction, reduce loneliness and stress. Green views from the home are associated with increased self-esteem, life satisfaction and happiness and reduced depression, anxiety and loneliness. Nature-based interventions and green social prescriptions effectively target vulnerable groups, resulting in significant reductions in depression, anxiety and anger alongside positive mental health outcomes. SUMMARY: Although existing evidence is encouraging, robust, high-quality research that strengthens the evidence base and informs future clinical practice and policy decision making is needed. Evidence of the long-term effectiveness in individuals with diagnosed mental illness is also required to ascertain the potential social and wider returns on investment. Barriers to use of green social prescriptions like mental health symptoms and geographical accessibility need to be overcome to increase accessibility and uptake of green social prescriptions for the prevention and treatment of mental illness.

Visiting Urban Green Space and Orientation to Nature Is Associated with Better Wellbeing during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely challenged mental health and wellbeing. However, research has consistently reinforced the value of spending time in green space for better health and wellbeing outcomes. Factors such as an individual's nature orientation, used to describe one's affinity to nature, may influence an individual's green space visitation behaviour, and thus influence the wellbeing benefits gained. An online survey in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia (n = 2084), deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2021), explores if nature experiences and nature orientation are positively associated with personal wellbeing and if increased amounts of nature experiences are associated with improvement in wellbeing in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that both yard and public green space visitation, as well as nature orientation scores, were correlated with high personal wellbeing scores, and individuals who spent more time in green space compared to the previous year also experienced a positive change in their health and wellbeing. Consistently, people with stronger nature orientations are also more likely to experience positive change. We also found that age was positively correlated to a perceived improvement in wellbeing over the year, and income was negatively correlated with a decreased change in wellbeing over the year, supporting other COVID-19 research that has shown that the effects of COVID-19 lifestyle changes were structurally unequal, with financially more established individuals experiencing better wellbeing. Such results highlight that spending time in nature and having high nature orientation are important for gaining those important health and wellbeing benefits and may provide a buffer for wellbeing during stressful periods of life that go beyond sociodemographic factors.

Understanding the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perception and Use of Urban Green Spaces in Korea.

Faced with the prospect that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change will be far-reaching and long-term, the international community is showing interest in urban green space (UGS) and urban green infrastructure utilization as a solution. In this study, we investigated how citizens' perceptions and use of UGS have changed during COVID-19. We also collected their ideas on how UGS can raise its usability. As a result, more people became to realize the importance of UGS. In particular, the urban environmental purification function from UGS was recognized as giving great benefits to respondents. On the other hand, the patterns of UGS use were mixed with decreasing UGS use to maintain social distancing or increasing UGS use to maintain health or substitute other restricted facilities. More than half of respondents had their UGS visit patterns impacted by COVID-19. In particular, the increase rate of UGS use was rather high in the group that seldom used UGS before COVID-19. In addition, they increased the use of UGS to replace other limited facilities, and thus tended to demand an increase in rest facilities. Based on these results, this paper suggested securing social support and sustainability for the policy by reflecting users' demand in landscape planning related to the increase of UGS in the city. This study can contribute to improving the resilience of UGS and the sustainability of urban space planning.

Partial COVID-19 closure of a national park reveals negative influence of low-impact recreation on wildlife spatiotemporal ecology.

Human presence exerts complex effects on the ecology of species, which has implications for biodiversity persistence in protected areas experiencing increasing human recreation levels. However, the difficulty of separating the effect on species of human presence from other environmental or disturbance gradients remains a challenge. The cessation of human activity that occurred with COVID-19 restrictions provides a 'natural experiment' to better understand the influence of human presence on wildlife. Here, we use a COVID-19 closure within a heavily visited and highly protected national park (Glacier National Park, MT, USA) to examine how 'low-impact' recreational hiking affects the spatiotemporal ecology of a diverse mammal community. Based on data collected from camera traps when the park was closed and then subsequently open to recreation, we found consistent negative responses to human recreation across most of our assemblage of 24 species, with fewer detections, reduced site use, and decreased daytime activity. Our results suggest that the dual mandates of national parks and protected areas to conserve biodiversity and promote recreation have potential to be in conflict, even for presumably innocuous recreational activities. There is an urgent need to understand the fitness consequences of these spatiotemporal changes to inform management decisions in protected areas.

