Topics applied into action

Significant health inequalities exist between neighbourhoods. Apart from differences in demographics, the neighbourhood environment including facilities has also been found to have a sizeable effect. Despite various health-promoting facilities being objectively available in neighbourhoods, not all citizens perceive them to be available to them. Therefore, some citizens might not make use of important facilities that improve their health. We need to know more about what predicts perceiving facilities as available besides them being objectively there.

Do we have the potential to combat childhood obesity rates with nature based programs? How does the design of community-based programming play a role? Our study, analyzing 4,010 articles, reveals nature-based interventions promote healthy living. Focusing on community engagement and program gaps, our research highlights innovative strategies for healthier children. A collaborative approach offers new hope in addressing this global health challenge.

Our review highlights the lack of urban green and blue spaces interventions to prevent violence against women and girls. We look also at how interventions could prevent violence against women and girls, reduce inequalities, and reshape social, cultural, and societal norms; promoting use of urban green and blue space for women and girls.

The degradation of the urban freshwater ecosystem has consequences to human population of cities. We proposed and tested an approach to identify and quantify the risk for the populations living near urban streams within the city, due to the degradation of ecosystems services.

There is limited evaluation of whether green space interventions lead to more people using these spaces. This is partly due to the difficulty of collecting data on visits to green spaces. Mobile phone data may offer one solution, but are rarely made available to researchers. As such, there is less examination of whether these data are valuable. We accessed small area anonymised mobile phone GPS data for Liverpool (2021-2022). Using a case study of wildflower planting, we identified green spaces where wildflowers were planted. A synthetic control was then constructed to identify similar green spaces where planting did not take place. We then compared the number of visits post-intervention between the intervention and control green sites. Our paper also gives an empirical and methodological evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of using mobile phone data, which can inform others on how to best use them.

What if urban health went beyond human wellness? Through our more-than-One Health conceptualization, we explored urban wild spaces as places where the health and flourishing of humans, animals, and ecosystems intertwine. This approach provides new insights into designing cities that are not just green, wild, but interconnected as restorative habitats for human and non-human health.

We wanted to understand the types of gardening for wildlife taking place in London’s private gardens and the influence of demographic factors on the likelihood to garden for wildlife. We sent out a digital questionnaire to ask Londoners about their gardening for wildlife practices and their age, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, occupation, household income, accommodation type, home ownership status, garden type, shared garden or not, dependents, and conservation-organisation membership status.

Green spaces bring several health benefits. However, adolescents' infrequent use of green spaces, especially in southern European cities like Porto, can be attributed to cultural and contextual factors, including limited green space, maintenance issues, and equipment scarcity. Thus, there has been a great push to enhance green space provision. However, achieving effective greening interventions requires understanding user perspectives, addressing barriers, and considering various age and socioeconomic groups to ensure universal access and youth-friendly spaces.

Residing in a neighbourhood with higher greenness within 400 metres was associated with higher residential greenspace visitations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Policies towards scaling up and optimising residential greenness may constitute important interventions for enhancing population-level resilience during public health emergencies.

Interventions on riverfronts require close consideration of contextual ecological and social aspects. We adopted a research-by-design process to discuss nature-inspired urban design strategies in an Irish context. • We conducted a desk study of academic literature and urban policies to establish the suitability of various methods for the site characteristics; • We performed site analyses (site observations, footfall counting, photographic documentation) for an in-depth understanding of the existing conditions. We developed urban design scenarios to envision potential approaches, on which public feedback was sought.

Increasing the availability of urban green spaces, even small pocket green spaces, should be considered a promising intervention for reducing depression among older individuals. Beyond 100m, urban green space protection diminishes. WHO recommends that the population have a green space within a 300m radius. However, for older people, this threshold may be too distant. However, not all green spaces confer mental health benefits; therefore, researchers and professionals should consider the differential effects of different categories of greenery.