People's perception of the impact of parks on increasing physical activity in the community / Percepção das pessoas acerca do impacto dos parques no aumento da atividade física da comunidade

The present study aimed to analyze the probability of people's responses about the impact of parks on increasing physical activity in the community. Data was collected with park goers and a total of 427 participants responded to the structured questionnaire with a scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 10 (totally). Data was analyzed using multilevel ordinal regression analysis considering the variability by gender, civil state, distance from the park, education, age group, living time in the city, time spent by the users in the park and wage. Participants presented similar probabilities of responses. There were found tendencies of lower impact of the parks in older (> 60 years old) and single people as well as in people living further from the parks (> 6km). The high probabilities of responses were for values 8, 9 and 10. We can conclude people have a perception of the high impact of the parks on increasing physical activity in the community. This study contributes to encourage stakeholders to act in favor of public open spaces and to develop more action in the spaces that already exist.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo analisar a probabilidade de respostas das pessoas sobre o impacto dos parques no aumento da atividade física na comunidade. Os dados foram coletados com frequentadores do parque e um total de 427 participantes responderam ao questionário estruturado (escala que varia de 1 a 10). Os dados foram analisados por meio de análise de regressão ordinal multinível considerando a variabilidade por gênero, estado civil, distância do parque, escolaridade, faixa etária, tempo de residência na cidade, tempo de permanência dos usuários no parque e salário. Os participantes apresentaram probabilidades de respostas semelhantes. Foram encontradas tendências de menor impacto dos parques em pessoas mais velhas (> 60 anos) e solteiras, bem como em pessoas que vivem mais longe dos parques (> 6km). As maiores probabilidades foram de responder os maiores valores do questionário (valores 8, 9 e 10). Podemos concluir que as pessoas têm uma percepção do alto impacto dos parques no aumento da atividade física na comunidade. Este estudo contribui para incentivar as partes interessadas a agir em prol dos espaços públicos abertos e desenvolver mais ações nos espaços já existentes.

Effects of green space on adverse birth outcomes induced by air pollution / 环境与职业医学

Air pollution has become one of the most important public health problems worldwide. Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy is one of the important risk factors for adverse birth outcomes such as preterm birth, low birth weight, and birth defects. Air pollution control has a long way to go. Therefore, it is extremely urgent to analyze and identify relevant protective factors. Some studies have shown that green space may be a protective factor for the adverse birth outcomes related to air pollution. This kind of research mainly utilizes satellite monitoring data, quantifies the green space coverage level in a certain range of buffer zone centered on the pregnant women's home addresses, and analyzes its mediation effect on the adverse pregnancy outcomes related to air pollution. In this paper we reviewed the use of green space data, the estimated effect of green space mediating the relationship between air pollution and adverse birth outcomes, and its possible mechanisms, aiming to clarify the impact of green space on adverse birth outcomes related to air pollution and provide a scientific basis for public health intervention strategies.

When physical activity meets the physical environment: precision health insights from the intersection

BACKGROUND@#The physical environment can facilitate or hinder physical activity. A challenge in promoting physical activity is ensuring that the physical environment is supportive and that these supports are appropriately tailored to the individual or group in question. Ideally, aspects of the environment that impact physical activity would be enhanced, but environmental changes take time, and identifying ways to provide more precision to physical activity recommendations might be helpful for specific individuals or groups. Therefore, moving beyond a "one size fits all" to a precision-based approach is critical.@*MAIN BODY@#To this end, we considered 4 critical aspects of the physical environment that influence physical activity (walkability, green space, traffic-related air pollution, and heat) and how these aspects could enhance our ability to precisely guide physical activity. Strategies to increase physical activity could include optimizing design of the built environment or mitigating of some of the environmental impediments to activity through personalized or population-wide interventions.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Although at present non-personalized approaches may be more widespread than those tailored to one person's physical environment, targeting intrinsic personal elements (e.g., medical conditions, sex, age, socioeconomic status) has interesting potential to enhance the likelihood and ability of individuals to participate in physical activity.

A Study of Urban Heat Island using “Local Climate Zones” – The Case of Singapore.

Aims: The study of urban heat islands and traditionally relies on simplistic descriptors such as “urban” and “rural”. While these descriptors may be evocative of the landscape, they are insufficient in providing information like its site properties which have direct impacts on the surfacelayer climate. The newly developed “Local Climate Zones” (LCZ) characterization scheme from Oke and Stewart [1] was applied to three case study areas to provide a more objective assessment of the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon in Singapore. Study Design: The three step procedure of site metadata collection, definition of the thermal source area, and selection of the appropriate climate zone was followed for the three case study areas representing green space, a typical high rise residential housing area, and the CBD to identify and explain UHI characteristics. Place and Duration of Study: Singapore; January-March, 2014. Methodology: Characterization of the three study sites included scoring of a sky view factor, canyon aspect ratio, terrain roughness, building surface fraction, impervious surface fraction, surface energy admittance, surface albedo, and anthropogenic heat flux based on observation, photography, and Google Earth imagery, to determine the LCZ class. Temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity were recorded on an hourly basis at each site using Kestrel 4000 weather trackers and data logger at a 2 m elevation for five consecutive days in January, 2014. Results: The three study sites were characterized as LCZ 1 (compact high rise (CBD)), LCZ 4 (open high rise (high rise residential housing area)), and LCZ 9 (sparsely built (green space)). The temperature for LCZ 9 was lower than the other two sites, with the greatest UHI intensity (difference between mean air temperature being 2.01ºC between LCZ 4 and LCZ 9. Interestingly, although the CBD area was warmer than the open high rise area between midnight and 6 a.m., a typical UHI phenomenon, the mean air temperature for the entire 5 day period was greater at the open rise site. Conclusion: The lower temperature at the green space site emphasizes the importance of such spaces in the urban landscape as a means to make cities more liveable and resilient to climate change impacts. The higher mean temperature at the open high rise site as compared to the CBD site was related to anthropogenic activities (particularly traffic patterns), landscaping/green space, and the influence of a large green-certified building within the circle of influence at the CBD site. Overall, the use of LCZ in quantifying the UHI magnitude of Singapore was relatively straightforward to apply and this approach should be widely applied to more objectively investigate the UHI phenomenon, particularly in tropical cities.

Exploratory Assessment of SUDS Feasibility in Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Basin, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam.

Aims: In recent decades, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, frequently has been affected by local floods and inundation from heavy rainfall. Conventional flood mitigation measures such as building flood gates and upgrading sewerage systems have been implemented but problems persist. The objective of this research is to assess another approach for flood control measures, namely Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), with application to the Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe Basin, located in the central part of Ho Chi Minh City. Methodology: A combination of the Stormwater Management Model (PCSWMM) and interviews with 140 households was used to assess the efficacy and acceptability of four of the most popular SUDS: Rainwater harvesting, green roofs, urban green space and pervious pavement. Thirteen SUDS and urban build-out scenarios were simulated under 6 design storm conditions. Results: PCSWMM results showed that inundation from intense rainfall could be reduced with proper land-use control, specifically by maintaining imperviousness at 65% or less of the surface area. With respect to SUDS performance, green roofs were best at reducing peak runoff (22% reduction), followed by pervious pavement, urban green space, and rainwater harvesting systems. Regarding environmental improvements, as represented by reduction in total suspended solids load, urban green space was best with 20% of the solids load removed compared to the base case scenario, followed by green roofs, pervious pavement, and rainwater harvesting. The household interviews revealed the majority of people preferred pervious pavement to the other SUDS options and the least preferred option was green roof technology. Conclusion: Considering the combination of water quantity and water quality controls, it seems that green roof technology was the best performer for this area of Ho Chi Minh City, followed by urban green space, pervious pavement and rainwater harvesting. However, green roof technology also was the least favored option for the public and stakeholder acceptance will impact SUDS implementation.

Community Approach to Growing Greener Cities through Self-help Street Horticultural Gardens: A Case Study of Lagos, Nigeria.

The study examines residents’ concerns in greening their communities though self-help initiatives (SHI) carried out by individuals who utilise road set-backs to plant street horticultural gardens (SHG) in Eti-osa Local Government Area, Lagos, Nigeria. It purposefully administered questionnaire to managers of all SHG in the study area to establish their socio-economic characteristics, contributions to community greening and motivating factors behind their SHI. The study found that the horticulturists were nearly males (93.7%), young adults (54.0%), earning about three dollars per day (63.6%), have been in practice for more than four years (79.3%) and altogether using about 1.5% of land in the study area for SHG. A good number of them have contributed to voluntary greening of their communities through planting of trees (76.2%), hedges and shrubs (47.6%) and flowering plants (65.1%). The horticulturists’ Motivating Index (HMI) employed to know why they went into the practice revealed that they (51%) were moved by the depreciating state of urban green (HMI=2.55) and feared (46.4%) the impending ecological doom on the built environment due to lack of sufficient green space, causing global warming (HMI=2.32). This could be why the linear regression test of the preference of social to economic value of the practice of SHG in the study area has its R2 to be 0.219. This means that SHG in the area did not necessarily bring positive economic value to the horticulturists as the social value embedded in it. This study is a prove that literature and publicities on environmental effects of global reduction in green space seem to be yielding positive results in Africa as some individuals in the study area are taking into self-help initiatives in community greening, even where land seemed very scarce for such development. It concludes that literature on the subject should be more encouraged.