Disparities in greenspace access during COVID-19 mobility restrictions

TL;DR

This study analyzes how COVID-19 mobility restrictions affected urban greenspace access, revealing disparities based on neighborhood deprivation and highlighting the importance of equitable greenspace availability for health benefits.

Contribution

It integrates social media and search data to examine greenspace access disparities during COVID-19, providing new insights into socio-economic influences on nature exposure.

Findings

People sought greenspace during lockdowns but access varied by deprivation.

Affluent areas in London and Paris had better greenspace access.

Deprived neighborhoods in Berlin sought greenspace outside their areas.

Abstract

More than half of the human population lives in cities meaning that most people predominantly experience nature in urban greenspace. Nature exposure is an important contributor to social, mental and physical health. As the world faces a pandemic which threatens the physical and mental health of billions of people, it is crucial to understand that all have the possibility to access nature exposure to alleviate some of these challenges. Here, for the first time, we integrate data from Facebook, Twitter, and Google Search users to show that people looked for greenspace during COVID-19 mobility restrictions but may not have always managed to reach it. People spent more time in areas with greenspace when they could and that depended on the level of multiple deprivation in the neighbourhood where the greenspace was embedded. Importantly, while people sought greenspace throughout the first 20 months of the pandemic, this preference intensified through the waves of lockdown. Living in an affluent area conferred a greenspace advantage in London and Paris but we find that in Berlin more deprived neighbourhoods sought greenspace more, including outside their neighbourhood. This highlights the need to understand how greenspace access and deprivation interact to create more sustainable communities.