ArticleThe Lancet. Planetary health2020
Health impact assessment of Philadelphia's 2025 tree canopy cover goals.
Article in The Lancet. Planetary health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond redlining: Gentrification, displacement, disadvantages, and exclusivity predict urban environmental and health inequities.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Urban tree canopy fragmentation and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Association of greenness with incidence of cardiovascular disease in China: Evidence from the China Kadoorie Biobank prospective cohort study with 0.5 million adults.Eco-Environment & Health · 2025Article
- Projections of Heat-Related Mortality in Chinese Cities: The Roles of Climate Change, Urbanization, Socioeconomic Adaptation, and Landscape-Level Strategies.Environmental health perspectives · 2025Article
- A health impact assessment of progress towards urban nature targets in the 96 C40 cities.The Lancet. Planetary health · 2025Article
- Countering the impact of the climate crisis on health will require data.Nature medicine · 2024Article
- Tracking Progress Toward Urban Nature Targets Using Landcover and Vegetation Indices: A Global Study for the 96 C40 Cities.GeoHealth · 2024Article
- Social inequities in neighborhood health amenities over time in the Wasatch Front Region of Utah: Historical inequities, population selection, or differential investment?Cities (London, England) · 2024Article
- Measuring the 3-30-300 rule to help cities meet nature access thresholds.The Science of the total environment · 2024Review
- Satellite data for environmental justice: a scoping review of the literature in the United States.Environmental research letters : ERL [Web site] · 2024Article
- Branching out: Feasibility of examining the effects of greenspace on mental health after traumatic brain injury.Dialogues in health · 2023Article
- Surrounding greenness is associated with lower risk and burden of low birth weight in Iran.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Invited Perspective: Forging a Way Forward Amid the Enduring Impacts of Redlining.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Article
- Association between Low Urban Neighborhood Greenness and Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy.American journal of perinatology · 2023Article
- Feasibility and acceptability of mobile methods to assess home and neighborhood environments related to adolescent sleep.Sleep health · 2023Article
- Green Spaces with Fewer People Improve Self-Reported Affective Experience and Mood.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The Relationship between Perceptions and Objective Measures of Greenness.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- COVID-19, green space exposure, and mask mandates.The Science of the total environment · 2022Article
- Effects of Self-Rated Health Status on Residents' Social-Benefit Perceptions of Urban Green Space.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The Built Environment and Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: a Review on Quantitative Health Impact Assessments.Current environmental health reports · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCities across the world are undertaking ambitious projects to expand tree canopy by increasing the number of trees planted throughout public and private spaces. In epidemiological studies, greenspaces in urban environments have been associated with physical and mental health benefits for city dwellers. Greenworks Philadelphia is a plan to increase tree cover across Philadelphia (PA, USA) by the year 2025. We aimed to assess whether an increase in tree canopy or greenspace in Philadelphia could decrease mortality.
methodsWe did a greenspace health impact assessment to estimate the annual premature mortality burden for adult residents associated with projected changes in tree canopy cover in Philadelphia between 2014 and 2025. Using up-to-date exposure-response functions, we calculated the number of preventable annual premature deaths city-wide, and for areas of lower versus higher socioeconomic status, for each of three tree canopy scenarios: low, moderate and ambitious. The ambitious scenario reflected the city's goal of 30% tree canopy cover in each of the city's neighbourhoods; and low and moderate scenarios were based on the varying levels of plantable space across neighbourhoods.
findingsWe estimated that 403 (95% interval 298-618) premature deaths overall, including 244 (180-373) premature deaths in areas of lower socioeconomic status, could be prevented annually in Philadelphia if the city were able to meet its goal of increasing tree canopy cover to 30%.
interpretationBringing all of Philadelphia, and particularly its poorer neighbourhoods, up to the 30% goal of tree canopy cover is not without challenge. Nevertheless, policies are warranted that value urban greening efforts as health-promoting and cost-saving measures.
fundingSpanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and Generalitat de Catalunya.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.