How human mobility shapes daily exposure to greenspaces: A systematic review

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Urban Planning
• Public Health

Background:

• Traditional greenspace exposure studies often use static, residence-based methods.
• These static approaches overlook human mobility, potentially biasing exposure estimates.
• Growing research emphasizes dynamic measurements, necessitating a systematic review.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and synthesize current research on human mobility and greenspace exposure.
• To identify major themes, methodologies, and empirical findings in this evolving field.
• To highlight critical insights regarding environmental justice, health impacts, and methodological challenges.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review of 64 studies.
• Synthesis of major themes, methodologies, and empirical findings.
• Analysis of research focusing on dynamic vs. static exposure measurements.

Main Results:

• Mobility influences environmental justice by altering exposure disparities among social groups.
• Short-term, momentary greenspace exposure during movement significantly impacts health.
• Dynamic exposure measurements offer advances but face debates on spatial scales, data, and theory.

Conclusions:

• Human mobility is a critical factor in assessing greenspace exposure and its health effects.
• Future research should integrate multisensory methods and focus on equity for marginalized groups.
• Understanding complex spatial-temporal effects of dynamic greenspace exposure is essential.