Green equals Healthy? Towards an evidence base for high density Healthy City research

Abstract

The doctrine that urban greenery is positively associated with physical and mental health is widely acknowledged in landscape and urban planning, but is not underpinned by specific research findings. This paper examines how the association between 'greenery' and health has developed through the history of landscape and urban design, and sets out the need for clear evidence based research as the foundation of credible arguments for the provision of more and better quality greenery in the city. We discuss the many hypothetical causal pathways between increased urban greenery and improving public health, and from a broad literature review we highlight recent research studies that have found associations between them. Directions for future research are suggested.

雖然城市綠化能夠有助于身心健康這一觀點已在景觀和城市規劃中得到了廣泛認可,但是其仍缺乏具體的研究成果來支持。本文探討'綠色植被'和健康之間的關聯如何在景觀和城市設計的歷史進程中得到發展,并提出以明確實證為支持在城市中創建更多更高品質的綠色植被基礎的迫切需要。我們就增加城市綠色植被和改善公共健康之間的諸多假設性的因果關聯進行了討論,并根據廣泛的文獻綜述,對那些發現了這二者之間關聯方面的近期研究予以了著重闡述。除此之外,本文還對未來的研究方向提出了建議。