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- Methodological proposal to evaluate public urban green spacesPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Fernandes, Cláudia; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroCities must be pleasant and healthy spaces able to contribute to ecosystems regeneration and to bring closer Humans and Nature. However, cities are unequal spaces regarding the distribution of environmental resources, resulting in environmental injustice: socioeconomic vulnerable areas are, simultaneously, those where is identified the bigger environmental vulnerability, in part due to the poor quality of public green spaces - resulting in poor air quality and the increase of noise level – and the social segregation. Therefore, the present work aim to present a methodological proposal to evaluate urban green spaces quality.
- Usos e perceções sobre jardins e parques públicos urbanos - resultados preliminares de um inquérito na cidade do Porto (Portugal)Publication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Fernandes, Cláudia; Viterbo, Lilian Monteiro Ferrari; Vilaça, Helena; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroA crescente concentração populacional nas cidades é reconhecida como um dos principais desafios contemporâneos. É nas cidades que os desafios sociais e ambientais se agigantam, implicando um olhar sobre o planeamento urbano sustentável. Os espaços verdes urbanos desempenham um papel importante na resposta a tais desafios, concretamente através dos serviços dos ecossistemas. Os serviços culturais ganham especial relevo, nomeadamente na melhoria da saúde mental, física e social dos seus utilizadores. Este trabalho tem como objetivos conhecer os usos e as perceções dos utilizadores dos jardins e parques públicos da cidade do Porto, bem como de que forma esses mesmos espaços estão a satisfazer as suas necessidades, estabelecendo uma relação com a localização dos mesmos na cidade tendo em conta uma maior ou menor privação socioeconómica e ambiental. Partindo de inquérito por questionário em fase de aplicação aos utilizadores de 25 jardins e parques de acesso público, propõem-se uma discussão sobre os resultados preliminares obtidos (n=131). Os resultados permitem um esboçar do perfil dos potenciais utilizadores destes espaços, além de revelarem que espaços da cidade em áreas de maior privação socioeconómica e ambiental são percecionados pelos seus utilizadores como espaços verdes com menor qualidade. Espera-se que os resultados auxiliem na definição de estratégias de atratividade dos espaços verdes da cidade que possuem menor qualidade e se inserem em zonas de maior privação.
- Combining an evaluation grid application to assess ecosystem services of urban green spaces and a socioeconomic spatial analysisPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Fernandes, Cláudia; Viterbo, Lilian Monteiro Ferrari; Vilaça, Helena; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroThe complex interaction of ecological and social systems has shaped the cities through the time. This fosters the need to develop interdisciplinary approaches to urban issues by combining natural and social sciences. Cities, as the predominant mode of social organization, are vulnerable to social and environmental challenges which urban green spaces (UGS) can contribute to solve by the ecosystem services (ES) that can provide. The objective was to assess the quality of UGS framed by the ES classification and relate with the provision of these services in areas of distinct socioeconomic and environmental deprivation. An evaluation grid was applied in 25 UGS in the city of Porto. Socioeconomic and environmental deprivation index applied by the Porto City Hall in the Municipal Master plan to divide the city into 5 clusters of deprivation was used to select 5 UGS of each cluster. In the most deprived communities, namely in clusters of high and very high socioeconomic and environmental deprivation, the quality of UGS is lower than in the less vulnerable ones. Besides this, it was found that some UGS located in clusters with higher vulnerability have an overall good quality, namely those located in historic and touristic areas of the city. The evaluation grid may be useful to the local authorities to diagnose, monitor and evaluate the ES of UGS and to identify situations of environmental injustice contributing to pursue the implementation of sustainable development goals at a local level.
