Abstract
The twenty-first century is called “the age of the metropolises and cities” as they become the predominant living environments of human beings. Nonetheless, metropolitan areas are more vulnerable, for their intrinsic nature is dense and interconnected. The experience from the COVID-19 crisis teaches us how an epidemic outburst has been generated by reducing habitat at the planetary scale, and how the quality of the environment even affects the diffusion of the virus. But what is the relation between Health and Nature in urban areas? Is this relation so evident? Within this study, a preliminary assessment of the relations between urban environment and health will be evaluated by modelling the spatial distribution of the Habitat Quality in Turin and the mortality rates in the same areas. Data will be gathered at their maximum spatial precision, thus obtaining a reliable map of the distribution between the two indicators at the district level. Habitat Quality will be composed by the value of the supporting biophysical function and anthropic threats. Health will be evaluated using the death number in the statistical units and the accessibility of citizens to green areas. An overall assessment will be finally presented considering the simultaneous evaluation of spatial clusters and delineating how conservation and valorization measures can benefit from a site-specific evaluation of Ecosystem Services, while revealing their effects on human health.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Brenner N (2013) Introduction: urban theory without an outside. In: Brenner N (ed) Implosions/explosions towards a study of planetary urbanization. Jovis, Berlin, p 576
Brenner N, Schmid C (2015) Towards a new epistemology of the urban? City 19(2–3):151–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712
Brunetta G, Salata S (2019) Mapping urban resilience for spatial planning—a first attempt to measure the vulnerability of the system. Sustainability 11(8):2331. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082331
Brunetta G, Ceravolo R, Barbieri CA, Borghini A, De Carlo F, Mela A et al (2019) Territorial resilience: toward a proactive meaning for spatial planning. Sustainability 11:1–17
Carvacho OF, Ashbaugh LL, Brown MS, Flocchini RG (2004) Measurement of PM2.5 emission potential from soil using the UC Davis resuspension test chamber. Geomorphology 59(1–4):75–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2003.09.007
Chelleri L (2012) From the «resilient city» to urban resilience. A review essay on understanding and integrating the resilience perspective for urban systems. Documents D’anàlisi Geogràfica 582:287–306. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29470-9_2
Crossman ND, Bryan BA, King D (2009) Integration of landscape-scale and site-scale metrics for prioritising investments in natural capital. In: 18th world IMACS congress and MODSIM09 international congress on modelling and simulation: interfacing modelling and simulation with mathematical and computational sciences, proceedings, pp 2363–2369
IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014 Part A: global and sectoral aspects. Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects. contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change
ISTAT (2018) Italian census. Permanent census of population and housing. https://www.istat.it/en/permanent-censuses/population-and-housing
Lafortezza R, Davies C, Sanesi G, Konijnendijk CCC (2013) Green Infrastructure as a tool to support spatial planning in European urban regions. iForest Biogeosci Forest 6(3):102–108. https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor0723-006
Lelieveld J, Klingmu K, Pozzer A, Po U, Daiber A, Mu T (2019) Cardiovascular disease burden from ambient air pollution in Europe reassessed using novel hazard ratio functions. Eur Heart J 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz135
Lennon M, Scott M (2014) Delivering ecosystems services via spatial planning: reviewing the possibilities and implications of a green infrastructure approach. Town Plann Rev 85(5):563–587. https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2014.35
Madrigano J, Ito K, Johnson S, Kinney PL, Matte T (2015) A case-only study of vulnerability to heat wave–related mortality in New York City (2000–2011). Environ Health Perspect 123(7):672–678. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408178
Maes J, Liquete C, Teller A, Erhard M, Paracchini ML, Barredo JI et al (2016) An indicator framework for assessing ecosystem services in support of the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020. Ecosyst Serv 17:14–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.10.023
Maragno D, Dall’omo CF, Pozzer G, Musco F (2021) Multi-risk climate mapping for the adaptation of the venice metropolitan area. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(3):1–32. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031334
