Natural outdoor environments’ health effects in gentrifying neighborhoods : Disruptive green landscapes for underprivileged neighborhood residents
Triguero-Mas, Margarita ; Anguelovski, Isabelle ; García-Lamarca, Melissa LU
; Argüelles, Lucía
; Perez-del-Pulgar, Carmen
; Shokry, Galia
; Connolly, James J.T.
and Cole, Helen V.S.
(2021)
In Social Science and Medicine
279.
- Abstract
Background: Cities are restoring existing natural outdoor environments (NOE) or creating new ones to address diverse socio-environmental and health challenges. The idea that NOE provide health benefits is supported by the therapeutic landscapes concept. However, several scholars suggest that NOE interventions may not equitably serve all urban residents and may be affected by processes such as gentrification. Applying the therapeutic landscapes concept, this study assesses the impacts of gentrification processes on the associations between NOE and the health of underprivileged, often long-term, neighborhood residents. Methods: We examined five neighborhoods in five cities in Canada, the United States and Western Europe. Our case studies... (More)
Background: Cities are restoring existing natural outdoor environments (NOE) or creating new ones to address diverse socio-environmental and health challenges. The idea that NOE provide health benefits is supported by the therapeutic landscapes concept. However, several scholars suggest that NOE interventions may not equitably serve all urban residents and may be affected by processes such as gentrification. Applying the therapeutic landscapes concept, this study assesses the impacts of gentrification processes on the associations between NOE and the health of underprivileged, often long-term, neighborhood residents. Methods: We examined five neighborhoods in five cities in Canada, the United States and Western Europe. Our case studies were neighborhoods experiencing gentrification processes and NOE interventions. In each city, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews on NOE interventions, equity/justice, gentrification and health (n = 117) with case study neighborhood residents, community-based organizations, neighborhood resident leaders and other stakeholders such as public agencies staff. Results: Respondents highlighted a variety of interconnected and overlapping factors: the insufficient benefits of NOE to counterbalance other factors detrimental to health, the use of NOE for city branding and housing marketing despite pollution, unwelcomeness, increase of conflicts, threats to physical displacement for themselves and their social networks, unattractiveness, deficient routes, inadequate NOE maintenance and lack of safety in NOE. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that underprivileged neighborhood residents were perceived to experience new or improved NOE as what we call “disruptive green landscapes” (i.e. non-therapeutic landscapes with which they were not physically or emotionally engaged) instead of as therapeutic landscapes.
(Less)
- author
- Triguero-Mas, Margarita
; Anguelovski, Isabelle
; García-Lamarca, Melissa
LU
; Argüelles, Lucía
; Perez-del-Pulgar, Carmen
; Shokry, Galia
; Connolly, James J.T.
and Cole, Helen V.S.
- publishing date
- 2021-06
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Gentrification, Green spaces, Health, Nature, Therapeutic landscapes
- in
- Social Science and Medicine
- volume
- 279
- article number
- 113964
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:34020160
- scopus:85105968868
- ISSN
- 0277-9536
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113964
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Funding Information: The authors wish to thank all the study participants. MTM, MGL, LA and HC are funded by Juan de la Cierva fellowships [ FJCI-2017-33842 , FJCI-2016-30586 , FJC2018-036460-I , FJCI-2018-035322 ] awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness . The research presented in this paper received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program [grant agreement No. 678034 ] but the sponsor had no role in the design or analysis of this study. We thank Marina Skarpeti and Mateus Lira for their help on data coding. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd
- id
- aeacc5e6-5f35-42e2-bda7-f3ff939af7bb
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-06 14:14:36
- date last changed
- 2024-04-22 22:22:06
@article{aeacc5e6-5f35-42e2-bda7-f3ff939af7bb,
abstract = {{<p>Background: Cities are restoring existing natural outdoor environments (NOE) or creating new ones to address diverse socio-environmental and health challenges. The idea that NOE provide health benefits is supported by the therapeutic landscapes concept. However, several scholars suggest that NOE interventions may not equitably serve all urban residents and may be affected by processes such as gentrification. Applying the therapeutic landscapes concept, this study assesses the impacts of gentrification processes on the associations between NOE and the health of underprivileged, often long-term, neighborhood residents. Methods: We examined five neighborhoods in five cities in Canada, the United States and Western Europe. Our case studies were neighborhoods experiencing gentrification processes and NOE interventions. In each city, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews on NOE interventions, equity/justice, gentrification and health (n = 117) with case study neighborhood residents, community-based organizations, neighborhood resident leaders and other stakeholders such as public agencies staff. Results: Respondents highlighted a variety of interconnected and overlapping factors: the insufficient benefits of NOE to counterbalance other factors detrimental to health, the use of NOE for city branding and housing marketing despite pollution, unwelcomeness, increase of conflicts, threats to physical displacement for themselves and their social networks, unattractiveness, deficient routes, inadequate NOE maintenance and lack of safety in NOE. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that underprivileged neighborhood residents were perceived to experience new or improved NOE as what we call “disruptive green landscapes” (i.e. non-therapeutic landscapes with which they were not physically or emotionally engaged) instead of as therapeutic landscapes.</p>}},
author = {{Triguero-Mas, Margarita and Anguelovski, Isabelle and García-Lamarca, Melissa and Argüelles, Lucía and Perez-del-Pulgar, Carmen and Shokry, Galia and Connolly, James J.T. and Cole, Helen V.S.}},
issn = {{0277-9536}},
keywords = {{Gentrification; Green spaces; Health; Nature; Therapeutic landscapes}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Social Science and Medicine}},
title = {{Natural outdoor environments’ health effects in gentrifying neighborhoods : Disruptive green landscapes for underprivileged neighborhood residents}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113964}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113964}},
volume = {{279}},
year = {{2021}},
}