Urban Planning to Promote Women Health in Mashhad using Vitamin G

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 Professor of Geography and Urban Planning, Department of Geography, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

2 PhD Candidate in Geography and Urban Planning, Department of Geography, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

3 Assistant Professor of Urban Management, Department of Geography, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
Due to the urbanization growth, a greater proportion of the world's population is being exposed to the risks limited to urban areas. It is essential to understand these effects on the health. According to the conducted studies, urban green spaces play major roles in health improvement. A relationship between green space and health is also verified, and green space is called Vitamin G. Urban green spaces are positively related to physical activity, physical and psychological health and should be considered as the main source of health. Women have unique health conditions due to biological and behavioral/social differences. They use health service system more than men during their lifetime. Investment in women's health has a significant effect on the health and well-being of the next generation. Women have more depressive symptoms than men; and there is a high proportion of obesity with symptoms of depression. Perceived public health is also weakened by increasing distance from green spaces; and this is very significant in women, whereas changes are not significant in men. According to the present research, an assessment was conducted on the effects of Vitamin G on women's physical and psychological health in Mashhad city. A structural equation modeling was utilized in this field. Understanding the nature of these relationships helps urban planners make better decisions to improve urban green space. Generally, urban green space stimulates a suitable field for physical activity leading to physical and psychological health. Furthermore, psychological health affects physical health. On this basis, we draw the research model.
Methodology
This study is an applied research in terms of objective, and correlational with regression type based on the nature; and quantitative in terms of method; and it was among the cross-sectional survey studies. Structural equation modeling was also used to fit latent variables. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire consisted of four dimensions namely physical and psychological health, physical activity and green space. Four variables namely protection, facilities, availability and access were used to assess the green space. Statistical population covered 380 women of Mashhad, those who were selected as samples by Cochran's formula, completed then 450 questionnaires. Appropriate ranges were determined for completing questionnaires according to the following procedure:
Based on the statistics from Mashhad Municipality in 2013, the first cause of Mashhad women death was blood circulation disease, and 2443 people were died from this disease in that year (35% of total died people). Their house addresses were first obtained from the relevant organization. In order to determine the spatial distribution, location of houses of the dead persons was shown by points in GIS software, 1680 out of 2443 addresses were complete. Accordingly, the obtained spatial distribution map and income classification map of Mashhad were overlapped, and then 9 neighborhoods were selected for completion of questionnaires based on density of residential points and income classification. The 400 completed questionnaires were analyzed through Amos software. It is worth mentioning that the green space refers to urban parks above one hectare in area. Distance of 1600 meters from green spaces is also considered as a critical distance between the parks and sidewalks. Therefore, 1600-meter buffers were obtained from the parks above 1 hectare in target neighborhoods. It was indicated that the selected neighborhoods were inside the range.
Results and discussion
According to the obtained results, Body Mass Index (BMI) was equal to 27. This value indicates the extra weight of studied population. The average age of the participants was 35.5 years; and the appropriate age of this group was 24 years according to the BMI calculation. Therefore, people were overweight.
Analysis of the method for fitting hypothesis model with unobserved data is an important component in application of structural equation model. Various indices are usually used for fitting evaluation including the RMSEA and Chi-square as the important indices. In the present study, these two of RMSEA and Chi-square were obtained equal to 0.074 and 0.02, respectively. Based on the results, the total fitness of the model was within the acceptable limits. In Mashhad City, green space had an impact of 0.37 on women's physical activity. The physical activity had an impact of 0.2 on physical health and impact of 0.4 on psychological health. Furthermore, psychological health had an impact of 0.6 on the physical health. Among dimensions of green spaces, protection and facilities had the highest effects.
Conclusion   
Other findings of empirical research also indicated that the urban green space was positively related to physical activity which partly played an intermediate role in a relationship between green space and health. Green space increased physical activity that results in lower levels of obesity. Thus it was essential to improve the women's long-term health. Results of the present research were consistent with research by other experts.
Results of the present study indicated that the green spaces had an impact on 54 women's physical activity which was affected by their physical and psychological health. Since most of participants lived in apartments and were overweight, it was very important to provide infrastructures for physical activities. Therefore, the research findings have important applications for urban planners and managers because the environmental quality and nature of development are among the main factors of health. There is a historical relationship between urban planning and health. Improvement of urban green spaces is very important in low-income areas because women have less physical activities in lower-income areas and, thus, utilization of green spaces can reduce the health inequality between income areas.

Keywords

References

  1. Alcock, I., White, M. P., Wheeler, B. W., Fleming, L. E. and Depledge, M. H., 2014, Longitudinal effects on mental health of moving to greener and less green urban areas, Environmental science & technology, 48(2), 1247-1255.
  2. Annerstedt, M., Östergren, P. O., Björk, J., Grahn, P., Skärbäck, E., and Währborg, P., 2012, Green qualities in the neighbourhood and mental health–results from a longitudinal cohort study in Southern Sweden, BMC Public Health, 12(1).
  3. Barton, H and Tsourou, C., 2000, Healthy urban planning, Published on behalf of the world health organization, Regional office for Europe, Spon press: page: 10, 11.
  4. Barton, J., Hine, R., Pretty, J., 2009, the health benefits of walking in greenspaces of high natural and heritage value. J. Integr. Environ, 6, 261–278.
  5. Blair, S. N and Morris, J. N., 2009, Healthy hearts—and the universal benefits of being physically active: physical activity and health, Annals of epidemiology, 19(4), 253-256.
  6. Braubach, M., Egorov, A., Mudu, P., et al., 2017, Effects of Urban Green Space on Environmental Health, Equity and Resilience, Theory and Practice of Urban Sustainability Transitions, chapter 11, 187-205.
  7. Brown, W. J., Burton, N. W. and Rowan, P. J., 2007, Updating the evidence on physical activity and health in women, American journal of preventive medicine, 33(5), 404-411.
  8. Browne, M. and cudeck, R., 1993, Alternative Ways of assessing model fit. K. Bollen, in testing structural equation models, Newburry Park, CA, sage publication, 136-162.
  9. Bull, F. C., Maslin, T. S. and Armstrong, T., 2009, Global physical activity questionnaire (GPAQ): nine country reliability and validity study, Journal of physical activity & health, 6(6), 790-804.

10. Chiu, H. C., Chen, C. M., Huang, C. J. and Mau, L. W., 2005, Depressive symptoms, chronic medical conditions and functional status: a comparison of urban and rural elders in Taiwan, International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 20(7), 635-644.

11. Cohen-Cline, H., Turkheimer, E. and Duncan, G. E., 2015, Access to green space, physical activity and mental health: a twin study, Journal of epidemiology and community health, 69(6), 523-529.

12. Coombes, E., Jones, A. P., Hillsdon, M., 2010, the relationship of physical activity and overweight to objectively measured green space accessibility and use, Soc Sci Med, 70(6), 816–22.

13. Cummins, S., Fagg, J., 2012, does greener mean thinner? Associations between neighborhood greenspace and weight status among adults in England. Int J Obes, 36(8), 1108–13.

14. Dallat, M. A. T., Soerjomataram, I., Hunter, R. F., Tully, M. A., Cairns, K. J. and Kee, F., 2014, Urban greenways have the potential to increase physical activity levels cost-effectively, The European Journal of Public Health, 24(2), 190-195.

15. D’Alessandro, D., Buffoli, M., Capasso, L., Fara, G., 2015, Green areas and public health: improving wellbeing and physical activity in the urban context, Epidemiol Prev, 39(4), 8-13.

16. Ellaway, A., Macintyre, S. and Bonnefoy, X., 2005, Graffiti, greenery, and obesity in adults: secondary analysis of European cross sectional survey, Bmj, 331(7517), 611-612.

