Characterisation of the natural environment: quantitative indicators across Europe

Mostra el registre complet Registre parcial de l'ítem

• dc.contributor.author Smith, Graham
• dc.contributor.author Cirach, Marta
• dc.contributor.author Swart, Dedele, Audrius
• dc.contributor.author Gidlow, Christopher J.
• dc.contributor.author van Kempen, Elise
• dc.contributor.author Kruize, Hanneke
• dc.contributor.author Gražulevičienė, Regina
• dc.contributor.author Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.
• dc.date.accessioned 2025-01-14T08:15:16Z
• dc.date.available 2025-01-14T08:15:16Z
• dc.date.issued 2017
• dc.description.abstract Background. The World Health Organization recognises the importance of natural environments for human health. Evidence for natural environment-health associations comes largely from single countries or regions, with varied approaches to measuring natural environment exposure. We present a standardised approach to measuring neighbourhood natural environment exposure in cities in different regions of Europe. Methods. The Positive Health Effects of the Natural Outdoor environment in TYPical populations of different regions in Europe (PHENOTYPE) study aimed to explore the mechanisms linking natural environment exposure and health in four European cities (Barcelona, Spain; Doetinchem, the Netherlands; Kaunas, Lithuania; and Stoke-on-Trent, UK). Common GIS protocols were used to develop a hierarchy of natural environment measures, from simple measures (e.g., NDVI, Urban Atlas) using Europe-wide data sources, to detailed measures derived from local data that were specific to mechanisms thought to underpin natural environment-health associations (physical activity, social interaction, stress reduction/restoration). Indicators were created around residential addresses for a range of straight line and network buffers (100 m–1 km). Results. For simple indicators derived from Europe-wide data, we observed differences between cities, which varied with different indicators (e.g., Kaunas and Doetinchem had equal highest mean NDVI within 100 m buffer, but mean distance to nearest natural environment in Kaunas was more twice that in Doetinchem). Mean distance to nearest natural environment for all cities suggested that most participants lived close to some kind of natural environments (64 ± 58–363 ± 281 m; mean 180 ± 204 m). The detailed classification highlighted marked between-city differences in terms of prominent types of natural environment. Indicators specific to mechanisms derived from this classification also captured more variation than the simple indicators. Distance to nearest and count indicators showed clear differences between cities, and those specific to the mechanisms showed within-city differences for Barcelona and Doetinchem. Conclusions. This paper demonstrates the feasibility and challenges of creating comparable GIS-derived natural environment exposure indicators across diverse European cities. Mechanism-specific indicators showed within- and between-city variability that supports their utility for ecological studies, which could inform more specific policy recommendations than the traditional proxies for natural environment access.en
• dc.description.sponsorship This research is receiving funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No: 282996 (ENV.2011.1.2.3-2) (Positive effects of natural environment for human health and well-being). Duration 1 January 2012–31 December 2015.en
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Smith G, Cirach M, Swart W, Dėdelė A, Gidlow C, van Kempen E, et al. Characterisation of the natural environment: quantitative indicators across Europe. Int J Health Geogr. 2017 Dec;16(1):1-16. DOI: 10.1186/s12942-017-0090-z
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12942-017-0090-z
• dc.identifier.issn 1476-072X
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/69100
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Springer
• dc.relation.ispartof International Journal of Health Geographics. 2017 Dec;16(1):1-16
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/282996
• dc.rights This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• dc.subject.keyword Healthen
• dc.subject.keyword Natureen
• dc.subject.keyword Parksen
• dc.subject.keyword Urban planningen
• dc.subject.keyword Physical activityen
• dc.subject.keyword Social interactionen
• dc.subject.keyword Stressen
• dc.title Characterisation of the natural environment: quantitative indicators across Europe
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion