Exploring the Impact of Urban Green Space on Residents’ Health in Guangzhou, China
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 146, Issue 1
Abstract
China’s rapid urbanization has exerted long-lasting effects on socioeconomic development in cities and on the living conditions of urban Chinese. However, few studies have focused on understanding the effects of urban green space on health at the community level, which is an emergent issue for urban planning and policy makers. Based on a questionnaire survey conducted in 2016, this study aimed to investigate the effect of green space and green space planning on individual health in urban built environments, in addition to the effects of demographic and socioeconomic factors. The results indicated that the distribution, accessibility, and frequency of usage of green space, as well as individual demographic and socioeconomic factors (education, income, employment, and birth situation) are strongly associated with individual obesity and other related health issues (e.g., stress and suboptimal health). The results also showed that a higher percentage of male adults suffer from obesity than female adults and that older adults have a higher tendency to be overweight than others. Making changes in the built environment can motivate people to be more active in urban green spaces and maintain a healthy status. These findings have implications for urban planning and design for building healthy communities in the context of China’s new-type urbanization and healthy China policy.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Grant Nos. 2018A030310263 and 2018A030313221), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41801161 and 41801163), the Soft Science Research Program of Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. 2018A070712019), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China (Grant Nos. 17lgy39 and 18lgpy12) conducted at Sun Yat-sen University. The authors thank those who participated in this research, contributing their valuable time to inform a better understanding of the links between cities and health.
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Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 146 • Issue 1 • March 2020
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©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: May 7, 2018
Accepted: May 15, 2019
Published online: Dec 9, 2019
Published in print: Mar 1, 2020
Discussion open until: May 9, 2020
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