Antecedentes da arborização urbana à caminhabilidade: : um estudo exploratório no Brasil

Fernanda de Moraes Goulart; Hartmut Gunther; Julio Celso Borello Vargas; Eleonora D´Orsi

doi:10.5585/geas.v12i2.23476

Authors

Fernanda de Moraes Goulart Universidade de São Paulo - Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo / São Paulo (SP) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1776-8553
Hartmut Gunther Universidade de Brasília - Instituto de Psicologia, Departamento de Psicologia Social e do Trabalho. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9483-7615
Julio Celso Borello Vargas Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - Faculdade de Arquitetura, Departamento de Urbanismo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8321-5362
Eleonora D´Orsi Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina - Departamento de Saúde Pública. Campus Universitário https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2027-1089

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5585/geas.v12i2.23476

Keywords:

Urban Trees, Urban Forestry, Active Mobility, Walkability.

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates if living in a household surrounded by trees stimulates walking in the Brazilian context. We searched for the correlation between the Tree Cover Index (TCI) surrounding the participant´s household and the weekly walking trips undertaken. Also, we analyzed the correlation between the participant´s perception of neighborhood walkability and TCI in five dimensions: Walking facilities, crime safety, pedestrian/traffic safety, street connectivity, and access to services.

Methodology: Nine neighborhoods were selected; 3042 participants responded to a face-to-face questionnaire, “Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale” (NEWS). Geoprocessing tools calculated individualized environment characteristics for each participant´s household surroundings.

Originality/Relevance: Promoting active urban mobility reduces greenhouse gas emissions in the cities, which in turn contributes to climate change mitigation effects. A forested city may create a more walkable environment, an association that lacks empirical evidence in South America.

Main Results: The results indicate that the socio-economic characteristics of the neighborhood exert a significant influence on TCI predictions on the perception of Walkability. Notably, the presence of trees made participants living in formal neighborhoods perceive their environment as safer against crime. Also, higher levels of TCI decrease the perception of services available in low- and high-income neighborhoods due to the more inaccessible green areas.

Contributions: Ultimately, it is pertinent that urban planning agencies recognize the contribution of trees to the quality of life in general, extending the concept of “urban afforestation” to contemplate the social and economic impact of urban greening.

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Author Biographies

Fernanda de Moraes Goulart, Universidade de São Paulo - Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo / São Paulo (SP)

Currently working at the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing of Clemson University, in South Carolina, Holds a P.hD. degree in the area of Architecture Technology with the project "Environmental Quality in Mental Healthcare Facilities: Experiences in POE and Codesign in CAPS AD III units", funded by FAPESP. Graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Brasília (2013). Master in the field of Environmental Psychology, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Hartmut Günther, at the department of PSTO-UnB. The dissertation is entitled "The Contribution of the Urban Arborization to the Active Mobility". Participated in the Laboratory of Environmental Psychology, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Günther and Prof. Dr. Isolda Günther, working in the multidisciplinary and cross-cultural research projects "Healthy Urban Mobility" and "Placemaking with Older People". Has practical experience in the area of Architecture and Urbanism, acting as an independent researcher in the following subjects: Environmental Psychology, Mental Health, Urban Mobility, and Post-occupation Analysis

Hartmut Gunther, Universidade de Brasília - Instituto de Psicologia, Departamento de Psicologia Social e do Trabalho.

Studied Psychology at the University of Hamburg, Germany (1966 – 67) and Marburg, Germany (1967 – 68), and holds a degree in Psychology from Albion College, Michigan, USA (1969). Holds a Master´s degree in Experimental Psychology (AEC) from Western Michigan University (1970) and a Ph.d. degree in Social Psychology from the University of California at Davis (1975). Professor emeritus at the University of Brasilia and works as Senior Research Fellow and Coordinator of the Environmental Psychology Laboratory. Currently, prof. Gunther teaches Environmental Psychology and Research Design and conducts research projects in Environmental Psychology, such as urban quality of life and traffic psychology.

Julio Celso Borello Vargas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - Faculdade de Arquitetura, Departamento de Urbanismo

Adjunct Professor at the Department of Urbanism at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and at the Post-graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning (PROPUR). Holds a Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning and Ph.D. degree in Mobility Engineering, working at the CAPES PDSE at the "Uban Form Laboratory" at the University of Washington/USA, supervised by Anne Vernez Moudon. Coordinator of PROPUR UFRGS. Member of the Research Group "Urban Health, Environment, and Inequalities" of UFRGS. Visiting Research Fellow in "Healthy Urban Mobility" at the University of Hamburg in 2022. Specialized in spatial analysis, GIS, and statistical modeling, conducting research in Urban Mobility and Health with mixed methods. Editor chief at the "Urban Morphology Journal", a journal of the Portuguese Network of Urban Morphology.

Eleonora D´Orsi, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina - Departamento de Saúde Pública. Campus Universitário

Professor Eleonora d'Orsi holds a degree in Medicine from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (1989), a Master's degree in Public Health/Epidemiology (1996), and a Ph.D. in Public Health/Epidemiology from the National School of Public Health of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (2003), three postdoctoral degrees from Federal University of São Paulo (2008), University College London (2012) and Oxford Brookes University (2019) She is currently a Full Professor at the Department of Public Health at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). Permanent professor of the Graduate Program in Public Health and the Graduate Program in Medical Sciences at UFSC. Member of the Bernard Lown Scholar in Cardiovascular Health, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Coordinator of the Epifloripa Aging Cohort Study, which monitors the living and health conditions of a cohort of older adults residents in Florianópolis since 2008, currently in the fifth wave (epifloripa.paginas.ufsc.br). Member of the COVID-19 BR Observatory. She has experience in Public Health, with an emphasis on Epidemiology, working mainly in the Epidemiology of Aging research line

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