NATURGREEN: Health impact assessment of greening Denver through native plants
Year: 2022
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: BACKGROUND Cities often use exotic plants (e.g., turf grass and non-native trees) to expand green space to reduce micro-heat islands or promote physical activity. Native plants, however, may require less water, be more drought-tolerant, and have co-benefits for local biodiversity (e.g., pollinators). Epidemiologic studies suggest urban green space can improve human health and prevent premature mortality, but the benefits associated with this specific type of vegetation has received little attention. AIM: We aim to estimate premature deaths that would be prevented by the implementation of native-plants policy scenarios in the City of Denver, Colorado, USA. METHODS To develop realistic native-plants policy scenarios, we conducted interviews with local stakeholders engaged in green-space advocacy, research, and policy in Denver. We build four scenarios: 1) greening a 20% of all city census-block groups to the greenness level of native plants, 2) adding 200-foot native-plants buffers around riparian areas, 3) constructing additional large water retention ponds landscaped with native plants, and 4) greening parking lots. We measured existing green space with satellite imagery and linked with census and land-use data. Using a health-impact assessment approach, we estimated premature mortality averted under each scenario. RESULTS In the most ambitious scenario, we estimated that 45 (95% confidence interval (CI): 42, 49) annual premature deaths would be prevented by greening 20% of all city census block groups with native plants. We estimated that greening 20% of parking-lot surface with native plants would prevent 8 annual deaths (95% CI: 7, 9), adding the native buffers around riparian areas would prevent 8 annual deaths (95% CI: 6, 9), and adding the planned native-landscaped stormwater retention ponds would prevent 1 annual death (95% CI: 1, 1). CONCLUSIONS Using native plants to increase green spaces has the potential to prevent substantial premature deaths in the City of Denver.
Source: ISEE Conference Abstracts
Institutions: Colorado State University, University of California San Diego
Language: English
Topic: Urban Green Space and Health
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4317178290