Literature Review Reveals a Global Access Inequity to Urban Green Spaces

Differences in the accessibility to urban resources between different racial and socioeconomic groups have exerted pressure on effective planning and management for sustainable city development. However, few studies have examined the multiple factors that may influence the mitigation of urban green spaces (UGS) inequity. This study reports the results of a systematic mapping of access inequity research through correspondence analysis (CA) to reveal critical trends, knowledge gaps, and clusters based on a sample of 49 empirical studies screened from 563 selected papers. Our findings suggest that although the scale of cities with UGS access inequity varies between countries, large cities (more than 1,000,000 population), especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), are particularly affected. Moreover, the number of cities in which high socioeconomic status (high-SES) groups (e.g., young, rich, or employed) are at an advantage concerning access to UGS is substantially higher than the number of cities showing better accessibility for low-SES groups. Across the reviewed papers, analyses on mitigating interventions are sparse, and among the few studies that touch upon this, we found different central issues in local mitigating strategies between high-income countries (HICs) and LMICs. An explanatory framework is offered, explaining the interaction between UGS access inequity and local mitigating measures

Effects of Urbanization on the Dynamics and Equity of Access to Urban Parks from 2000 to 2015 in Beijing, China

Urban parks provide multiple ecosystem services as an important element of the urban space and improve human health and wellbeing. This study used the Gaussian-based 2SFCA method to evaluate the spatiotemporal distribution of and changes in park accessibility within the Sixth Ring Road in Beijing over 15 years. The study also used bivariate correlation analysis to analyze the relationship between urbanization factors and park access. The results showed that the overall park accessibility in both quantity and proximity had increased from 2000 to 2015, but there were still certain areas (percentage) that had limited access to parks. The inequity of distribution in park accessibility had been detected accompanying the rapid increase in park quantity in 2015. Furthermore, the development of urban parks mismatched that of urbanization in terms of urban land increase. The correlation between accessibility changes and population urbanization is not significant. Proper urban green space planning based on the distribution of population density and urban land use is indispensable in avoiding the aggravation of inequity in the process of urban expansion. This study contributes to the assessment of the current park allocation efficiency and helps urban planners and policymakers make prompt adjustments in the rapidly urbanizing process

Effects of Urbanization on the Dynamics and Equity of Access to Urban Parks from 2000 to 2015 in Beijing, China

Urban parks provide multiple ecosystem services as an important element of the urban space and improve human health and wellbeing. This study used the Gaussian-based 2SFCA method to evaluate the spatiotemporal distribution of and changes in park accessibility within the Sixth Ring Road in Beijing over 15 years. The study also used bivariate correlation analysis to analyze the relationship between urbanization factors and park access. The results showed that the overall park accessibility in both quantity and proximity had increased from 2000 to 2015, but there were still certain areas (percentage) that had limited access to parks. The inequity of distribution in park accessibility had been detected accompanying the rapid increase in park quantity in 2015. Furthermore, the development of urban parks mismatched that of urbanization in terms of urban land increase. The correlation between accessibility changes and population urbanization is not significant. Proper urban green space planning based on the distribution of population density and urban land use is indispensable in avoiding the aggravation of inequity in the process of urban expansion. This study contributes to the assessment of the current park allocation efficiency and helps urban planners and policymakers make prompt adjustments in the rapidly urbanizing process

Review on Urban Forests and Trees as Nature-Based Solutions over 5 Years

As human living environments face increasing challenges with resilience, the concept of nature-based solutions (NBS) was proposed in recent years as a way to promote sustainable living in urban environments. Urban forests and trees play important roles in urban ecosystems, while their potential as an NBS is promising. A bibliometric analysis was first conducted to explore the research pattern of NBS in urban environments. Studies of urban forest and tree-based green infrastructure in NBS research were further investigated using a systematic literature review method. The initial studies on NBS have increased since 2015 with 493 documents published from 142 sources in over 70 countries and regions. Keyword analysis showed green infrastructure had a rather high frequency of utility and received considerable attention. As for urban forests as nature-based solutions (UF-NBS) research, the most prominent study approaches used at different scales and the main benefits and typologies of urban forest studied in the articles were identified. UF-NBS research is still relatively scarce at present. Despite the role of urban forest and trees in addressing environmental challenges being well recognized, UF-NBS studies still need to be conducted in a more comprehensive context, taking social and economic aspects into account

Literature Review Reveals a Global Access Inequity to Urban Green Spaces

Differences in the accessibility to urban resources between different racial and socioeconomic groups have exerted pressure on effective planning and management for sustainable city development. However, few studies have examined the multiple factors that may influence the mitigation of urban green spaces (UGS) inequity. This study reports the results of a systematic mapping of access inequity research through correspondence analysis (CA) to reveal critical trends, knowledge gaps, and clusters based on a sample of 49 empirical studies screened from 563 selected papers. Our findings suggest that although the scale of cities with UGS access inequity varies between countries, large cities (more than 1,000,000 population), especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), are particularly affected. Moreover, the number of cities in which high socioeconomic status (high-SES) groups (e.g., young, rich, or employed) are at an advantage concerning access to UGS is substantially higher than the number of cities showing better accessibility for low-SES groups. Across the reviewed papers, analyses on mitigating interventions are sparse, and among the few studies that touch upon this, we found different central issues in local mitigating strategies between high-income countries (HICs) and LMICs. An explanatory framework is offered, explaining the interaction between UGS access inequity and local mitigating measures

The Role of MicroRNAs in Diabetic Nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy (DN), as one of the chronic complications of diabetes, is the major cause of end-stage renal disease. However, the pathogenesis of this disease is not fully understood. In recent years, research on microRNAs (miRNAs) has become a hotspot because of their critical role in regulating posttranscriptional levels of protein-coding genes that may serve as key pathogenic factors in diseases. Several miRNAs were found to participate in the pathogenesis of DN, while others showed renal protective effects. Therefore, targeting miRNAs that are involved in DN may have a good prospect in the treatment of the disease. The aim of this review is to summarize DN-related miRNAs and provide potential targets for diagnostic strategies and therapeutic intervention

CEPC Conceptual Design Report: Volume 2 - Physics & Detector

The Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) is a large international scientific facility proposed by the Chinese particle physics community to explore the Higgs boson and provide critical tests of the underlying fundamental physics principles of the Standard Model that might reveal new physics. The CEPC, to be hosted in China in a circular underground tunnel of approximately 100 km in circumference, is designed to operate as a Higgs factory producing electron-positron collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 240 GeV. The collider will also operate at around 91.2 GeV, as a Z factory, and at the WW production threshold (around 160 GeV). The CEPC will produce close to one trillion Z bosons, 100 million W bosons and over one million Higgs bosons. The vast amount of bottom quarks, charm quarks and tau-leptons produced in the decays of the Z bosons also makes the CEPC an effective B-factory and tau-charm factory. The CEPC will have two interaction points where two large detectors will be located. This document is the second volume of the CEPC Conceptual Design Report (CDR). It presents the physics case for the CEPC, describes conceptual designs of possible detectors and their technological options, highlights the expected detector and physics performance, and discusses future plans for detector R&D and physics investigations. The final CEPC detectors will be proposed and built by international collaborations but they are likely to be composed of the detector technologies included in the conceptual designs described in this document. A separate volume, Volume I, recently released, describes the design of the CEPC accelerator complex, its associated civil engineering, and strategic alternative scenarios