Residential exposure to greenspace and life satisfaction in times of COVID-19: a cross-sectional analysis of 9444 participants from a population-based study in Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft.

BACKGROUND: Subjective well-being is an important target in the COVID-19 pandemic. Residential greenness may help cope with stress and hence influence subjective well-being during this mentally and physically challenging time. METHODS: We analysed the association between residential greenness and life satisfaction in 9,444 adults in the COVCO-Basel cohort. We assessed if the association is modified by age, sex, household income, financial worries, canton of residence, or month of study entry. In addition, we assessed if the association is attributed to specific types of greenspace or accessibility to greenspace. RESULTS: The association between residential greenness and life satisfaction varied by age groups, household income, and financial worries. Residential greenness was positively associated with life satisfaction in those with high household income and the least financially worried, and negatively associated with life satisfaction in the youngest age group (18-29 years) and the most financially worried. Living closer to a forest, but not to a park or an agricultural area, was associated with lower life satisfaction in the youngest age group. CONCLUSIONS: Residential greenness effects on life satisfaction vary according to sociodemographic characteristics. Living in a greener area does not benefit all dwellers in Basel and its region equally, with the most apparent benefit for those with high household income and without financial concerns.

Integrated analysis of doubly disadvantaged neighborhoods by considering both green space and blue space accessibility and COVID-19 infection risk.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the physical and mental health of the public. Nevertheless, the presence of green and blue spaces has been shown to be able to encourage physical activities and alleviate the mental distress caused by COVID-19. However, just as the impact of COVID-19 varies by geographical region and area, the distribution of green and blue spaces is also different across different neighborhoods and areas. By using Hong Kong as the study area, we determine the local neighborhoods that suffer from both high COVID-19 infection risk as well as low green and blue space accessibility. The results show that some of the poorest neighborhoods in the territory such as Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tong and Wong Tai Sin are also among the most doubly disadvantaged in terms of COVID-19 infection risk as well as green and blue space accessibility.

Experience Them, Love Them, Protect Them-Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed People's Perception of Urban and Suburban Green Spaces and Their Conservation Targets?

Public green and open spaces fulfil various social, ecological, economic, and aesthetic roles, which can be complementary while also competing with one another. The COVID-19 pandemic catalysed multiple societal changes, including citizens' perception, needs and expectations relating to urban green spaces. This article discusses the extent to which the temporally and geographically changed patterns of experiencing these natural spaces also influenced users' perception and behaviour as well as their appreciation of the conservation areas. The study is based upon two surveys carried out in the greater metropolitan region of Vienna, the capital city of Austria. A quantitative survey (representative online panel) among Viennese population (n = 1012), as well as qualitive interviews with experts responsible for conservation areas, administrators of federal parks, along with NGOs representatives were carried out in spring and summer 2021. Our study shows changed perception of urban citizens towards green spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. An increased importance of time spent in nature (68%) and possibility to visit large green areas (67%) was reported by Viennese citizens. Also, higher recognition of green spaces located close to home was observed among 69% of the respondents. There were significant differences in opinions on green areas during the pandemic in various age and gender groups. Thus, the presented study contributes to the ongoing international discussion on the transition of societal needs and its effects on urban green spaces induced by the pandemic. Presented results highlight the need of urgent transformation towards a more sustainable, resilient and healthy urban space. Graphical abstract.

Urban greenspace and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: A 20-month follow up of 19,848 participants in England.

This study examined the association between greenspace and the growth trajectories of anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from 19,848 urban residents in England who were followed for 20 months between March 2020 and October 2021, we found that living in an area with higher greenspace coverage (exposure) was associated with fewer anxiety symptoms independent of population density, area deprivation levels, socio-demographics, and health profiles. There was limited evidence that greenspace was related to the change of anxiety symptoms over time. No association with anxiety trajectories was found when considering distance to nearest greenspace (proximity), highlighting potentially differential mental health effects of simply having access to local parks and recreation areas versus living in areas of greater natural environment land cover. These findings have important implications for mental health intervention and policymaking.