Keep Calm and Go Out: Urban Nature Exposure, Mental Health, and Perceived Value during the COVID-19 Lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of incorporating nature-based solutions in urban design, in order to create sustainable and resilient cities. Inspired by these events, the present study aims at exploring the mental health benefits of nature exposure during the outbreak. Secondarily, we investigate changes in use patterns towards urban green spaces (UGS) and urban blue spaces (UBS) and whether extreme conditions, such as these of a lockdown, can lead to an increase in people's appreciation of urban nature. Through an online survey, we observed that the pandemic resulted in a decrease in the frequency of visitation to UGS/UBS (p < 0.001). Significant differences were found for exercise (p < 0.001) and socialization (p < 0.05) as main drivers for visiting urban nature pre- and post-lockdown. Accordingly, visitation rates for forests (p < 0.05), playgrounds (p < 0.001), and the sea (p < 0.001) differed significantly when comparing the two periods. In people's perception, UGS/UBS are important for the urban fabric (89%). Our structural equation model indicated that nature exposure had a beneficial effect on participants' mental health (p < 0.001). Pathways that explain the relationship between nature exposure and post- lockdown value were nature relatedness, motivation, and perceived importance of UGS/UBS. No mediation could be extracted for nature exposure and mental health. Our findings show the positive association between nature exposure and mental health improvement, especially in times of crisis, as well as a shift in the "value domain” towards urban nature.

Influence of Revitalization on the Social and Economic Well-Being of Residents: Case Study of Lithuania

The lack of public spaces, recreational areas, and sports facilities in older city neighborhoods, as well as the importance of people's social and economic well-being, have been exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Revitalization is used to update the physical environment of old neighborhoods;it improves not only the physical environment of the neighborhood, but also contributes to ensuring the social and economic well-being of the residents. The article aims to identify which typical revitalization project solutions, only referring to physical environmental improvement projects, improve the social and economic well-being of the residents. To achieve this goal, a statistical analysis of the Žirmūnai triangle residents was performed with obtained survey data. The hypothesized connections between typical revitalization solutions and changes in the social and economic well-being of the population were verified using Pearson's Chi-Square test. The results showed that the public spaces, sports, and playgrounds provided by revitalization were directly related to the social and economic well-being of the residents. As a result of this typical revitalization solution, 17% of the residents experienced an improvement in their economic well-being, 17% of the residents got to know their neighbors, and 95% of the residents indicated that they enjoy living in the neighborhood.

A Place for Us: Parks as a Social Justice Issue for Asian Americans

Krishnan and Park's communities of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst in New York City - home to a 75,000-strong, rapidly growing Asian American population - were the epicenter of not one, but two pandemics in 2020. As COVID-19 claimed the lives of their elders, trapped in nursing homes and cramped apartments, anti-Asian hate awaited them at every turn, stalking them on subway platforms and sidewalks. As these twin pandemics surged through their communities, their parks saved their lives. Their open spaces allowed them to escape the physical, mental, and social constraints of quarantine into fresh air. They allowed them to exist in community with their neighbors. And today, from daily t'ai chi ch'uan and yoga to annual Diwali, Eid, and Lunar New Year celebrations, their parks have become places of continued healing and growth. Here and across New York City, their public open spaces are essential to meeting the multiple challenges they face, from public health to public safety. They must recognize the extraordinary value of their park system and deepen their investment for all neighborhoods, and for future generations. Every community needs and deserves space to thrive.

