Citation

Ruijsbroek A, Droomers M, Kruize H, van Kempen E, Gidlow CJ, Hurst G, Andrusaityte S, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Maas J, Hardyns W, Stronks K, Groenewegen PP. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017; 14(6): e14060618.

Affiliation

Department of Human Geography and Department of Sociology, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. p.groenewegen@nivel.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph14060618

PMID

28594390

Abstract

It has been suggested that certain residents, such as those with a low socioeconomic status, the elderly, and women, may benefit more from the presence of neighbourhood green space than others. We tested this hypothesis for age, gender, educational level, and employment status in four European cities. Data were collected in Barcelona (Spain; n = 1002), Kaunas (Lithuania; n = 989), Doetinchem (The Netherlands; n = 847), and Stoke-on-Trent (UK; n = 933) as part of the EU-funded PHENOTYPE project. Surveys were used to measure mental and general health, individual characteristics, and perceived neighbourhood green space. Additionally, we used audit data about neighbourhood green space. In Barcelona, there were positive associations between neighbourhood green space and general health among low-educated residents. In the other cities and for the other population groups, there was little evidence that the association between health and neighbourhood green space differed between population groups. Overall, our study does not support the assumption that the elderly, women, and residents who are not employed full-time benefit more from neighbourhood green space than others. Only in the highly urbanised city of Barcelona did the low-educated group benefit from neighbourhood green spaces. Perhaps neighbourhood green spaces are more important for the health of low-educated residents in particularly highly urbanised areas.

Language: en

Keywords

European cities; general health; green space; mental health; subpopulations