Healthy Cities Will Need a Stronger Environmental Balance

If what is happening around the world is correct, in 2025, around 41 million people will die from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)—which include cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and chronic mental illness—which represent about 74 percent of all deaths worldwide. Despite great advances in medicine over the past few decades, the death toll from NCDs continues to rise.

One of the main factors driving the increase in NCDs is urbanization: Research shows it’s good that people living in urban areas without access to green space have a higher risk of NCDs. By 2050, two out of every three people they have to live in cities, this is very worrying.

On the other hand, several recent studies of population growth in cities around the world show that the inhabitants green areas not only providing a low number of NCDs but also having a healthy body as well good health. This relationship remains strong regardless of the individual’s economic status, age, or gender. In fact, the evidence of this partnership is so strong that, in 2022, 196 countries on United Nations Conference of Parties for Biodiversity signed an international agreement, which included a commitment to increase urban green space by 2030.

What about green spaces that provide resistance to NCDs? Greater opportunities for exercise, fresh air, and reduced heat are the reasons cited—and evidence in favor of urban vegetation in this regard.

Most importantly, there is also strong scientific evidence that shows that when we are in direct contact with nature, biochemical processes are triggered in our bodies that make it more important. health benefits. This research topic started with a group of Japanese scientists trying to find out the true benefits of forest bathing—shinrin-yoku. The evidence they found was so impressive that now, in Japan, instead of medicine, patients with NCDs are prescribed. spending time in the forest.

The good news is that we can also find good health in urban green spaces and indoor plants. Clinical trials show that something as simple as having a a vase of unscented flowers at your desk, for example, can lower blood pressure and bring physical and mental calmness. Likewise, you can have greens in your home and office, especially those with green and yellow leaves.