- Healthy cities to healthy people: a grid application to assess the potential of ecosystems services of public urban green spaces in Porto, PortugalPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Fernandes, Cláudia; Viterbo, Lilian Monteiro Ferrari; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroIntroduction Contemporary cities face multiple socioenvironmental and health challenges that undermine the efforts to promote healthy environments. The 11th goal – Sustainable cities and communities – of United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development states that the presence of nature in cities plays a vital role for its sustainability through public urban green spaces (PUGS) accessible and with quality for all. Objectives This work describes the application of a grid to evaluate the potential of the ecosystems services (ES) of PUGS. Methodology The grid was applied in 25 PUGS in the city of Porto, divided into 5 clusters of socioeconomic and environmental deprivation (SED), ranging from very high to very low), and is composed by 6 sections with 37 domains assessed: i) identification; ii) description of the activities; iii) activities that take place; iv) assessment of the environment quality; v) existence of infrastructure and facilities; and vi) security. Dimensions iii, iv, v and vi are filled in the grid by a dichotomous answer: No = 0; Yes = 1. All data calculation and statistical analyses were performed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics vs.25.0. The grid was applied in January 2019 and each PUGS visit lasted 20-25 minutes. Results The highest total score (33) corresponds to 2 parks located in a low and medium SED clusters. The lowest score (9) corresponds to 2 gardens located in a very high and high SED clusters. The most critical dimension assessed of the PUGS has to do with the activities it offers (Median = 2). On the other hand, the dimension with the highest scores relates to the PUGS environmental quality (Median = 8). Regarding results by SED clusters, it is observed that lowest scores, in all assessed domains, are from PUGS located in high and very high SED clusters. Conclusion This work presents useful information regarding the importance of promoting PUGS with quality and accessible from all, especially to socioeconomic vulnerable groups, which should be the major goal of public policies designers.
- Patterns of human behaviour in public urban green spaces: on the influence of users' profiles, surrounding environment, and space designPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Patoilo Teixeira, Catarina; Fernandes, Cláudia; Olszewska-guizzo, Agnieszka; Dias, Ricardo; Vilaça, Helena; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroPublic urban green spaces (PUGS) play a vital role in the dense urban fabric as places of Nature-Society contact and socialization. Despite some advances in the field, the relationship between the PUGS surroundings and their users' behaviours remains unclear. This study examined the patterns of human behaviour in four PUGS of the city of Porto, on the north Portuguese coast, where the behavioural mapping method was applied. Observational data regarding 979 PUGS users' socio-demographics and behaviours were recorded on a base map and a grid between August and November 2020. The use patterns during different times of the day were disaggregated across behaviours and users' profiles, and their relationship with the surroundings and design elements was assessed with ANOVA, Chi-Square test, and Pearson correlation. The findings presented may pave the way for future studies and inform the urban planning and design of the effectiveness of new interventions, namely providing more accurate aligning between the greenspace design language with users' needs. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of considering the sociodemographic background of PUGS users and the surroundings to guide designers and planners.
- Development and validation of a grid to evaluate ecosystem services of public urban green spaces in Porto (Portugal)Publication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Fernandes, Cláudia; Viterbo, Lilian Monteiro Ferrari; Vilaça, Helena; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroCities must be pleasant and healthy spaces able to contribute to ecosystems regeneration and to bring closer Humans and Nature. Contemporary social and environmental issues present big challenges to promoting sustainable and resilient cities. The potential of ecosystem services of the urban green spaces is visible in the regeneration of urban environment, namely in the improvement of environmental and public health and social dimensions. This work presents the development and validation of a grid to evaluate ecosystem services of public urban green spaces. The grid was applied in 25 public urban green spaces in the city of Porto. Statistical tests were performed to evaluate the reliability and consistency of the tool. Results show that the grid is robust and reliable, thus its application is acceptable and could result in potential gains. These include the monitoring of ecosystem services of public urban green spaces to adjust them to citizen’s social and environmental needs, namely if the tool will be adopted by the municipal department of green spaces and infrastructure management of the city of Porto, Portugal.
