An urban green space intervention with benefits for mental health: A health impact assessment of the Barcelona "Eixos Verds" Plan

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  • dc.contributor.author Vidal Yañez, Diana
  • dc.contributor.author Pereira Barboza, Evelise
  • dc.contributor.author Cirach, Marta
  • dc.contributor.author Daher, Carolyn
  • dc.contributor.author Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.
  • dc.contributor.author Mueller, Natalie, 1988-
  • dc.date.accessioned 2023-06-30T06:44:00Z
  • dc.date.available 2023-06-30T06:44:00Z
  • dc.date.issued 2023
  • dc.description.abstract Background: Mental health disorders account for over 30% of the global burden of disease. There is a positive association between green space exposure and better mental health, and therefore urban greening can be an effective public health tool. Barcelona is a compact city with one of the highest population and traffic densities in Europe, with limited green spaces. Under the umbrella of the Superblock model, the Barcelona City council is implementing the Eixos Verds Plan for extensive street greening. We estimated the potential mental health benefits of this plan. Methods: We performed a quantitative health impact assessment at the Barcelona grid-cell level (n = 1,096). We compared the baseline green space situation (2015) with the proposed plan and translated the increase in green space into a) percentage of green area (%GA) and b) NDVI. We combined exposure data with Barcelona-specific mental health risk estimates, adult population (n = 1,235,375), and mental health data, and calculated preventable cases. Findings: Under the Eixos Verds Plan, we estimated an average increase of 5·67 %GA (range: 0·00% - 15·77%) and 0·059 NDVI (range: 0·000 - 0·312). We estimated that with the Eixos Verds Plan implementation, 31,353 (95%CI: 18,126-42,882) cases of self-perceived poor mental health (14·03% of total), 16,800 (95%CI: 6828-25,700) visits to mental health specialists (13·37% of total), 13,375 (95%CI: 6107-19,184) cases of antidepressant use (13·37% of total), and 9476 (95%CI: 802-16,391) cases of tranquilliser/ sedative use (8·11% of total) could be prevented annually, along corresponding to over 45 M € annual savings in mental health costs annually. Interpretation: Our results highlight the importance of urban greening as a public health tool to improve mental health in cities. Similar results for green interventions in other cities could be expected.
  • dc.description.sponsorship The study has received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and State Research Agency through the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019-2023” Program (CEX2018-000806-S) and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program”, and GoGreenRoutes through the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under grant agreement No. 869764.
  • dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
  • dc.identifier.citation Vidal Yañez D, Pereira Barboza E, Cirach M, Daher C, Nieuwenhuijsen M, Mueller N. An urban green space intervention with benefits for mental health: A health impact assessment of the Barcelona "Eixos Verds" Plan. Environ Int. 2023 Apr;174:107880. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107880
  • dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.107880
  • dc.identifier.issn 0160-4120
  • dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/57414
  • dc.language.iso eng
  • dc.publisher Elsevier
  • dc.relation.ispartof Environ Int. 2023 Apr;174:107880
  • dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/869764
  • dc.rights © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  • dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
  • dc.subject.keyword Anxiety
  • dc.subject.keyword Depression
  • dc.subject.keyword Green spaces
  • dc.subject.keyword Health impact assessment
  • dc.subject.keyword Mental health
  • dc.subject.keyword Urban planning
  • dc.title An urban green space intervention with benefits for mental health: A health impact assessment of the Barcelona "Eixos Verds" Plan
  • dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
  • dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

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Articles (Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) – Campus Mar)
Articles (Departament de Medicina i Ciències de la Vida)
Documents OpenAIRE (Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe)