Khalil Mohamed Hesham
Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1PX, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025 Apr 26;22(5):690. doi: 10.3390/ijerph22050690.
As global urbanisation is rising and public health challenges intensify, this systematic review is conducted at a critical time to explore and explain the associations between the parameters of green environments and nuanced adaptive neuroplasticity in the human brain to advance the development of health-focused sustainable cities and buildings in line with the concept of neurosustainability. This review includes studies involving participants of all ages and genders, with no restrictions on health conditions, exposed to green environments regardless of built environment comparisons. A systematic search of Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science identified relevant studies published up to November 2024. The risk of bias was assessed using the PEDro scale and ROBINS-I domains, and data were analysed narratively due to heterogeneity. Twenty-three studies were included, conducted across the USA, UK, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Japan, and South Korea. Findings reveal that green environments are associated with positive, region-specific brain changes across the lifespan, surprisingly from before birth to late adulthood. While forests showed more significant effects than blue spaces or urban green spaces, residential greenness emerged as a consistently effective exposure, especially within a 300-500 m buffer around home addresses, provided that sky visibility is present. Notably, no studies have examined green architecture or biophilic interiors, although they are more proximal, are associated with greater exposure time, have antagonistic effects, and may potentially limit sky visibility, highlighting a key gap for future research. Limitations include heterogeneity in exposure definitions, methodologies, and targeted brain regions. Still, this review offers a novel synthesis, providing insight into how greening the built environment may sustain not only the planet but also the plasticity of the brain. This review is registered with INPLASY (INPLASY2024110103) and forms part of a doctoral research project funded by the Cambridge Trust in partnership with the Jameel Education Foundation.
随着全球城市化进程的加快和公共卫生挑战的加剧，本次系统综述在关键时期开展，旨在探索和解释绿色环境参数与人类大脑中细微的适应性神经可塑性之间的关联，以推动符合神经可持续性概念的以健康为重点的可持续城市和建筑的发展。本综述纳入了涉及所有年龄和性别的参与者的研究，对健康状况没有限制，无论建筑环境如何，只要暴露于绿色环境中即可。通过对Scopus、PubMed和Web of Science进行系统检索，确定了截至2024年11月发表的相关研究。使用PEDro量表和ROBINS-I领域评估偏倚风险，由于存在异质性，对数据进行了叙述性分析。共纳入23项研究，这些研究在美国、英国、德国、西班牙、保加利亚、荷兰、日本和韩国开展。研究结果表明，绿色环境与一生中大脑特定区域的积极变化相关，令人惊讶的是，这种关联从出生前一直持续到成年晚期。虽然森林的影响比蓝色空间或城市绿地更显著，但住宅绿化始终是一种有效的暴露因素，尤其是在家居地址周围300-500米的缓冲区内，前提是有天空可见度。值得注意的是，尽管绿色建筑或亲生物性室内环境与人们的接触时间更长、具有拮抗作用且可能会限制天空可见度，但目前尚无研究对其进行探讨，这凸显了未来研究的一个关键空白。局限性包括暴露定义、方法和目标脑区的异质性。尽管如此，本综述提供了一种新颖的综合分析，深入探讨了建筑环境绿化如何不仅能维持地球，还能维持大脑的可塑性。本综述已在INPLASY注册（INPLASY2024110103），并构成了由剑桥信托基金与贾米尔教育基金会合作资助的博士研究项目的一部分。
