Travel to outdoor recreational spaces belongs to a general class of research questions for understanding destination and travel mode choices. In travel demand modelling, discrete choice models (DCMs) have been applied to understand and predict a wide range of choices, such as how people choose among alternative destinations for jobs, homes, shopping, personal services etc. Surprisingly, DCMs have rarely been used to understand and model travel to outdoor recreational spaces. In the current literature for modelling travel to outdoor recreational spaces, the established models are Negative Binomial Regression (NBR) models, such as what was used in the UK NEA studies. However, these NBR models were developed to assess the effects of travel to outdoor recreational spaces at a national level, and they are not intended for assessing choices of individual sites. One reason for this is, as identified by previous studies, is that compared with the DCMs, the NBR models have certain limits on estimating people's choice behaviours. There is, therefore, no existing model that can represent and predict how people choose to travel to outdoor recreational spaces. Given the importance of outdoor recreational activities to urban land use planning and public health, this is a clear gap in the field. The aim of this study is to develop a new travel demand model capable of representing and predicting travel to individual outdoor recreational sites. This is achieved by answering four main research questions: First, how to build the new model for outdoor recreational travel? Secondly, is the estimation accurate enough? Thirdly, to what extent can the new model be transferred to destinations outside the case study area? And, finally, how can city planners and designers use this new method? The new model draws upon ideas from random utility theory that underlies the conventional travel demand models to represent trip generation, trip distribution and mode choice. This research follows the standard modelling procedure: data collection and preliminary analysis, model calibration, model validation and model application. The data are collated from a wide range of sources that, importantly for model transferability, cover all areas in England. The new model has been calibrated for a case study area which spanned 14 selected districts in the North-West region. Validation of the new model is based on estimating the numbers of trips to two outdoor recreational sites (Wigg Island and Wigan Flashes) and to nine English National Parks where data on visitor trips exist. In the final stage of the research, the new model is applied to estimate the changes that would arise from planning and design interventions in existing (Wigg Island and Moore Nature Reserve) and proposed (Arpley Country Park) sites. At the end of this process, it is possible to show that the new model can predict the number of trips to individual destinations and that the model can be transferred to other outdoor recreation sites. Furthermore, the new model presented here is capable of predicting the changes in the volume and catchment of visits to an existing green space after land use planning or urban ecological interventions. This is a completely new theoretical model that is focused on understanding and quantifying the travel choices to outdoor recreation sites, which can inform decision makers by forecasting changes in outdoor recreational travel demand, according to different planning scenarios.

Looking at it today, it is hard to believe that the now-concrete river bed was once one of the region’s most important rivers. The Los Angeles River was once framed by wide wetlands, forests of oak trees, and was critical in supporting indigenous, Mexican, Spanish, and early Anglo populations. At first glance, many parts of the Los Angeles River look nothing like a river at all. Belying the river’s historical importance, the river today looks far more like a highway than a naturally occurring body of water. While its current appearance may not reflect its centrality in the city’s history, the Los Angeles River is the reason why Los Angeles is located where it is today.

The Atlanta Beltline is an urban redevelopment project that was designed to increase access to trails, parks, and greenspace in Atlanta, Georgia. Thirty-three miles of new trail will be developed, providing a place for the community to engage in purposeful physical activity and active transport around the city of Atlanta. Because physical activity is associated with improvements in birth outcomes and under the assumption that close proximity to the Atlanta Beltline encourages physical activity, I hypothesize that women residing within 0.5 mile of the Atlanta Beltline will show improvements in birth outcomes, as compared to women residing 1-1.5 miles away from the Beltline. Birth outcomes were measured as rates for low birth weight, premature live birth, and fetal mortality rates. Census tract data for birth outcomes for the time period “pre-Beltline,” 2002 - 2007, and “post-Beltline,” 2008 - 2012, was obtained from Georgia Department of Public Health. 18 census tracks in three areas along the Beltline (Northside, Eastside, West End) were identified as exposed and 17 in the same areas were unexposed. We found the following mean rates (SDs) of the outcomes in the exposed census tracks during the pre-Beltline period: 119.22 (48.39) low birth weight, 154.94 (55.80) premature birth, and 16.17(15.81) fetal death, all per 1,000 live birth. During the post-Beltline period in the exposed area, these measurements were: 107.55 (39.66) low births weight, 131.06 (48.92) premature birth, and 12.28 (13.51) fetal death, all per 1000 live birth. In the unexposed census tracks during the pre-Beltline period, mean rates (SDs) of the outcomes were 110.82 (42.81) low births weight, 144.88 (46.49) premature birth, and 19.94 (35.45) fetal death, all per 1000 live birth. During the post-Beltline period, these measurements in the unexposed area were: 100.88 (40.76) low births, 134.17 (47.85) premature birth, and 8.06 (6.89) fetal death, all per 1000 live birth. Overall in both the exposed and unexposed areas, the time trends for the examined measurements of birth outcomes were towards improvement; however, only a decrease in premature live birth in the exposed area (p=0.2) and fetal mortality in the unexposed area (p=0.1) were of statistically marginal significance. We conclude that currently no significant improvements in birth outcomes, associated with close proximity to the Atlanta Beltline have been detected.

Syfte: Med den kraftiga ökningen av befolkning i Sveriges städer och orter skapas det en brist av bostäder. För att kunna tillgodose folkökningen samt den växande efterfrågan att bo centralt väljer kommuner att bygga inifrån. Detta kallas för förtätning vilket kan sätta press på allmänna platser och friytor. Målet med denna studie är att analysera hur förtätning har påverkat Jönköpings stad ur ett socialt och ekologiskt hållbarhetsperspektiv. Metod: De metoder som rapporten har använt är dokumentanalys, enkätstudie, intervjuer och litteraturstudie. Intervjuer har skett med anställda inom Jönköpings kommun, dokumenten som analyserades är från Jönköpings kommun och enkätstudien berör hur Jönköping stad upplevs. Resultat: Resultaten av studien visar att förtätning har inneburit positiva samt negativa konsekvenser för Jönköpings innerstaden. Dessa resultat indikerar dock att de positiva konsekvenserna överväger de negativa. För en bättre hantering av förtätningen i centrala Jönköping krävs det att få en väl förankrad idé av vad som är en lämplig förtätning samt att bättre planering krävs angående utformningen av kvarter/områden. Konsekvenser: De slutsatser som finns är att det krävs väl förankrad idé om vad som är lämplig förtätning för Jönköping samt att bättre planering av utformning av kvarter och områden för att uppnå god social och ekologisk hållbarhet. Begränsningar: Studien har begränsats till Jönköpings Kommun med inriktning i stadskärnan och kommer inte att inkludera glest bebyggda områden. Ekonomiska och politiska faktorer ingår inte i studien utan det baseras på de ekologiska samt sociala hållbarhetseffekterna. / Purpose: With the high growth of population in Sweden’s cities and suburbs comes a lack of housing. To solve this housing problem and the growing demand of living in the central parts of the city have municipalities decided to build from within. This is called densification which can put pressure on public places and free spaces. The goal of this study is to analyse how densification has affected Jönköping city from an ecological and social sustainability perspective. Method: The methods used in the report are document analysis, interview, literature studies and surveys. The interviewees were employed by Jönköping’s municipality. The documents that were analysed are from Jönköping’s municipality as well and the survey is about how citizens experience Jönköping city. Findings: The findings show that densification has both positive and negative consequences for Jönköping’s inner city. These results indicate that the positive aspects of densification outweigh the negative aspects of densification. To better handle densification in central Jönköping requires a well-established notion of what proper densification is as well as better planning when it comes to forming neighbourhoods. Implications: The conclusions that were found is that it is required to have a well-established concept of densification and that better planning is needed when forming neighbourhoods when it comes to achieving ecological and social sustainability. Limitations: The study has been limited to Jönköping Municipality with a focus of the core city and will not include sparsely built areas. The economic and political factors will not be included in this study which will instead be based on the effects of ecological and social sustainability.

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Yes / Greenspace is important for physical and mental health. Low-income, multi-ethnic populations in deprived urban areas experience several barriers to using greenspace. This may exacerbate health inequalities. The current study explored structural and individual determinants of greenspace use amongst parents of young children in an urban, deprived, multi-cultural area situated in the North of England, UK. Semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 30 parents of children aged 0–3 between December 2016 and May 2017 from a range of ethnic groups. Thematic analyses were informed by the Human Health Habitat Map and the Theoretical Domains Framework. The results show that whilst all families recognised the benefits of greenspaces, use was bounded by a variety of structural, community, and individual determinants. Individual determinants preventing use included lack of knowledge about where to go, or how to get there and confidence in managing young children whilst outdoors. Fear of crime, antisocial behaviour and accidents were the overriding barriers to use, even in high quality spaces. Social and community influences both positively encouraged use (for example, positive social interactions, and practical support by others) and prevented use (antisocial or inappropriate behaviours experienced in greenspace). The built environment was a key barrier to use. Problems related to unsuitable or unsafe playgrounds, no gardens or safe areas for children's play, poor accessibility, and lack of toilets were identified. However, the value that parents and children placed on natural blue and green features was an enabler to use. Contextual influences included external time pressures, difficulties of transporting and caring for young children and poor weather. Multi-sectoral efforts are needed to tackle the uneven playing field experienced by multi-ethnic, urban, deprived communities. Initiatives to increase use should tackle structural quality issues, addressing fears about safety, whilst simultaneously encouraging communities to reclaim their local greenspaces. / received funding through a peer review process from the Big Lottery Fund as part of the A Better Start programme. RM is partly funded by the NIHR CLAHRC Yorkshire and Humber.

To achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11.7 aiming to create inclusiveand accessible greenspaces, there is need to involve children with profound intellectual andmultiple disabilities in research and planning practices. The aim of this study is to explore whatexperiences of accessibility children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities haveof greenspace. Through the qualitative method of go along interviews using augmentative andalternative communication, such as pictures and sign language, children provide their opinionsabout the public park Långbroparken in southern Stockholm, Sweden. Their experiences areanalysed through the framework of environmental justice, exploring fair distribution,recognition, capabilities and functioning. The findings demonstrate that children with profoundintellectual and multiple disabilities can indeed be included in research practices throughadapted interview situations. Either the researcher needs to be skilled and experienced inalternative and augmentative communication, and preferably have previous relations with thechildren, or be able to cooperate with someone who has such abilities and connections.Individual experiences of physical and social accessibility in the park create feelings of bothoutsideness and immersing oneself into nature and highlight the interaction of person andenvironment. In conclusion, children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities holdvaluable explanations and experiences of what constitutes inclusive and accessible greenspacesand their perspectives are required to fulfil targets such as the United Nations SustainableDevelopment Goal 11.7.

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Introduktion: Människan har historiskt sett levt i och med naturen. Industrialiseringen har orsakat ett mer distanserat och bortkopplat liv till naturen och människans biologi är fortfarande anpassat för ett liv som jägare och samlare. Dagens folksjukdomar har gått från smittsamma till mer livsstilsrelaterade. Sjukskrivningar i psykisk ohälsa har stadigt ökat i Sverige, vilket bidrar till stora individuella och samhälleliga kostnader. Människor är mer stillasittande än någonsin och möter inte rekommendationer om fysisk aktivitet. Sammantagen tidigare forskning visar på naturens positiva hälsoeffekter för både fysisk- och mental hälsa. Då forskning om naturen och dess positiva hälsoeffekter i en svensk kontext är begränsad, är det av folkhälsovetenskaplig relevans för ytterligare studier. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka om tiden spenderad i natur och grönområden påverkar det upplevda välmåendet hos vuxna (18–65 år). Hypotesen var att desto mer vistelsetid i natur och grönområde, desto bättre är det upplevda välmåendet. Metod: Studien var en kvantitativ enkätstudie med tvärsnittsdesign. Data samlades in med en digital enkät med sammanlagt 22 frågor (n=93). Data analyserades sedan i programmet IBM SPSS Statistics. Resultat: En stegring i upplevt välmående i alla hälsovariabler gick att utläsa med ökad utevistelsetid i natur. Det gick även att se en stegring med tid spenderad i grönområde och den upplevda fysisk hälsa men inte för de övriga hälsovariablerna. Dock visade inte resultaten på statistisk signifikans. Slutsats: Resultaten av den här studien bekräftar tidigare forskningsfynd. Studien visade på ett svagt dos-responssamband mellan tid spenderad i natur och grönområde och ökat upplevt välmående. / Introduction: Humans have historically lived in and with nature. Industrialization has caused a more distant and disconnected life from nature and human biology is still adapted for a life as a hunter and gatherer. Sick leave due to mental illness has steadily increased in Sweden. People are more sedentary than ever and do not meet physical activity recommendations. Previous research shows nature's positive health effects for both physical and mental health. As research on nature and its positive health effects in a Swedish context is limited. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate whether the time spent in nature and greenspaces affects the perceived well-being of adults (18–65 years). The hypothesis was that the more time spent in nature and greenspaces, the better the perceived well-being. Methods: The study was a quantitative survey study with a cross-sectional design. Data were collected using a digital survey with a total of 22 questions (n=93). The data were then analyzed in the program IBM SPSS Statistics. Results: An increase in perceived well-being in all health variables could be inferred with increased time spent outside in nature. It was also possible to see an increase in time spent in greenspaces and the perceived physical health, but not for the other health variables. However, the results did not show statistical significance. Conclusion: The results of this study confirm previous research findings. The study showed a weak dose-response relationship between time spent in nature and greenspaces and increased perceived well-being.