Visual exposure to nature may bolster mental health, possibly through perceptions of scenes as reflecting the concepts of beauty, restorativeness, and naturalness. To date, only a few studies have used image analytics and deep learning methods to attempt to estimate these concepts based on a training set of user rated images. We aimed to 1) test whether the use of deep learning could be applied to

Landscape-level connectivity models developed in geographic information systems (GIS) produce hypothetical objects proposed to connect areas of habitat in fragmented landscapes, hereafter called “linkages”. Assuming they are used by organisms in nature, linkages could be an important tool for the maintenance of viable wildlife populations and biodiversity conservation. We evaluated five California

In cities, green areas are essential for biodiversity conservation, with land cover heterogeneity being a decisive factor. Yet, as heterogeneity increases for a given green area, the patch size of land covers automatically decreases, as the area available for individual species, especially habitat specialist species. This relationship, known as the area-heterogeneity trade-off, is expected to lead

The trade-off between grain production service (GP) and water purification service (WP) is widely acknowledged. Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP) is an effective way to alleviate ecosystem services (ESs) trade-offs and to achieve sustainable management of grain supply and water protection. However, how to identify the optimal GFGP scenario is worth further investigation. This study developed an index

Urban green spaces (UGSs) support human health and well-being in diverse ways. In addition to their availability and accessibility, also the quality of UGSs is relevant for understanding human-environment interactions between urban populations and their local UGS. However, data on UGS quality are rarely available with the geographic coverage required for spatial decision making and urban green infrastructure

The presence of dense vegetation in a park, its topography and the presence of people are elements of Appleton’s prospect-refuge theory and can affect the level of safety and privacy felt by park visitors in various ways. Here we attempt to identify the nature of the relationship between the height of the observation point in relation to the surroundings (flat, higher or lower ground), the location

Influenced by natural and man-made factors—especially urbanization—regional forest landscapes and structures are in a dynamic process of constant change. It is of great significance to reconstruct the historical pattern of forest landscapes and construct maps of forest landscapes for long time series. Based on the investigation of Fengshui and carbon sequestration forests in northern Guangzhou city

As global warming and urbanisation intensify unabated, a growing share of the human population is exposed to dangerous heat levels. Trees and forests can effectively mitigate such heat alongside numerous health co-benefits like improved mental wellbeing. Yet, which forest types are objectively and subjectively coolest to humans, and how thermal and mental wellbeing interact, remain understudied. We

Abstract not available

Green roofs are a popular way of providing environmental benefits and places where people can experience and benefit from nature, but we know very little about the features and experiential characteristics that can support this. Fascination through interest and engagement is argued to be a key component of landscapes that restore wellbeing. We explored this proposition using complementary approaches

The increase in human population and continuous landscape transformations, especially in urban areas, will result in most of the natural habitats being degraded, significantly reduced in size and lost. Consequently, constraints in acquiring resources such as nesting sites and food may occur. In this study, we investigated the nesting site characteristics of two raptor species in the urban mosaic landscape

Are trees good for your health? Using detailed satellite imagery, we estimate the extent of tree coverage at a fine neighborhood level across urban Australia. We then look at the neighborhood-level association between tree canopy cover and mortality. Holding constant socioeconomic status, we find evidence of a strong beneficial relationship. Neighborhoods with more trees have lower levels of mortality

Street experiment is a tactical urbanism practice that involves implementing temporary changes in street use through regulatory or physical interventions, aimed at people-centric street transition. During the Covid-19 pandemic, cities worldwide implemented street experiments to accommodate the need for socially-distanced physical and commercial activities. However, we know little about the locations

The trends of land cover dynamics in cities have major repercussions on urban biodiversity, ultimately impacting the health and well-being of human urbanites. Older habitats, i.e., habitats with higher spatiotemporal continuity, allow ecosystem processes promoting the maintenance of diverse microhabitats and the accommodation of diverse species over time, contributing for a richer biodiversity at the

Developing a green infrastructure is a major environmental policy ambition in many countries around the world. However, green infrastructure objectives can vary, especially in terms of requirements on the spatial allocation of conservation sites. In this paper, we investigate which policy instruments are being used to pursue green infrastructure objectives with differing spatial needs. We do this by

Neighborhood greenspace is a recognized roborant, yet limited is known regarding the influence of greenspace spatial morphology on the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Evidence is also scarce as to whether such associations are generalizable. Using census tracts, we examined these relationships in Los Angeles and explored the generalizability of the discovered associations in New York City

Challenges remain when assessing cultural ecosystem services (CES) due to the subjective and intangible features. Landsense ecology highlights the individual perception, providing a novel dimension to the CES assessment. Based on landsense ecology, this study aims to identify and correlate landscape elements and sensory perceptions using social media data. Taking the case of Belgian greenspaces, the

Urban resilience and how to assess it have become main policy objectives in the face of accelerated climate and other global environmental change. We develop a conceptual framework and an assessment tool to analyse how green infrastructure policies contribute to urban resilience and discuss barriers and opportunities for implementation. The conceptual framework is designed to analyse how resilience

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health disorders in the world . Although acoustic and visual environments are known to influence many other aspects of mental health, we know little about their independent and interactive effects on the levels of anxiety of high-density city dwellers. We conducted a laboratory experiment using a two-way factorial design (four visual environments × five acoustic

Sustainable park design is a trend towards efforts to preserve natural resources and support quality of life for people of all ages. The aim of this study was to investigate how a sustainably designed and managed urban nature park in Colorado, USA is viewed and used by younger and older people and therefore understand the potential for intergenerational connection in these settings. Interviews with

Recent studies have shown that social infrastructure – community spaces, places of worship, social businesses, and parks – help build social ties, mitigate political polarization, and improve our health. This exploratory study examines why some areas in American cities see greater access to social infrastructure than others, applying geospatial models and city block analyses to the case of Boston.