- Measuring environmental concern of Urban Green Spaces’ Users (UGSU) through the application of the New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEPS): evidence from a southern european cityPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Dias, Ricardo; Seixas, Paulo Castro; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Fernandes, Cláudia; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroThe New Ecological Paradigm scale (NEPS) is a worldwide survey-based metric, designed to measure the environmental concern of groups of people through a single instrument including fifteen statements. As far as it is known, the NEPS has never been previously applied to Urban Green Spaces’ Users (UGSU). The assessment and analysis of this group’s perception of the environmental concern could be a core element in promoting environmental sustainability. This research aims to measure and analyse UGSU (n = 132) NEPS score in a southern European city. The factor structure and psychometric properties of the NEPS revealed good internal consistency and the explained variance is higher than the original study. Thus, its application is considered reliable when applied to UGSU. UGSU presented higher ecocentric values when compared to the general population, university teachers and agricultural farmers. Concerning UGSU sociodemographic characteristics, the youngers adults are those that mostly share an ecological worldview. Also, those that more often visit Urban Green Spaces (UGS), recognized that plants and animals have the same right to exist as humans. It is expected that this work may contribute to explore the usefulness of the NEPS application in different contexts and to underline values that will have a significant effect on debates involving environmental sustainability as a cross-cutting issue.
- Proposta de integração do mapeamento do comportamento humano na investigação sociológica: potencialidades da sua aplicação na pesquisa sobre os usos dos espaços verdes urbanosPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Fernandes, Cláudia; Dias, Ricardo; Seixas, Paulo Castro; Barros, Nelson; Vilaça, Helena; Maia, Rui LeandroA identificação dos padrões das relações sociais tem sido o principal foco da Sociologia, englobando as que se estabelecem entre indivíduos, grupos e espaços. A observação direta de comportamentos e práticas assume-se como uma das técnicas mais mobilizadas na investigação sociológica, destacando-se pelo grau de exigência e rigor que é inerente à sua aplicação, mas igualmente pela profundidade das informações recolhidas. Contudo, parece faltar nesta técnica duas potencialidades importantes na pesquisa sociológica: a relação dos indivíduos com o espaço enquanto instituição e o mapeamento dos comportamentos que configuram essa relação, numa lógica ancorada na perspetiva da Sociologia do Indivíduo de Martuccelli e Singly. Ora, é nesta lógica que o presente trabalho propõe a integração da técnica do mapeamento do comportamento humano (MCH) na investigação sociológica, enquanto técnica amplamente usada pela psicologia ambiental, arquitectura paisagista e ecologia.
- Espaços verdes urbanos e saúde mental: uma revisão sistemática da literaturaPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Fernandes, Cláudia; Viterbo, Lilian Monteiro Ferrari; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroOs espaços verdes urbanos (EVU) podem ser entendidos como o elo de ligação entre o meio urbano e a natureza, desempenhando um papel fundamental na saúde e bem-estar das populações citadinas e, especificamente, na saúde mental dos seus utilizadores diretos ou passivos. Procura-se neste trabalho reunir e analisar a literatura mais significativa publicada sobre os benefícios inerentes à utilização dos EVU na saúde mental dos seus utilizadores. Através de uma pesquisa sistemática da literatura, com base no protocolo PRISMA Statement, efetuada no motor de busca PubMed, e considerando o período entre 2000 e 2019, foram identificados 19 artigos para revisão. As evidências científicas expostas nos artigos revistos revelam que indivíduos expostos a EVU, em comparação com indivíduos expostos apenas a ambientes construídos, apresentam um melhor desempenho das suas funções cognitivas. São igualmente relevantes os resultados que indicam que os EVU estão associados a reduções significativas de sintomas de depressão, demonstrando que em zonas residenciais de maior vulnerabilidade socioeconómica e com menos acesso a espaços verdes de qualidade, a prevalência de sintomas de depressão aumenta. Em suma, a literatura analisada comprova a importante contribuição dos EVU na promoção da saúde mental dos seus utilizadores, devendo os mesmos serem incluídos no desenho das políticas públicas urbanas.
- Stay close to urban green spaces: current evidence on cultural ecosystem services provisionPublication . Vidal, Diogo Guedes; Patoilo Teixeira, Catarina; Dias, Ricardo; Fernandes, Cláudia; Filho, Walter Leal; Barros, Nelson; Maia, Rui LeandroResearch suggests that access to urban green spaces (UGS) is crucial to support public and environmental health through ecosystem services (ES) provision. However, Cultural ecosystem services (CES), due to their connections to human emotion, a deep meaning, fulfilment, and motivation, have been less studied. CES provision in UGS are central to well-being, contributing to improving mental and physical health outcomes, as well as enhancing social cohesion. Accordingly, this systematic review aims to contribute to a better understanding of CES provision by UGS.