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Journal article
Urban trees, air quality, and asthma: An interdisciplinary review
Landscape and urban planning, v 187
01 Jul 2019
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
A "call to action" has been issued for scholars in landscape and urban planning, natural science, and public health to conduct interdisciplinary research on the human health effects of spending time in or near greenspaces. This is timely in light of contemporary interest in municipal tree planting and urban greening, defined as organized or semi-organized efforts to introduce, conserve, or maintain outdoor vegetation in urban areas. In response to injunctions from scholars and urban greening trends, this article provides an interdisciplinary review on urban trees, air quality, and asthma. We assess the scientific literature by reviewing refereed review papers and empirical studies on the biophysical processes through which urban trees affect air quality, as well as associated models that extend estimates to asthma outcomes. We then review empirical evidence of observed links between urban trees and asthma, followed by a discussion on implications for urban landscape planning and design. This review finds no scientific consensus that urban trees reduce asthma by improving air quality. In some circumstances, urban trees can degrade air quality and increase asthma. Causal pathways between urban trees, air quality, and asthma are very complex, and there are substantial differences in how natural science and epidemiology approach this issue. This may lead to ambiguity in scholarship, municipal decision-making, and landscape planning. Future research on this topic, as well as on urban ecosystem services and urban greening, should embrace epistemological and etiological pluralism and be conducted through interdisciplinary teamwork.
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Details
- Title
- Urban trees, air quality, and asthma: An interdisciplinary review
- Creators
- Theodore S. Eisenman - Univ Massachusetts, Dept Landscape Architecture & Reg Planning, Amherst, MA 01003 USAGalina Churkina - University of Massachusetts AmherstSunit P. Jariwala - Albert Einstein College of MedicinePrashant Kumar - Univ Surrey, Global Ctr Clean Air Res, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Guildford, Surrey, EnglandGina S. Lovasi - Drexel UniversityDiane E. Pataki - University of UtahKate R. Weinberger - Brown FoundationThomas H. Whitlow - Cornell University
- Publication Details
- Landscape and urban planning, v 187
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 13
- Grant note
- 689954 / iSCAPE (Improving Smart Control of Air Pollution in Europe) - European Community's H2020 Programme (H2020-SC5-04-2015) Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Urban Health Collaborative
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000467665900005
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85063747684
- Other Identifier
- 991019169912204721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Environmental Studies
- Geography
- Geography, Physical
- Regional & Urban Planning
- Urban Studies