TY - JOUR

T1 - Physiological and psychological effects of visits to different urban green and street environments in older people

T2 - A field experiment in a dense inner-city area

AU - Kabisch, Nadja

AU - Püffel, Catharina

AU - Masztalerz, Oskar

AU - Hemmerling, Jan

AU - Kraemer, Roland

N1 - Funding information: We thank Jan Bumberger and Paul Remmler (both Helmholtz Centre of Environmental Research-UFZ Leipzig, Department Monitoring and Exploration Technologies) for providing technical support (Monitoring Van) and advise in the air temperature measurements. We thank the City of Leipzig, Department for Urban Green and Waters, for supporting the project. We also thank Dagmar Haase, Judith Rakowsky, Wiebke Drescher and Marc Schumann for their support during the experimental period. We particularly thank three anonymous reviewers for their very valuable comments an an ealier version of this manuscript. This work was supported by the research project Environmental-Health Interactions in Cities (GreenEquityHEALTH) – Challenges for Human Well-Being under Global Changes (2017–2022), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; no. 01LN1705A ).

PY - 2021/3

Y1 - 2021/3

N2 - Urbanisation and global ageing are both accelerating, posing older people's mental and cardiovascular health at risk. A growing number of studies suggests beneficial health effects when having contact with urban green spaces. This study investigates the effects of short-term exposure of older people to different urban green and street environments on physiological and psychological parameters relevant for cardiovascular health. A sample of 33 older men and women (mean age 63.5, standard deviation 4.2) was exposed to a long-standing urban park with widespread and old trees, to a newly developed park with diverse use opportunities and a busy street environment in the inner city of Leipzig, Germany. We measured heart rate variability using continuous ECG monitoring, blood pressure, mood using psychological questionnaires and perceived outcomes of restoration. We found significant decreases in systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure in the long-standing park indicating protective effects on cardiovascular health. Significant decreases in heart rate variability parameters were observed in the dense urban street environment indicating adverse effects on cardiovascular health. Level of naturalness and restoration experience were perceived highest in the old park reflecting common theories of restoration. In the light of these results, visiting urban green spaces should be considered as a valuable preventive measure for promoting cardiovascular health especially in older people. Although physical activity is considered by international recommendations for cardiovascular prevention, the combination with visits of green environments is yet to be implemented.

AB - Urbanisation and global ageing are both accelerating, posing older people's mental and cardiovascular health at risk. A growing number of studies suggests beneficial health effects when having contact with urban green spaces. This study investigates the effects of short-term exposure of older people to different urban green and street environments on physiological and psychological parameters relevant for cardiovascular health. A sample of 33 older men and women (mean age 63.5, standard deviation 4.2) was exposed to a long-standing urban park with widespread and old trees, to a newly developed park with diverse use opportunities and a busy street environment in the inner city of Leipzig, Germany. We measured heart rate variability using continuous ECG monitoring, blood pressure, mood using psychological questionnaires and perceived outcomes of restoration. We found significant decreases in systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure in the long-standing park indicating protective effects on cardiovascular health. Significant decreases in heart rate variability parameters were observed in the dense urban street environment indicating adverse effects on cardiovascular health. Level of naturalness and restoration experience were perceived highest in the old park reflecting common theories of restoration. In the light of these results, visiting urban green spaces should be considered as a valuable preventive measure for promoting cardiovascular health especially in older people. Although physical activity is considered by international recommendations for cardiovascular prevention, the combination with visits of green environments is yet to be implemented.

KW - Brownfield

KW - Cardiovascular health

KW - Cardiovascular prevention

KW - Elderly

KW - Heart rate

KW - Park

KW - Physical activity

KW - POMS

KW - Revitalisation

KW - SDNN

KW - Trees

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097634417&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103998

DO - 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103998

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85097634417

VL - 207

JO - Landscape and urban planning

JF - Landscape and urban planning

SN - 0169-2046

M1 - 103998

ER -