Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 6997801, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel Aviv University, 6997801, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
Sci Rep. 2023 Oct 18;13(1):17808. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-44861-6.
Accessible urban nature is a key component of creating sustainable urban communities and promoting human health and well-being. To balance the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, the United Nations adopted several sustainable developmental goals (SDGs), such as SDG 11 for sustainable cities and communities, which aims to improve urban planning and management, including equitable access to urban nature. However, more information is still needed regarding how planners and managers can promote urban nature visitation and equitable access during health and environmental crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in urban nature visitation during the pandemic and then to determine if the effect of the pandemic on the frequency of urban nature site visitation varied by distance to home, using an innovative approach of analyzing both publicly available large-scale mobility data and a web-based survey of urban residents of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. The mobility data results showed that there was a negative mean % difference in park visits compared to baseline during the first and third lockdowns, but an increase compared to baseline between lockdowns and even during the second lockdown. This suggests that urban residents had greater need to reconnect with urban nature during and after periods of intense stress. In addition, the survey results showed an increasing negative effect of distance on urban nature site visitation during the pandemic, specifically for urban nature sites located more than 1 km from home. Altogether, the mobility data and survey results suggest that people who lived within 1 km of their preferred urban nature site had disproportionate access to the benefits of urban nature during and after lockdowns than others. To effectively make social and ecological transitions toward urban sustainability, it is vital that cities promote urban nature accessibility during current and future environmental and health crises. Cities should collaborate with diverse stakeholders to create/maintain accessible urban nature sites nearby all sociodemographic groups, provide sustainability education and training to convey the benefits of urban nature, and pursue participatory solutions for understanding urban nature needs and preferences. In this manner, it will be possible to address the growing influence of proximity/travel distance and additional factors that affect urban nature visitation and ultimately, human health and urban sustainability.
可及的城市自然是创建可持续城市社区和促进人类健康和福祉的关键组成部分。为了平衡可持续发展的经济、社会和环境层面，联合国通过了若干可持续发展目标（SDGs），例如，旨在改善城市规划和管理，包括公平享有城市自然的可持续城市和社区目标 11。然而，在健康和环境危机（如 COVID-19 大流行）期间，规划者和管理者如何促进城市自然游览和公平享有，仍需要更多信息。本研究的目的是检查大流行期间城市自然游览的趋势，然后确定大流行对城市自然场地游览频率的影响是否因距离住所的远近而有所不同，采用了一种创新的方法，分析了公共可用的大规模流动数据和对以色列特拉维夫-雅法市城市居民的基于网络的调查。流动数据结果表明，与基线相比，在第一次和第三次封锁期间，公园访问量的平均百分比差异为负，但在封锁期间和第二次封锁期间，与基线相比，访问量有所增加。这表明城市居民在紧张时期和之后更需要重新与城市自然联系。此外，调查结果表明，在大流行期间，距离对城市自然场地访问的负面影响呈增加趋势，特别是对于距离住所超过 1 公里的城市自然场地。总的来说，流动数据和调查结果表明，居住在距离首选城市自然场地 1 公里以内的人在封锁期间和之后比其他人更能公平地享有城市自然的益处。为了有效地实现向城市可持续性的社会和生态转型，城市在当前和未来的环境和健康危机期间促进城市自然的可及性至关重要。城市应与各种利益攸关方合作，在所有社会人口群体附近创建/维护可及的城市自然场所，提供可持续性教育和培训，以传达城市自然的益处，并寻求参与性解决方案，以了解城市自然的需求和偏好。通过这种方式，就有可能解决距离/旅行距离增加和其他影响城市自然游览以及最终人类健康和城市可持续性的因素的日益增长的影响。
