gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared health to be one of the most important indicators for sustainable urban development [1]. This statement is supported by growing scientific evidence [2]. However, health is not yet an integral part of spatial planning policies. Especially urban green planning plays an essential role in this matter, as urban Green Infrastructure (GI) has positive effects both on mental and physical health as well as social justice through the provision of space for sports, relaxation and enjoyment [3]. A promising approach to assess the health-related benefits of tailored GI-measures and to enable planners to create synergies in different spatial scales through practical indicators are cultural ecosystem services (CES). But despite all ongoing process, there are still scientific gaps in the mapping and analysis of context-based and regional CES.

Material and methods: Against this background, we developed an approach to assess the health-related contributions of GI in the cities of Bochum and Gelsenkirchen as well as Shanghai and thus pave the way to sustainable, health-conscious urban planning. In order to do so, we carried out a social media analysis offer around 650 green spaces. Using qualitative content analysis, 18,130 comments were analyzed with regard to the mentioning of CES and GI assets (trees, water bodies, etc.) leading to the provision of CES.

Results: In both German cities, aesthetic experiences played a major role in the use of GI with relative frequencies of over 40.0% (Figure 1 [Fig. 1]). Active movements such as jogging as well as passive, observational interactions were also frequently mentioned. In Shanghai, active (32.5%) as well as passive interactions (24.0%) played a bigger role than aesthetic experiences.

Using the example of active or immersive interactions, water bodies and lawns were the two most frequently mentioned natural elements in Germany and Shanghai (Table 1 [Tab. 1]). With regard to the built environment, sports facilities make an important contribution to active movement in both countries. In Germany, the path structure was also mentioned, in China playgrounds. In addition, references were made to factors related to user perception, such as the cleanliness in Germany or the proximity in Shanghai.

Conclusion: CES provides information on the general provision of health-related benefits and helps to explore opportunities to further improve the implementation of nature-based health measures in urban areas. In order to promote health equity, not only planners and actors from the health sector have to be involved in planning and research processes, but also different user groups. A methodological challenge will be to identify the diverse needs of different users, especially those of vulnerable user groups and to integrate health-data into spatial analysis.