Untangling the Integral Impact of Land Use Change, Economic, Ecological and Social Factors on the Development of Burabay District (Kazakhstan) during the Period 1999–2021

Long-term spatiotemporal Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) analysis is an objective tool for assessing patterns of sustainable development (SD). The basic purpose of this research is to define the Driving Mechanisms (DM) and assess the trend of SD in the Burabay district (Kazakhstan), which includes a city, an agro-industrial complex, and a national natural park, based on the integrated use of spatiotemporal data (STD), economic, environmental, and social (EES) indicators. The research was performed on the GEE platform using Landsat and Random Forest. The DM were studied by Multiple Linear Regression and Principal Component Analysis. SD trend was assessed through sequential transformations, aggregations, and integrations of 36 original STD and EES indicators. The overall classification accuracy was 0.85–0.97. Over the past 23 years, pasture area has changed the most (−16.69%), followed by arable land (+14.72%), forest area increased slightly (+1.81%), and built-up land—only +0.16%. The DM of development of the AOI are mainly economic components. There has been a noticeable drop in the development growth of the study area in 2021, which is apparently a consequence of the COVID-19. The upshots of the research can serve as a foundation for evaluating SD and LULC policy.

COVID-19 compliance among urban trail users: behavioral insights and environmental implications. (Special Issue: Covid-19 and outdoor recreation.)

Public green spaces provide physical and mental respite, which have become essential and elevated services during the COVID-19 pandemic. As visitation to public parks and recreation areas increased during the pandemic, the challenge of maintaining visitor safety and protecting environmental resources was exacerbated. A key visitor safety practice during the COVID-19 onset was maintaining a physical distance of six feet (1.8 m) between groups. A novel data set documented and compared physical distancing compliance and off-trail behavior on multiple-use trails across multiple states and within select U.S. communities, attending to the impact of select environmental factors. Nearly 6000 observations revealed physical distancing compliance varied and the environmental factors of trail width, density, and signage influenced its variability. Similarly, off-trail movement was related to trail width and density. Clearly the environment matters as people negotiate the 'new normal' of physical distancing during physical activity and outdoor recreation participation. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and likelihood of future health crises, this project provides important information and insight for trail and other public green space management, monitoring, and modelling moving forward.

Developing Young Science and Technology Parks: Recent Findings from Industrial Nations Using the Data-Driven Approach

Science and technology parks (STPs) are curated locations where new technology-based firms (NTBFs) and other SMEs and firms can conglomerate and promote a culture of innovation. Overall, the aim is to construct a sustainable high-value tech entrepreneurship ecosystem, and to this end we present here some recent and novel concepts derived from approaches using a data-driven statistical foundation. This paper considers studies on the organic growth of young start-up science and technology parks by authors who have used big data, econometric analyses, panel data and computer simulations. The results and concepts are derived from industrialized countries, notably Sweden and the UK, and may well be applicable to many regions and emerging economies. The findings are of interest to regional development, technology entrepreneurs considering choosing an STP to inhabit, as well as those in STP central teams, specializing in management and enterprise development, including the sustainable growth of new parks.

Dogs unleashed: The positive role dogs play during COVID-19

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has forced the global community to cope with widespread fear and isolation. However, there are outpourings of kindness and community despite these challenging times. In some cases, mandatory "social distancing" has even strengthened our relationships. One such relationship is the bond between humans and dogs. In this commentary, I leverage visual autoethnography to detail and understand human-dog relationships in the time of COVID-19, highlighting their importance. I then critique the allocation of space for dogs and the rigid restrictions on dogs in public space. Finally, I use my experience with my dog as a lens to question the heavy policing of public space and reflect on broader issues of this enforcement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Leveraging behavioral data for public health: Exploring sleep and nature exposure using mobile phones and social media

Health surveillance and assessment are considered essential components of a functional public health system. The recent ubiquity of mobile devices and social media have created a wealth of behavioral data, and bring into existence new forms of population health monitoring. These new digital sources can provide direct and passive data for more detailed and nuanced health factors, and have expanded the human, spatial, and temporal scales at which these factors can be measured. In this project, I leverage digital trace data from tweets and mobile device location pings to explore population scale sleep loss, and nature exposure through park visitations in the United States. Both sleep and nature exposure are essential contributors to well-being, and have historically relied on either survey data or direct observation of individuals to measure. I begin by demonstrating the ability of Twitter data to passively reflect population-scale sleep loss at the state level. This is followed by an exploration of park visitation measured through mobile device GPS data. Changes in county-scale park visitation behavior at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic are analyzed and comparisons are made using population density, employment sector, income, and voting records. In the final chapter I investigate the viability of predicting park visitation using demographic information from the surrounding neighborhood. I conclude with a brief discussion of the significance of measuring these behaviors, and the potential for health policy improvement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Encouraging pro-conservation intentions in urban recreational spaces: a South African zoo perspective

