Abstract
Green spaces and its relation to health of neighborhood residents are constantly positively associated, which advocates that access to green spaces is proportional to physical active required to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The green space in this context are the open parks, recreation spaces such as squares which has vegetation and are used by the public. There absence around a community creates lack of physical engagement for the elderly and the children,the most vulnerable groups in public health study (Lestan et al. 2014). It is vital to understand that it is difficult to determine the health of any community based entirely on physical availability of greenery around it without taking other determinants into consideration like socio-economic status, education, mental health etc. According to World Health Organization “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO 1948). This requires a study of the impact of natural environment on the overall well-being of a community to achieve a healthy lifestyle for all. I study the socio-economic and health pattern in the neighborhoods which has access to green spaces. Then, compare the findings amongst the three socio-economic groups defined in the Milwaukee Health Report: Health Disparities in Milwaukee by Socioeconomic Status (Milwaukee Health Report). Literature on community health positions different observations on relationship between green spaces and health. It is interesting to understand such perspectives with respect to Milwaukee County in the United States of America (USA), the most segregated city in the USA. Association between green spaces, health, and urban design aspects suggest that access to green areas, walkability, and urban planning principles together contribute to overall health of community through various activity-promoting resources (Wen et al. 2013). With rapid urbanization, there is predominant shortage of housing, leading to residential areas with limited availability of green spaces. With limited exposure to outdoor air, a significant percentage of reduced psychological development amongst children takes place .The socio-economic health inequalities are also believed to be lesser in areas with larger green spaces (Ord et al. 2013), which may not be true in all cases of urban settings (Wen et al. 2013). Studies on socio-economic pattern, suggest that people with lower socio-economic status (SES) have more contact to green spaces (Maas et al. 2009), which contradicts the assumption that all the social benefits are available only to higher status group. According to a previous study (Giles-Corti et al. 2005), there is a close association between built environment, health, well-being and the levels of physical activity. Another research (Kaczynski and Henderson 2007), emphasizes on these aspects through their research. Similar other works (Thompson et al. 2012) found a strong relation between number of chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary diseases, asthma, back, and joint pains with the time spent in outdoors. This emphasizes that on a very strong relation between availability of green spaces for outdoor activities and health, and hence a need for further impetus to achieve a healthy lifestyle. The hypothesis for this research is that, with respect to number of health benefits associated with green spaces, there has to be a positive impact of green spaces on the overall health of neighborhood residents. More percentage of green spaces around a community accounts for a better health status of the residents. It also assumes that higher SES is proportional to higher green spaces and vice versa. Hence, it is expected that greater percentage of green spaces have residents of higher SES with better health status around its periphery.
