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- A bibliometric analysis on designing urban green and blue spaces related to environmental and public health benefitsPublication . de Sousa Silva, Catarina; Bell, Simon; Lackóová, Lenka; Panagopoulos, ThomasAbstract: Humans and nature have always been connected. Meanwhile, with the industrial revolution, landscapes have become more artificial, reducing the human–nature relationship. Urban design should follow biophilic principles to reconnect people with nature, mitigate climate change, improve air quality, restore biodiversity loss, and solve social problems. Poor air quality affects people’s health, and vegetation plays a crucial role in purifying the air. Similarly, contact with nature benefits physical and mental health and well-being. However, there is no consensus on how urban design can be beneficial for improving air quality and human health. This review paper aims to provide a comprehensive evaluation of evidence linking nature-based solutions (NBSs), air quality, carbon neutrality, and human health and well-being. Five hundred articles published between 2000 and 2024 were analysed. A number of publications studied the benefits of green infrastructure in improving air quality, carbon sequestration, or the influence of green spaces on human health. The topic of NBSs has recently emerged related to air quality, health, and promoting physical activity, as has accessibility to green spaces and mental health, also associated with blue spaces and residential gardens. The results revealed the gaps in the literature on how to design green and blue spaces to tackle environmental and public health crises simultaneously.
- Access to public green spaces as a factor in combating environmental injusticePublication . de Sousa Silva, Catarina; Bell, Simon; Lackóová, Lenka; Panagopoulos, ThomasEnsuring equitable access to urban green spaces is a major challenge in contemporary urban planning, with important implications for public health, well-being and environmental justice. However, comparative cross-city analyses based on harmonised methodologies remain limited, particularly across contrasting European climatic and morphological contexts. This study aims to: (i) assess the spatial distribution of public green spaces; (ii) evaluate neighbourhood-level accessibility and identify environmental justice inequalities; and (iii) examine how urban form and climatic context influence accessibility outcomes across the following three medium-sized European cities: Faro (Portugal), Tartu (Estonia) and Nitra (Slovakia). A GIS-based approach was applied using consistent criteria, including publicly accessible green spaces ≥ 1 ha, Euclidean buffers of 300 m and 500 m, and harmonised population data from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL). Accessibility was quantified as the proportion of residents living within the defined walking-distance thresholds. The results reveal substantial inter- and intra-urban disparities. Tartu exhibits the highest green space provision (23.34 m2/inhabitant), while Faro presents the lowest (5.67 m2/inhabitant). However, accessibility patterns do not directly reflect provision levels: Faro achieves accessibility values at 500 m comparable to those of Tartu, whereas Nitra shows lower accessibility despite moderate provision. These findings demonstrate that accessibility is shaped primarily by the spatial configuration of green spaces rather than by overall provision alone. The study highlights the importance of integrating urban morphology and climatic context into environmental justice assessments and urban green infrastructure planning in order to reduce spatial inequalities in access to urban nature.