TY - JOUR
T1 - Natural outdoor environments' health effects in gentrifying neighborhoods
T2 - Disruptive green landscapes for underprivileged neighborhood residents
AU - Triguero-Mas, Margarita
AU - Anguelovski, Isabelle
AU - García-Lamarca, Melissa
AU - Argüelles, Lucía
AU - Perez-Del-Pulgar, Carmen
AU - Shokry, Galia
AU - Connolly, James J T
AU - Cole, Helen V S
N1 - Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Canada
KW - Cities
KW - Environment
KW - Europe
KW - Humans
KW - Residence Characteristics
KW - United States
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113964
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113964
M3 - Article
C2 - 34020160
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 279
SP - 113964
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
ER -