Meisner C, Gjorgjev D, Tozija F (2015) Estimating health impacts and economic costs of air pollution in the Republic of Macedonia. South Eastern Eur J Public Health 10(April):1–8. https://doi.org/10.12908/SEEJPH-2014-45
Mercer LD, Szpiro AA, Sheppard L, Lindström J, Adar SD, Allen RW et al (2011) Comparing universal kriging and land-use regression for predicting concentrations of gaseous oxides of nitrogen (NOx) for the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis and air pollution (MESA air). Atmos Environ 45(26):4412–4420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.05.043
Miranda A, Silveira C, Ferreira J, Monteiro A, Lopes D, Relvas H et al (2015) Current air quality plans in Europe designed to support air quality management policies. Atmos Pollut Res 6(3):434–443. https://doi.org/10.5094/APR.2015.048
Mononen L, Auvinen AP, Ahokumpu AL, Rönkä M, Aarras N, Tolvanen H et al (2016) National ecosystem service indicators: measures of social-ecological sustainability. Ecol Indic 61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.03.041
Nelson E, Ennaanay D, Wolny S, Olwero N, Vigerstol K, Pennington D et al (2011) InVEST 2.0 beta user’s guide: integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs. The natural capital project, Stanford University, University of Minnesota, The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund. http://data.naturalcapitalproject.org/nightly-build/invest-users-guide/html/
Nowak DJ, Hirabayashi S, Bodine A, Greenfield E (2014) Tree and forest effects on air quality and human health in the United States. Environ Pollut 193:119–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2014.05.028
Pelling M, Manuel-Navarrete D (2011) From resilience to transformation: the adaptive cycle in two Mexican urban centers. Ecol Soc 16(2)
Phelan PE, Kaloush K, Miner M, Golden J, Phelan B, Silva H, Taylor RA (2015) Urban heat island: mechanisms, implications, and possible remedies. Annu Rev Environ Resour 40(1):285–307. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-102014-021155
Roy H-Y, Potschin M (2013) Common international classification of ecosystem services (CICES): consultation on version 4, August-December 2012. Report to the European Environment Agency. School of Geography, University of Nottingham Nottingham, NG7 2RD. www.cices.eu or www.nottingham.ac.uk/cem
Salata S (2017) Land take effects on airborne fluxes: a proposal for future research development. Manag Environ Qual 28(2). https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-01-2015-0004
Salata S (2021) The utilization of supervised classification sampling for environmental monitoring in Turin (Italy). Sustainability 13(5):2494. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU13052494
Salata S, Giaimo C, Barbieri CA, Ballocca A, Scalise F, Pantaloni G (2020) The utilization of normalized difference vegetation index to map habitat quality in Turin (Italy). Sustainability 12(18):7751. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187751
Sanitary District Authority (2006) Mortality by groups of causes. Accessed 15 Nov 2020. http://www.comune.torino.it/pass/php/4/documenti/salute/peps/H. Esiti di Salute Indicatori Sanitari/H2. Mortalita per Gruppi di cause/indice-mortalita.htm
Sharps K, Masante D, Thomas A, Jackson B, Redhead J, May L et al (2017) Comparing strengths and weaknesses of three ecosystem services modelling tools in a diverse UK river catchment. Sci Total Environ 584:118–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.160
Smith AC, Harrison PA, Pérez Soba M, Archaux F, Blicharska M, Egoh BN et al (2017) How natural capital delivers ecosystem services: a typology derived from a systematic review. Ecosyst Serv 26:111–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.06.006
ten Brink P, Kettunen M, Vakrou A, Wittmer H (2009) The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity. TEEB for National and International Policy Makers
United Nations—Department of Economic and Social Affairs—Population Division (2018) The world’s cities in 2018—data booklet. The world’s cities in 2018—data booklet
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Salata, S. (2022). Designing Healthier Cities. An Empirical Study of the Ecosystem Functioning and Mortality in the Districts of Turin (Italy). In: Leal Filho, W., Vidal, D.G., Dinis, M.A.P., Dias, R.C. (eds) Sustainable Policies and Practices in Energy, Environment and Health Research. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86304-3_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86304-3_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-86303-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-86304-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)