Recreational ecosystem service (RES) supply and demand are fundamentally influenced by urbanization and are closely related to residents’ well-being. Nevertheless, how socio-economic attributes affect spatial RES demand and preferences and can be integrated into urban–rural planning is still unclear. Taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration region of China as an example, based on survey

Abstract not available

Gradually, schools are greening their schoolyard because it is believed that green schoolyards can support child development, biodiversity, and climate resilience. However, the extent to which current green schoolyards support aforementioned benefits differs considerably. This study aimed to create a green schoolyard evaluation tool (GSET) that supports the design and evaluation of green schoolyards

Alongside growing awareness of the historical and ethical dimensions of climate change impacts, little is known about those territories both sources of fossil fuel extraction as well as not beneficiaries of its benefits, usually located in developing countries. Our study frames climate justice in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region (EAR), defined as “urban jungle”, due to urbanization processes linked to

Observational and experimental studies have illustrated that exposure to greenness is beneficial to long-term health and well-being. In the urban context, however, more evidence is needed for a better understanding of the short-term health impacts of nearby nature. To address this limitation, we investigated the dynamic influence of transitions between built and natural environments on urban residents

Despite the existence of discussions regarding the dose-response relationship between greenspace exposure (GE) and physiological health benefits (PHB), the threshold effects of GE have not been adequately addressed. Here we present the hypothesis of a PHB threshold model for GE, which introduces the concepts of efficiency threshold and benefits threshold and incorporates calculations of the area under

Vegetation barriers (VB) are commonly regarded as an effective strategy in urban planning for mitigating traffic-induced airborne pollutants and associated exposure of road-users and nearby urban dwellers. Locally verified evidence is needed to better understand the nexus between VB designs and PM2.5 dispersion and provide practical insights for the creation of a healthy urban environment. This study

Urban road networks (URNs) are ubiquitous and essential components of cities. Visually, they present diverse patterns that embody latent planning principles. However, we still lack a global insight into such patterns. In this paper, we propose a scalable deep learning-based framework to automate accurate and multiscale classification of road network patterns in cities and present a comprehensive global

Urban biodiversity, and the ecosystem services it provides, are not equitably distributed across socio-economic gradients. Previous studies have highlighted disparities in alpha-diversity along socio-economic gradients, but few have translated those findings into differences in ecological function, and critically, ecosystem service delivery by urban wildlife along the same gradient. This study tested

Rising temperatures have profound impacts on the well-being of urban residents. However, factors explaining the temporal variability of urban thermal environment, or urban warming, remain insufficiently understood, especially in the Global South. Addressing this gap, we studied the relationship between city-level economic conditions and urban warming, and how urban green space mediated this relationship

Urban trees provide numerous ecosystem services including the mitigation of urban heat. However, this cooling effect is often restricted due to poor tree growth and health caused by harsh growing conditions. The aim of this study is to analyse the influence of surface paving on the physiology, growth and cooling benefits of street trees of three common species with contrasting drought tolerance (Aesculus

Given ongoing climate change and anthropogenic disturbance, conservation strategies that connect habitats and protect biodiversity are urgently needed. Climate connectivity among remaining natural habitat patches (NHPs) may facilitate animal and plant species migration forced by climate change. In developing more effective conservation strategies, it is therefore important to analyse the spatiotemporal

To achieve the German government's 30-hectare land take per day target, infilling is considered a key planning guideline. However, there are hardly any valid empirical results on the extent of residential construction activity realised as infilling. This is due, on the one hand, to the fuzziness of what constitutes an inner urban area as a spatial construct in German law and planning practice and,

Evaluating visual landscape quality provides valuable information for urban development and spatial planning. In practice however, obtaining high resolution view-metrics and outcome data with sufficient geographic coverage has remained challenging. To overcome this limitation, we construct a scalable measure of visual landscape quality by first defining building-level view-metrics derived from a large-scale

In recent decades, the population of the Eurasian beaver Castor fiber has increased significantly, and from near extinction the species has become widespread again over large part of its former range. However, the recovery of the beaver population is giving rise to increasing numbers of human-beaver conflicts in areas inhabited by humans. The key challenge of beaver population management is, therefore

Synurbic species adapt to global urbanization by increasingly inhabiting urban environments, where social and ecological factors, such as anthropogenic food resources and habitat alterations, promote close human-wildlife interactions. Ineffective management of these interactions can result in conflicts, altered animal population dynamics, and increased public and private expenditures. This study presents

