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Topic · Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Urban Green Space and Health

Urban Green Space and Health is a research topic within Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis. Science Explorer counts 33k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of urban green space on public health, emphasizing the relationship between nature contact, biodiversity conservation, and mental wellbeing. It addresses environmental justice, ecosystem services, and the role of green spaces in promoting physical activity and stress relief. The research also delves into the community health benefits associated with access to urban green areas.

  • Urban Green Space
  • Public Health
  • Environmental Justice
  • Nature Contact
  • Biodiversity Conservation
  • Mental Wellbeing
  • Ecosystem Services
  • Physical Activity
  • Stress Relief
  • Community Health
Research works
33k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+53%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
38% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Urban Green Space and Health

Which countries lead Urban Green Space and Health research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (3.4k and 1.8k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 3.4k works
  2. 2 United States 1.8k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 772 works
  4. 4 India 502 works
  5. 5 Türkiye 487 works
  6. 6 Australia 485 works
  7. 7 Germany 455 works
  8. 8 Italy 428 works
  9. 9 Japan 355 works
  10. 10 Canada 354 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 38.0%United States: 19.6%United Kingdom: 8.5%India: 5.5%6 others listed: 28.3%38%largest
China3,440 · 38.0%United States1,776 · 19.6%United Kingdom772 · 8.5%India502 · 5.5%6 others listed2,565 · 28.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Urban Green Space and Health research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Urban Green Space and Health research, followed by Nanjing Forestry University and Beijing Forestry University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 151 works
  2. 2 Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 65 works
  3. 3 Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 64 works
  4. 4 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 60 works
  5. 5 Tongji UniversityChina 57 works
  6. 6 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 55 works
  7. 7 Wuhan UniversityChina 53 works
  8. 8 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 49 works
  9. 9 Southeast UniversityChina 47 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 45 works

Who are the leading researchers in Urban Green Space and Health?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Urban Green Space and Health include Richard M. Ryan, Ronald C. Kessler and Cyrus Cooper.

  1. 1 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
  2. 2 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  3. 3 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  4. 4 Mika Kivimäki United Kingdom 318k citations
  5. 5 Salim Yusuf Canada 294k citations
  6. 6 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  7. 7 Mark A. Bradford United States 268k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Urban Green Space and Health?

The most cited paper in Urban Green Space and Health is "Global Change and the Ecology of Cities" (Nancy B. Grimm, Stanley H. Faeth, Nancy E. Golubiewski et al., 2008), with 7,209 citations. Next come "The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework" (6,855) and "Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments" (5,933).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Global Change and the Ecology of Cities Nancy B. Grimm, Stanley H. Faeth, Nancy E. Golubiewski et al. · Science 7 Feb 2008 7,209
2 The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework Stephen Kaplan · Journal of Environmental Psychology Sep 1995 6,855
3 Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments Roger S. Ulrich, Robert F. Simons, Barbara D. Losito et al. · Journal of Environmental Psychology Sep 1991 5,933
4 New Trends in Measuring Environmental Attitudes: Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale Riley E. Dunlap, Kent D. Van Liere, Angela G. Mertig et al. · Journal of Social Issues 2000 5,678
5 View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery Roger S. Ulrich · Science 27 Apr 1984 5,305
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Urban Green Space and Health research done?

The largest centres of Urban Green Space and Health research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Lin’an Shi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 652 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 238 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 222 works
  4. 4 GuangzhouChina 206 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 196 works
  6. 6 LondonUnited Kingdom 174 works
  7. 7 SeoulSouth Korea 140 works
  8. 8 Hong KongChina 115 works
  9. 9 MelbourneAustralia 115 works
  10. 10 TokyoJapan 110 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Lin’an ShiCN · 27.4 works13×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Urban Green Space and Health than the world average.

See Urban Green Space and Health on the map

Where is the best place to study Urban Green Space and Health?

Among universities, judged by research, National University of Singapore, Beijing Normal University and Chinese University of Hong Kong score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 23.5%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Chinese University o…National University …Peking UniversityBeijing Normal Unive…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1National University of SingaporeSingapore 86.529.0%3.0×43 +23.5%
2Beijing Normal UniversityChina 83.224.4%5.2×49 +74.1%
3Chinese University of Hong KongChina 83.229.3%3.7×32 +38.6%
4Peking UniversityChina 81.426.6%1.8×44 +49.0%
5University of Hong KongChina 79.522.7%3.9×43 +34.7%
6Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 77.118.7%12.2×65 +283.8%
7Wuhan UniversityChina 76.822.1%3.2×53 +87.0%
8University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 75.326.2%1.9×37 +33.5%
9Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 74.918.5%3.8×39 +63.5%
10Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 73.917.5%18.9×64 +203.1%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Urban Green Space and Health, country by country

Is Urban Green Space and Health research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 53% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Urban Green Space and Health.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Urban Green Space and Health as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.055% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Urban Green Space and Health0.058% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Urban Green Space and Health over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Urban Green Space and Health9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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