PurposeZoos are important urban tourism attractions. The challenge for zoos is finding a balance between attracting visitors and enhancing education and conservation management. This research contributes to a greater understanding of the conservation intentions of zoo visitors and how zoos can emphasise conservation management principles sustainably. This study aims to identify the variables that encourage conservation intentions among visitors to a South African zoo.Design/methodology/approachA destination-based survey was conducted in 2019 at the Johannesburg Zoo, and 445 questionnaires were administered through convenience sampling.FindingsExploratory factor analyses identified visitors' conservation awareness because of zoos (pre-conscious, conscious and unconscious), behavioural intentions (advocating and supporting), motives (engagement, edutainment and escapism) and satisfaction (interaction and facility quality, and service and interpretation quality). The behavioural intentions were the dependent variables. Advocating conservation intentions (ACI) is an active role where zoo visitors feel a strong responsibility towards conservation and encourage others to the conservation cause. Supporting conservation intentions (SCI) relates more to loyalty towards visiting the zoo and subsequently supporting conservation. Stepwise linear regression analyses revealed that enhancing ACI relies on SCI, edutainment, conscious awareness, service and interpretation quality and total spending. However, enhancing SCI relies on ACI, interaction and facility quality and the motive, escapism, while engagement revealed a negative relationship.Originality/valueThe results show that zoos can encourage SCI to ACI by using interactive and entertaining interpretations to teach visitors about the zoo's mandate and the importance of conservation while balancing their need to escape.

Development of 720.. virtual and augmented reality digital tour platform in the Xitou Nature Education Area

The Xitou Nature Education Area has attracted a huge tourist crowd due to its convenient transportation, perfect catering and accommodation conditions, welfare measures such as transportation and subsidies from the local government, as well as the electric vehicle service provided by the park for the disabled. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were about 1.5 million visits each year, resulting in the trails and facilities nearly saturated, causing potential damage and stress to the environment. The impact of the epidemic has reduced the number of tourists in the forest recreation area, which just to provide the park with a chance to breathe. In addition to the diversion measures, online virtual reality tours can be used to relieve the tourist crowd. This research cooperates with the existing server of the National Taiwan University Experimental Forest Management Office to complete the construction of the functions of the 720 panoramic tour platform, including visitor number statistics, settings, VR glasses, viewing angle, hot spots, map sand table, and tour guide. We also finished 22 aerial panoramas, 54 ground panoramas, and 13 indoor panoramas. The panoramic images shot in the air and on the ground of the park are linked and presented by the mobile digital panoramic virtual reality navigation platform developed by this research. The various sceneries in the park can therefore be presented through the internet and can be combined with the content of the tour guide to provide tourists and disabled people who cannot visit the scene in person the immersive experience. Moreover, when the manpower or budget for interpreting tours is insufficient in the future, in addition to reducing the workload of the interpretation in the park, an interactive interface can also be added through the platform to provide detailed interpretation information on the scenery, animals, and plants of each base, thereby improving the interpretation effect and tourism quality.