17. Hartig, T., Evans, G. W., Jamner, L. D., Davis, D. S. and Gärling, T., 2003, Tracking restoration in natural and urban field settings, Journal of environmental psychology, 23(2), 109-123.

18. Haskell, W. L., Lee, I. M., Pate, R. R., Powell, K. E., Blair, S. N., Franklin, B. A., Macera, C.A., Heath, G.W., Thompson, P.D. and Bauman, A., 2007, Physical activity and public health: updated recommendation for adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association, Circulation, 116(9).

19. Heran, B. S., Chen, J. M., Ebrahim, S., Moxham, T., Oldridge, N., Rees, K., Thompson, D.R. and Taylor, R. S., 2011, Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease, Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 7(7).

20. Hillsdon, M., Panter, J., Foster, C. and Jones, A., 2006, the relationship between access and quality of urban green space with population physical activity, Public health, 120(12), 1127-1132.

21. James, P., Hart, J., Laden, F., 2015, A Review of the Health Benefits of Greenness, Environmental Epidemiology, 9, 1-13.

22. Jennings, V., and Gaither, C. G., 2015, Approaching Environmental Health Disparities and Green spaces: An Ecosystem Services Perspective,  Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 12, 1952-1968.

23. Lali, M., Abedi, A. and Kajbaf, M. B., 2012, Making and Validating Life Style Questionnaire, Psychological research, 15 (11), 64-80.

24. Lee, A. C. K. and Maheswaran, R., 2010, the health benefits of urban green spaces: a review of the evidence, Journal of Public Health, fdq068.

25. Lee, C., Ory, M. G., Yoon, J. and Forjuoh, S. N., 2013, Neighborhood walking among overweight and obese adults: age variations in barriers and motivators, Journal of Community Health, 38(1), 12-22.

26. Majdi, M. R., Khodaee., Gh., Ghayoor, M., Azimi nezhad, M., Esmaeeli, H., Parizadeh, M. R. and Safarian, M., 2007, Urban housewives are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, The 2nd National Women's Health Promotion Conference with the Healthy Family Group, Women's Affairs Council with the assistance of Research Vice-President of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 3-5 July.

27. Maas, J., Verheij, R. A., Groenewegen, P. P., De Vries, S. and Spreeuwenberg, P., 2006, Green space, urbanity, and health: how strong is the relation?, Journal of epidemiology and community health, 60(7), 587-592.

28. Maas, J., Verheij, R. A., de Vries, S., Spreeuwenberg, P., Schellevis, F. G. and Groenewegen, P. P., 2009, Morbidity is related to a green living environment, Journal of epidemiology and community health, 63(12), 967-973.

29. Mitchell, R. and Popham, F., 2008, Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study, The Lancet, 372(9650), 1655-1660.

30. Mommsen, J. H., 2008, Gender and Development, translated by Fanni, Tehran University Press, Tehran.

31. Munhoz, T. N., Santos, I. S. and Matijasevich, A., 2013, Major depressive episode among Brazilian adults: a cross-sectional population-based study, Journal of affective disorders, 150(2), 401-407.

32. Nour, N. M., 2014, Global women's health–A global perspective, Scandinavian Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Investigation, 74(sup244), 8-12.

33. Omoleke, S. A., 2012, Green space, gender and health. Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology and Life Sciences, 1(19), 3-11.

34. Ostir, G. V., Markides, K. S., Peek, M. K. and Goodwin, J. S., 2001, The association between emotional well-being and the incidence of stroke in older adults, Psychosomatic medicine, 63(2), 210-215.

35. Parks, S. E., Housemann, R. A. and Brownson, R. C., 2003, Differential correlates of physical activity in urban and rural adults of various socioeconomic backgrounds in the United States, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 57(1), 29-35.

36. Pereira, G., Foster, S., Martin, K., Christian, H., Boruff, B. J., Knuiman, M. and Giles-Corti, B., 2012, the association between neighborhood greenness and cardiovascular disease: an observational study, BMC Public Health, 12(1), 1.

