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L. Pimentel da Silva and F. T. de Souza
1 Introduction: Urban Built Environment Indicators
and Human Health
The built environment, mainly in urban areas, affects ecosystems, ecosystem services, human health and the well-being (Koren and Buttler 2006). Souza and Rabelo
(2015), Cardoso and Souza (2017) and Souza (2018) have been studying, mainly
in the metropolitan area of the city of Curitiba, Brazil, relations between air pollution and morbidity of respiratory diseases. They have been applying data mining
techniques to extract modeling rules and obtained accuracies of up to 100% on predicting morbidities up to two months in advance. These studies may help advance
urban environmental planning, air pollution control, and may improve public policies
towards sustainability.
Green infrastructure is a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural
areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide
range of ecosystem services such as water purification, air quality, recreation space
and climate mitigation and adaptation (EUROPEAN COMMISSION). These public
spaces materialize in squares, parks and planned gardens; forest reserves and fragments of original or secondary forest; woods; afforestation of the streets; to name
a few. Other innovative ways of inserting these green spaces in urban areas, especially with the function of controlling surface runoff and pollution, are also observed
(Fletcher et al. 2014). Some examples are sidewalks that allow infiltration; wells
and ditches for infiltration and bio-retention; and, green walls and roofs. There is a
renewed interest in these green spaces in urbanized areas for a more comprehensive
environmental perspective associated with urban management towards sustainable
development (Kowaric 2013; WHO 2016, 2017). The positive externalities of the
green infrastructure are strongly associated with psychological aspects and the mitigation of environmental stressors in urban spaces, such as air and noise pollution,
and heat waves (Markevych et al. 2017; Nowak et al. 2018). These environmental
stressors are related to human health, especially mental disorders, gradual hearing
loss, respiratory and circulatory diseases.
Although there is a consensus on the positive externalities that vegetation exerts
on environmental stressors in urban areas, the establishment of objective associative
or quantitative relationships that relate green spaces to morbidities and mortality
by urban diseases does not present sufficient scientific evidence, or is controversial.
The extraordinary growth of urban populations during the twentieth century and
the projections for the 21st century and the phenomenon of global warming are also
responsible for the interest in positive and negative externalities of the approximation
of the urban population to these green spaces.
There is evidence in the literature of the positive impacts of the presence of
green spaces on human health, especially for relaxing, talking walks, doing physical
exercise and socializing, which add benefits to both physical and mental health (Suppakittpaidarn et al. 2017). The green infrastructure also promotes the enhancement
of spaces. Neighborhoods with more parks, squares and other green areas tend to
have higher market values (Wolch et al. 2014). The issues of energy consumption in
L. Pimentel da Silva and F. T. de Souza
1 Introduction: Urban Built Environment Indicators
and Human Health
The built environment, mainly in urban areas, affects ecosystems, ecosystem services, human health and the well-being (Koren and Buttler 2006). Souza and Rabelo
(2015), Cardoso and Souza (2017) and Souza (2018) have been studying, mainly
in the metropolitan area of the city of Curitiba, Brazil, relations between air pollution and morbidity of respiratory diseases. They have been applying data mining
techniques to extract modeling rules and obtained accuracies of up to 100% on predicting morbidities up to two months in advance. These studies may help advance
urban environmental planning, air pollution control, and may improve public policies
towards sustainability.
Green infrastructure is a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural
areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide
range of ecosystem services such as water purification, air quality, recreation space
and climate mitigation and adaptation (EUROPEAN COMMISSION). These public
spaces materialize in squares, parks and planned gardens; forest reserves and fragments of original or secondary forest; woods; afforestation of the streets; to name
a few. Other innovative ways of inserting these green spaces in urban areas, especially with the function of controlling surface runoff and pollution, are also observed
(Fletcher et al. 2014). Some examples are sidewalks that allow infiltration; wells
and ditches for infiltration and bio-retention; and, green walls and roofs. There is a
renewed interest in these green spaces in urbanized areas for a more comprehensive
environmental perspective associated with urban management towards sustainable
development (Kowaric 2013; WHO 2016, 2017). The positive externalities of the
green infrastructure are strongly associated with psychological aspects and the mitigation of environmental stressors in urban spaces, such as air and noise pollution,
and heat waves (Markevych et al. 2017; Nowak et al. 2018). These environmental
stressors are related to human health, especially mental disorders, gradual hearing
loss, respiratory and circulatory diseases.
Although there is a consensus on the positive externalities that vegetation exerts
on environmental stressors in urban areas, the establishment of objective associative
or quantitative relationships that relate green spaces to morbidities and mortality
by urban diseases does not present sufficient scientific evidence, or is controversial.
The extraordinary growth of urban populations during the twentieth century and
the projections for the 21st century and the phenomenon of global warming are also
responsible for the interest in positive and negative externalities of the approximation
of the urban population to these green spaces.
There is evidence in the literature of the positive impacts of the presence of
green spaces on human health, especially for relaxing, talking walks, doing physical
exercise and socializing, which add benefits to both physical and mental health (Suppakittpaidarn et al. 2017). The green infrastructure also promotes the enhancement
of spaces. Neighborhoods with more parks, squares and other green areas tend to
have higher market values (Wolch et al. 2014). The issues of energy consumption in