Purveyors of One Health: The ecological imperative driving the future of leisure services

The coronavirus pandemic, for all of its damage to human health and well-being, has brought to light the wisdom underlying the idea of One Health, whose advocates reason that health is a reciprocal relationship between our species and the environment that sustains us. What is good for people should also be good for the environment, and what is good for the environment should also be good for people. Their preferred future is one in the same. As the recent days, weeks, and months have also shown, leisure is not necessarily a cure for what ails us. Indeed, leisure pursuits may have contributed to the pandemic's spread. What, then, are we to make of leisure in the time of the coronavirus? We believe it is a fundamental lesson in ecology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

KAUAʻI'S PANDEMIC RESPONSE AND RECOVERY: ADDRESSING THE WICKED PROBLEM OF HOUSELESSNESS IN A SUSTAINABLE MANNER

The shelter park responsive strategy used by the County of Kauai during the pandemic to keep the houseless safe was effective. There were no significant outbreaks in the parks and no deaths from COVID-19. During the year or more that the houseless population spent in the shelter parks, the residents developed social capital and a sense of community. The houseless population in the parks was reticent and was negatively impacted when the parks were demobilized. The houseless were forced to separate and return to living in encampments in bushes around the island. The county of Kauai and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources began regular sweeps of these encampments as the houseless are not allowed to stay on government land. There is no designated place for the houseless to stay on the island. Houselessness is a wicked problem and is rife with complexities on Kauai. The complexities challenge the countys ability to address the houseless populations needs effectively. The houseless population is increasingly vulnerable based on dispersion, diminishment of social networks, decreased connection to providers, and greater mental and physical health destabilization. Developing and fostering resilience in this population is within emergency managements purview. To best meet the needs identified in this study and to navigate the complex system in which they are exacerbated, solutions will ideally come from a layered complement of federal-level and private-sector partnerships empowered under a national strategy led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These solutions must focus on developing key elements of resilience within a houseless community structure that provides varying levels of transition, wraparound services, focused attention to health and well-being, development of life skills, and solidification of social and information networks, all framed within an operational mantra of dignity, respect, and trust.

Climate, bion, and my head in the sand

Last August I traveled to California. I visited the Sequoia and the Kings Canyon National Parks. It was a majestic experience. Awe-inspiring thousand-year-old trees, spectacular vistas. Unfortunately, because of the wildfires, the air quality was so bad that I could not stop coughing. Leaving the area, I went on to San Francisco, where the situation was even worse. Eating out presented a dilemma: sit inside a restaurant, and risk COVID or sit outdoors and suffocate right away. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Raising Healthy Children: Promoting the Multiple Benefits of Green Open Spaces through Biophilic Design

Several studies have indicated that children who grow up in green environments enjoy beneficial impacts on their development. However, to date, very little attention has been paid to the types and characteristics of dedicated public open green space for children. In addition, studies on biophilic design that could help landscape architects to design open spaces for children are limited. In order to fill this gap, this perspective examines the scientific literature on the relationship between open spaces and children. The authors specifically discuss and analyze the following points: (1) pathways to and effects on children's health and well-being;(2) types and characteristics of open spaces for child-dedicated facilities (e.g., schools, hospitals, fitness camps, playgrounds, etc.), as well as for child-friendly urban open spaces. Finally, the authors provide inspiring examples and case studies of biophilic design for children's health and well-being. Conclusions from this perspective show that biophilic design could benefit both the physical and mental health of children, as well as improve children's overall resilience to pandemics and other diseases. This perspective provides, for the first time, new insights for designing biophilic and child-friendly cities, and explores areas of future research.

The mobile thriving respite with and for the street community

We report on our work with the street community of Pittsburgh, specifically, a community-based action initiative we call the Mobile Thriving Respite (Institutional Review Board approval was obtained from our university). For 5 years, student advocate ethnographers from Point Park University have gathered data (e.g., long- and short-term interviews, participant-observations generating fieldnotes). The data revealed and supported the need for thriving beyond surviving homelessness. The data endorsed the creation of the mobile thriving respite. In the first part of this work, we will discuss some critical concepts regarding homelessness as a phenomenon and then argue that while surviving as enduring is necessary, there are some for whom survival is a perpetual, lethal state of being. We will discuss the theoretical foundations to the respite and offer researchers' ethnographic accounts of the respite's process and progress (We had to temporarily end the respite during the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, the respite has returned with "pop up" events outside at various locations). We will outline how the mobile thriving respite is a praxis as site of resistance as well as an emergent strategy, and an instantiation of communitas. We will then revisit surviving as collectively bearing witness and testifying to the lived experiences of those living outside. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Nature-based Solutions for Industrial Logistic Parks

