The importance of green spaces to public health: a multi-continental analysis

As green spaces are a common feature of liveable cities, a detailed understanding of the benefits provided by these areas is essential. Although green spaces are regarded as a major contribution to the human well‐being in urbanized areas, current research has largely focused on the cities in developed countries and their global importance in terms of public health benefits remains unclear. In this study, we performed a multiple linear regression using 34 cities in different regions across the globe to investigate the relationship between green spaces and public health. Our analysis suggested that for richer cities, green spaces were associated with better public health; whereas a greater area of green spaces was associated with reduced public health in the poorest cities. In contrast to previous studies, which typically found positive relationships between green spaces and health benefits, we demonstrate that health benefits of green spaces could be context dependent.Southampton University’s Institute for Life Sciences Fellowship (project code 511206105) Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship (PIIF-GA-2011-303221) Isaac Newton Trust (15.23(s)) The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment The Kenneth Miller Trus

Global review of incentive schemes for the retention and successful establishment of trees on private urban land – Expert Opinions and Case Study Synthesis

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the nursery research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture

Global review of incentive schemes for the retention and successful establishment of trees on private urban land – Literature Review. Interim report

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the nursery research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture

Urban forest governance and decision-making: A systematic review and synthesis of the perspectives of municipal managers

Empirical research on the views of municipal managers can provide insights into urban forest governance and decision-making. However, current research is fragmented across a diversity of case studies using a variety of methods. To address this issue, we undertook a systematic review and synthesis of empirical studies based on the views of municipal managers. We extracted information on the concerns, priorities, factors, and actors that influence municipal manager decision-making using a governance framework to extract ideas on the discourses, actors, rules, and resources that influence their decision-making. Out of >1400 articles found in searches, only 60 were relevant empirical studies, with 32 of them based in the US. Most studies elicited views from managers using pre-determined surveys/questionnaires. This literature is focused heavily on themes of resources, such as budgets and personnel, as important influences in program performance and urban forest success. Themes related to coordination of actors, such as the coordination of departmental units, were also frequently mentioned but were not explicitly associated with program performance or urban forest success. Future research aimed at gaining insights on urban forest governance and decision-making from the perspective of municipal managers will benefit from distinguishing operational capacities (i.e., budgets, personnel) from management processes (i.e., coordination), and focus on how municipal managers understand, facilitate, and find support in management processes. This will reveal how they implement co-governance and collaborative decision-making. Future research could better extend the knowledge base of existing studies by establishing clear governance frameworks and methods based on the views of managers

Trends in Urban Forestry Research in Latin America & The Caribbean: A Systematic Literature Review and Synthesis

Research on urban forests has expanded in the last 30 years in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Nonetheless, urban forestry has been explored to much less extent in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, despite being one of the most urbanized and biodiverse regions in the world. We address this gap by providing a baseline understanding of urban forest research in the region based on a systematic review of the academic literature. Of the 55,000 studies found, 195 were selected for review, and 182 were analysed and synthesized. These studies came from 13 countries and were published from 1970 to mid-2018 (inclusive) in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Almost half of the studies were based in Brazil, followed by Mexico and Chile. To comparatively assess article output by country, we accounted for country population and Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico had higher than average per capita article output. Most articles were ecological studies (64%) that used field surveys (58%) to research urban vegetation diversity. Most ecological studies did not include any social or management considerations. Only a few studies focused on spatiotemporal dynamics (12%) or the direct opinions of stakeholders (9%). We observed a notable increase in article output from the region during the last decade. The units of analysis targeted by these studies mostly focused on single trees in public areas (streets and parks). Understanding urban forests regionally could be strengthened by scaling up research across multiple units of analysis and across regional cities, which could provide a better understanding of regional spatiotemporal dynamics. To respond to current global trends and nurture regional strengths, research could also focus on a wider range of ecosystem services provided by urban forests, and the relationship of urban forests with poverty, crime, climate vulnerability, biodiversity loss, and social equity. These findings can inform key stakeholders in the regi