Street View Image (SVI) data has gained popularity as a methodological tool for assessing pedestrian-level environments across various disciplines. Several studies in transportation and public health fields posit that environmental features measured through SVIs are similar to those perceived by pedestrians, whereas, in fact, SVIs are typically collected from vehicles. As a result, the SVI data may

Access to urban green space (UGS) is associated with a number of physical and social benefits. Recognizing the importance of UGS access for people’s wellbeing, several methods have been proposed to model UGS accessibility and highlight areas underserviced by UGS. However, existing methodologies have several limitations. Models often make use of universal, normative maximum travel distances, which may

Shading is an effective heat-mitigation strategy, with tree and building shade naturally cooling heated surfaces in hot-arid climates. However, increasing shade through tree planting and building arrangement has associated costs, such as tree maintenance and loss of solar access. To make strategic decisions, quantifying shade’s cooling effectiveness is crucial. This study examines the extent to which

In the face of accelerating urbanization, urban ecology is an important multidisciplinary science for developing future cities, with roots in many fields of research. In light of the continuing challenges of urban growth, it is promising to illuminate research strands in urban ecology to identify topics that have facilitated our understanding of urban systems and supported solutions for sustainable

Residential lawncare is understood to be a multi-scale process. In this article, we estimate a statistical model of household fertilizer decisions that characterizes household- and neighborhood-scale influences, emphasizing both informal and formal neighborhood effects. We develop a novel methodological approach that leverages spatially explicit parcel-level tax assessor data to examine informal neighborhood

Neighborhood greenness has been shown to reduce diabetes risk, however, no studies have compared the effects of overall greenness with visible greenness, which is crucial for understanding how greenness influences diabetes risk. Our study aims to explore the associations between greenness matrix and diabetes, as well as the potential effect modifications and mediating factors. We used logistic regressions

Terrestrial protected areas (TPAs) are vital for ecosystem conservation and can easily be threatened by human activities or natural disasters. The causes and impacts of human intervention on TPAs have been documented in previous studies, while assessing the exposure and vulnerability of TPAs to natural hazards, particularly wind hazards, is scarce. This study developed a model for assessing the risk

This study investigates the relationship between increasing urban vegetation and census tract-level green inequities, as well as the role of social indicators in this relationship. We analyzed the augmentation of greenspace and tree canopy in Montreal, Canada, between 2011 and 2017, and its effect on green inequities based on material deprivation, the percentage of visible minorities, and gentrification

Human-perceived landscape and amenities are not equivalent to the objective physical world. Traditional big data research that only uses objectively measured environments based on point-of-interest data has difficulty capturing the effect of human environmental perceptions on walking behavior. We proposed a conceptual framework to examine the effect of human perception on walking behavior by integrating

The Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) framework spatially delineates a landscape into discrete classes believed to provide relatively unique outdoor recreation opportunities. The framework is an integral component of numerous outdoor recreation and tourism planning efforts. However, the effectiveness of the framework as a management tool has been limited given: 1) its dependence on anecdotal perceptions

Urban parks play an essential role in hosting social activities and providing spaces for social interactions. Previous studies have examined the effects of the sound environment on individuals, particularly in terms of perception and behavior; however, few studies have investigated the impact of the sound environment on social interactions in urban parks. In this study, an experiment was conducted

Prioritization of knowledge produced in participatory planning has been approached mainly from the perspective of whose perspectives are most in need of consideration. We ask, whether it is also possible to consider which locations, based on the knowledge from participants, should be prioritized. We developed a place-based approach to inform spatial decision making especially when the prioritization

Abstract not available

Increasing development pressure on designated natural heritage areas poses a significant threat to biodiversity and ecosystems. Balancing intensive development and biodiversity conservation is crucial for achieving ecological sustainability. Ecological connectivity (EC) enhances regional ecological sustainability by promoting interactions between ecological sources and stabilizing ecosystem dynamics

Scaling up case-based knowledge to understand human-environmental interactions is key to addressing the sustainability challenges we face in the Anthropocene. Mapping social-ecological system (SES) archetypes has emerged as a promising tool in identifying these interactions in a spatially explicit manner and developing transferrable sustainability solutions based on context-specific challenges. However

Evidence on the association between greenness and telomere length (TL) is insufficient, particularly in middle-aged and elderly populations. Moreover, the modification effect of genetic susceptibility is unknown. We aimed to evaluate the association between residential greenness and TL and further assess the modification effect of genetic susceptibility. We conducted a cross-sectional study among participants

There is a large body of research on the benefits green spaces offer city dwellers and how people use urban green spaces (UGS). However, there is much less information on how many people do not use UGS, who these people are, and why they resign from going there. This paper focuses on understanding reasons that restrict the use of UGS and draws the socio-economic and demographic profile of UGS non-users

Visions help to understand common ground and tensions among citizens and stakeholders, supporting inclusive land management and conservation solutions to the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. With careful design and sufficient resource, it is possible to bring together communities and other stakeholders to share perspectives and deliberate desired futures, identifying more acceptable alternatives