The growth of logistic cities and freight villages to meet the increasing demand of e-commerce is unstoppable. This strategic sector has boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is estimated that by 2025, 138 million sqm of additional e-commerce areas will be built worldwide. Only in the last decade, the European logistic construction activity has tripled. Endless cities of asphalt and concrete have been built to host e-commerce companies, posing severe environmental threats such as desertification, loss of ecosystem and wildlife. Seeking to resolve these challenges, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization has proposed an international framework for Eco-Industrial Parks, with environmental guidelines for rainwater management, biodiversity preservation, or creation of recreational areas amongst others. However, prior studies and recommendations focused on the formulation of resilient spatial planning solutions for industrial logistic areas are yet very limited, and comprehensive literature reviews are still lacking. Aiming to address this research gap, this paper includes a review of recent investigations and projects focused on the study of resilient solutions for the design of industrial logistic areas. A bibliometric analysis of the literature published in Scopus database from 1992 to 2022 concerning terms such as Industrial Park, Eco-Industrial Park, or Nature-based Solutions is presented. The results reveal that the connection between Industrial Logistic Parks and Nature-based Solutions is very weak, or almost non-existent. This paper also discusses the project Plataforma Central Iberum-one of the largest industrial logistic spaces (3.5 million sqm) built in Spain- as a case study. This project is one of the first Industrial Logistic Parks developed in this country where nature-based solutions such as the integration of rainwater wetlands, load-bearing permeable pavements, green v-ditch medians, and natural self-sustaining infrastructure parks with diverse native plant species, were implemented. Overall, this paper aims to highlight the urgency to discuss and adopt Nature-based Solutions to render Industrial Logistic Parks more resilient.

Leveraging behavioral data for public health: Exploring sleep and nature exposure using mobile phones and social media

Health surveillance and assessment are considered essential components of a functional public health system. The recent ubiquity of mobile devices and social media have created a wealth of behavioral data, and bring into existence new forms of population health monitoring. These new digital sources can provide direct and passive data for more detailed and nuanced health factors, and have expanded the human, spatial, and temporal scales at which these factors can be measured. In this project, I leverage digital trace data from tweets and mobile device location pings to explore population scale sleep loss, and nature exposure through park visitations in the United States. Both sleep and nature exposure are essential contributors to well-being, and have historically relied on either survey data or direct observation of individuals to measure. I begin by demonstrating the ability of Twitter data to passively reflect population-scale sleep loss at the state level. This is followed by an exploration of park visitation measured through mobile device GPS data. Changes in county-scale park visitation behavior at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic are analyzed and comparisons are made using population density, employment sector, income, and voting records. In the final chapter I investigate the viability of predicting park visitation using demographic information from the surrounding neighborhood. I conclude with a brief discussion of the significance of measuring these behaviors, and the potential for health policy improvement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Multifunctional Urban Green Infrastructure Development in a Sub-Saharan Country: The Case of Friendship Square Park, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The global expansion of urbanization is posing associated environmental and socioeconomic challenges. The capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, is also facing similar threats. The development of urban green infrastructures (UGIs) are the forefront mechanisms in mitigating these global challenges. Nevertheless, UGIs in Addis Ababa are degrading and inaccessible to the city residents. Hence, a 56 km long Addis River Side Green Development Project is under development with a total investment of USD 1.253 billion funded by Chinese government aid. In phase one of this grand project, Friendship Square Park (FSP), was established in 2019 with a total cost of about USD 50 million. This paper was initiated to describe the establishment process of FSP and assess its social, economic, and environmental contributions to the city. The establishment process was described in close collaboration with the FSP contractor, China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC). The land use changes of FSP’s development were determined by satellite images, while its environmental benefits were assessed through plant selection, planting design, and seedling survival rate. Open and/or close ended questionnaires were designed to assess the socioeconomic values of the park. The green space of the area has highly changed from 2002 (8.6%) to 2019 (56.1%) when the park was completed. More than 74,288 seedlings in 133 species of seedlings were planted in the park. The average survival rate of these seedlings was 93%. On average about 500 people visit the park per day, and 400,000 USD is generated, just from the entrance fee, per annum. Overall, 100% of the visitors were strongly satisfied with the current status of the park and recommended some additional features to be included in it. In general, the park is contributing to the environmental and socioeconomic values of the city residents, and this kind of park should be developed in other sub-cities of the city as well as regional cities of Ethiopia to increase the aesthetic, environmental and socioeconomic values of the country, at large.

