Effects of urban greenspaces on public health and wellbeing: Serial mediation model of objective and subjective measures

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that sufficient provision of urban greenspaces can facilitate public exposure to nature and recreational use, thereby improving public health and wellbeing. While both objective and subjective measures have been adopted to associate urban greenspaces with public health and wellbeing, little attention has been paid to the nuanced serial mediation effects of objective matrices of greenspaces on residents’ subjective perception, use behaviors, and health/wellbeing. Using Hong Kong, one of the most densely-populated cities in the world, as a case study, a total of 1196 residents were surveyed, whose residential locations are geo-coded and a serious of objective measures of greenspace provision within 500-meter walking distance, including size, proximity, crowdedness, naturalness, facilities, and maintenance, are established using street view images, satellite images, and digital topographic maps. Potential pathways are constructed to link objective measures of greenspace provision, subjective matrices, use behaviors, and self-rated health and wellbeing, directly or indirectly via serial mediation model. Empirical results show that subjective measures of greenspaces play significant mediating roles in associating objective greenspace provision with residents’ health and wellbeing. Additionally, serial mediation effects of subjective satisfaction and use behaviors could be specified for greenspace-health relationship, but not greenspace-wellbeing relationship. This study extends the conventional knowledge base of greenspace-health/wellbeing association established from the direct/indirect pathways to account for the serial mediating role of subjective perception and use behaviors, and sheds additional light on the effects of urban greenspaces on public health and wellbeing based on individual-level analysis in a high-density urban context. Along with enhancing greenspace provision, improving residents’ satisfaction with greenspaces in their residential neighborhoods holds the promise to promote their physical interaction with and exposure to urban nature, and improve public health effectively.