Conference Agenda

Parks and green spaces in particular have a high public nature and can contribute to community development and health promotion, as local people are involved as users, as well as in maintenance and conservation activities. It also has aspects of making effective use of local resources, and historical heritage, and the conservation of cultural assets, and are expected to have positive impacts on local areas and communities, by achieving multiple goals in the SDGs. This study aims to clarify the integration between health promotion and park and green space policies in ‘SDGs Future Cities’, a selection of advanced SDGs initiatives by the Japanese Government’s Cabinet Office. The research question is how policy integration with health promotion have contributed to the creation of more green spaces to create a healthy urban environment. The research method is to review the policies of each local government's Master Plans for Parks and Green Spaces (MPPGS) from the viewpoint of health promotion in the Kansai Metropolitan Region. The results showed that all large cities and many medium-sized cities with populations 100,000 or more had formulated MPPGS in regards to health promotion, and that the content ranges from the conservation of historical environments to creation and renewal of urban parks such as conserving forests and trees in shrines and temples, and new construction and revitalization of parks and green spaces. On the other hand, only one of the 17 small cities with less than 100,000 inhabitants had formulated the plan. The roles of newly created or redeveloped parks and green spaces in health promotion are mentioned in many plans as residents nearby can better use them. Furthermore, the conservation of forests and farmlands also encourage people to visit there more frequently. In conclusion, we found that policy integration can promote to incorporate other health related policies into park and green space policies, and future support is particularly needed for small cities in their policy development. The health promotion can also contribute to the creation of more green spaces, as it is listed as a key component in developing the MPPGS.

Citizen engagement in climate adaptation is gaining traction, with an increasing number of cities resorting to the co-production of adaptation. This approach extends beyond collaborative planning, as individual citizens and the private sector are tasked with implementing flood-proof measures, which include Nature-Based Solutions, on their premises to improve overall soil permeability. Consequently, adaptation becomes a shared responsibility of all urban actors.

While community-based adaptation has the potential to address the limitations of top-down planning, by incorporating local knowledge and context-specific solutions, this responsibility shift in the provision of flood security can have severe implications for climate justice. If a city's flood security depends on citizens' action, how can policymakers ensure everyone is equally protected from flooding, thus preventing green enclaves? How can adaptation plans which rely on property-level measures prevent green gentrification?

The extent to which co-produced adaptation can contribute to climate (in)justice deserves further scrutiny. In particular, the literature is yet to address how the different actors involved in co-production (local governments, private businesses, and individual residents) frame climate justice and responsibility for flood adaptation. How do these actors think about just adaptation determines their actions and the responsibility they take in the co-production of flood adaptation.

To address this gap, this research employs a Q-Methodology study to map perceptions of stakeholders involved in the Amsterdam Rainproof programme. Amsterdam Rainproof is a leading example of participatory flood adaptation in a city facing increasing pluvial flood risk. The Q-study explores the priorities and narratives around climate justice of public and private stakeholders carrying the responsibility of adaptation within the programme.

The Q-study will produce a narrative landscape of Amsterdam Rainproof, which will identify the predominant narratives around climate justice and responsibility for flood adaptation in Amsterdam. It will also highlight areas of consensus and dissensus between the different positions, which can serve as entry points to navigate conflict in participatory greening programmes.

Urban green spaces are an essential environmental feature of cities and their presence is positively associated with health outcomes and higher physical activity (PA). While previous studies highlight the importance of context for PA, longitudinal studies examining changes across life stages are currently lacking. This study will investigate how life-stage context ­ – before and after statutory retirement – are associated with PA among late middle-aged participants (n=124) from the Finnish Retirement and Aging Study. We will further examine whether greenness exposure, measured using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within activity spaces, impacted these associations. Activity spaces were outlined using the Individualized Residential Exposure Model (IREM), which estimates place exposure and its variation through the participant’s activity spaces. PA was measured using accelerometers, as expressed as light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. For the statistical analysis, linear regression with Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) will be applied to account for intra-individual correlations which then will be adjusted for age, gender, occupational status, BMI, mobility limitations, residential rurality and season. To consider the impact of leisure time availability, we will compare PA and green exposure across three distinctive scenarios: before retirement during working days and days off and lastly during retirement days. Our study aims to highlight the importance of considering life-stage transitions, such as retirement, in studying the role and just distribution of urban green spaces in promoting health benefits. In our best knowledge, this is the first study to examine the associations between green exposure within activity spaces and PA across these specific contexts.

Access to urban green spaces has demonstrated positive effects on the health and well-being of adolescents. However, the increasing engagement in sedentary activities and after-school activities has reduced the time spent outdoors, limiting contact with these spaces. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that adolescents have access to high-quality green spaces near their homes to encourage their use and promote healthier habits.

This study aims to analyse possible associations between the availability of urban green spaces within a 300-meter buffer from homes and the frequency and duration of visits to these spaces by adolescents in six major Spanish cities. The methodology involves geocoding residential addresses and measuring the percentage of green spaces within 300-meter buffers. Using these data, we will assess how proximity to these green spaces influences adolescents' use of them.

Preliminary results suggest that proximity to green spaces is associated with increased frequency and duration of visits. Additionally, cities with a higher percentage of green spaces show greater use by adolescents. However, factors such as safety, maintenance of spaces, lifestyle, and socioeconomic characteristics also play a significant role in the use of these areas.

This study highlights the importance of proximity to green spaces in promoting healthy habits among adolescents and provides relevant evidence for urban planning, advocating for the creation of high-quality green spaces in urban areas.