Perceived qualities, visitation and felt benefits of preferred nature spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: a nationally-representative cross-sectional study of 2940 adults

We investigated how the perceived quality of natural spaces influenced levels of visitation and felt benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia via a nationally representative online and telephone survey conducted on 12-26 October (Social Research Centre's Life in AustraliaTM panel aged > 18 years, 78.8% response, n=3043). Our sample was restricted to those with complete information (n=2940). Likert scale responses to 18 statements regarding the quality of local natural spaces that participants preferred to visit were classified into eight quality domains: access;aesthetics;amenities;facilities;incivilities;potential usage;safety;and social. These domains were then summed into an overall nature quality score (mean=5.8, range=0-16). Associations between these quality variables and a range of nature visitation and felt benefits were tested using weighted multilevel models, adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic confounders. Compared with participants in the lowest perceived nature quality quintile, those in the highest quality quintile had higher odds of spending at least 2 h in their preferred local nature space in the past week (Odds Ratio [OR]=3.40;95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]=2.38-4.86), of visiting their preferred nature space almost every day in the past four weeks (OR=3.90;2.77-5.47), and of reporting increased levels of nature visitation in comparison with before the COVID-19 pandemic (OR=3.90;2.54-6.00). Participants in the highest versus lowest perceived nature quality quintile also reported higher odds of feeling their visits to nature enabled them to take solace and respite during the pandemic (OR=9.49;6.73-13.39), to keep connected with their communities (OR=5.30;3.46-8.11), and to exercise more often than they did before the pandemic (OR=3.88;2.57-5.86). Further analyses of each quality domain indicated time in and frequency of visiting nature spaces were most affected by potential usage and safety (time in nature was also influenced by the level of amenity). Feelings of connection and solace were most affected by potential usage and social domains. Exercise was most influenced by potential usage, social and access domains. In conclusion, evidence reported in this study indicates that visits to nature and various health-related benefits associated with it during the COVID-19 pandemic were highly contingent upon numerous qualities of green and blue spaces.

Disabled-Friendly Public Spaces in Covid 19 Pandemic: Improving Service Facilities and Accessibility based on the User‘s Perception in Alun-Alun Batu City

An inclusive and easily accessible public space, including for persons with disabilities, is one of the goals contained in the SDGs by 2030. The Batu City Government has tried to create a friendly public space by providing facilities and utilities that make it easier for people with disabilities to access it seen on Alun-Alun Batu. The ongoing covid 19 pandemic causes limited visits to Alun-Alun Batu and affects the condition of existing facilities. This research aims to develop the concept of facilities and accessibility based on the perception of disabled users. The analytical methods in this research are the perception assessment of disabled users with IPA analysis and the conformity assessment method according to the current pandemic conditions. The results show that out of 16 facilities, half of the facilities are in unsuitable condition and other facilities are not suitable for disabled users. The priority of upgrading facilities are objects in quadrants I IPA which consists of toilets, traffic parks, carousel, and gazebos/smoking areas. The second priority is facilities located in quadrant II such as parking lots, playgrounds, Ferris wheels, and offices. And the third priority is for facilities located in quadrant III IPA such as dancing fountains, stage performances, seats, rubbish bin, and tourism information.