37. Pikora, T., Giles-Corti, B., Bull, F., Jamrozik, K. and Donovan, R., 2003, Developing a framework for assessment of the environmental determinants of walking and cycling, Social science & medicine, 56(8), 1693-1703.

38. Pretty, J., Peacock, J., Sellens, M. and Griffin, M., 2005, the mental and physical health outcomes of green exercise, International journal of environmental health research, 15(5), 319-337.

39. Reklaitiene, R., Grazuleviciene, R., Dedele, A., Virviciute, D., Vensloviene, J., Tamosiunas, A. ... and Bernotiene, G., 2014, The relationship of green space, depressive symptoms and perceived general health in urban population, Scandinavian journal of public health, 42(7), 669-676.

40. Richardson, E., Pearce, J., Mitchell, R., Day, P. and Kingham, S., 2010, the association between green space and cause-specific mortality in urban New Zealand: an ecological analysis of green space utility, BMC public health, 10(1), 1.

41. Richardson, E. A., Pearce, J., Mitchell, R. and Kingham, S., 2013, Role of physical activity in the relationship between urban green space and health, Public health, 127(4), 318-324.

42. Safari Shali, R. and Habib poor gotabi, K., 2012, omprehensive SPSS Guide to Survey Research (Quantitative Data Analysis), Looye Publication, Tehran.

43. Safarian, M., Shakeri, M.T., Moradi, R., Sadeghi, Kh. And Mohammad Abadi, S., 2007, Prevalence of obesity and distribution of fat in Mashhad's adolescent girls, The 2nd National Women's Health Promotion Conference with the Healthy Family Group, Women's Affairs Council with the assistance of Research Vice-President of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 3-5 July.

44. Schipperijn, J., Stigsdotter, U. K., Randrup, T. B. and Troelsen, J., 2010, Influences on the use of urban green space–A case study in Odense, Denmark, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 9(1), 25-32.

45. Scully, D., Kremer, J., Meade, M. M., Graham, R. and Dudgeon, K., 1998, Physical exercise and psychological well-being: a critical review, British journal of sports medicine, 32(2), 111-120.

46. Shakeri Ravesh, M., Abbaszadeh, Gh., Zabihi, J. and Akbari Motlagh, M., 2010, Issues in Urban Planning with Emphasis on Mashhad City (Vol. 1), Jahad University Press, Mashhad.

47. Timperio, A., Giles-Corti, B., Crawford, D., Andrianopoulos, N., Ball, K., Salmon, J. and Hume, C., 2008, Features of public open spaces and physical activity among children: findings from the CLAN study, Preventive medicine, 47(5), 514-518.

48. Van den Berg, A. E., Hartig, T. and Staats, H., 2007, Preference for nature in urbanized societies: Stress, restoration, and the pursuit of sustainability, Journal of social issues, 63(1), 79-96.

49. Vedad hir, A. A., Sadati, S. M. H. and Ahmadi, B., 2008, Women's health from the perspective of health magazines in Iran, Women’s Research, 6(2), 133-155.

50. Villeneuve, P. J., Jerrett, M., Su, J. G., Burnett, R. T., Chen, H., Wheeler, A. J. and Goldberg, M. S., 2012, A cohort study relating urban green space with mortality in Ontario, Canada, Environmental research, 115, 51-58.

51. White, M. P., Alcock, I., Wheeler, B. W. and Depledge, M. H., 2013, would you be happier living in a greener urban area? A fixed-effects analysis of panel data, Psychologicalscience.

52. Wilkie, S. and Stavridou, A., 2013, Influence of environmental preference and environment type congruence on judgments of restoration potential, Urban forestry & urban greening, 12(2), 163-170.

53. World Health Organization., 2012, Physical inactivity: a global public health problem. 2010. URL www. who. int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_inactivity/en/. Part I APPENDIX.

Geographical Urban Planning Research (GUPR)
Volume 6, Issue 2
July 2018
Pages 385-404

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics