Author(s)

GABRIELE ZABELSKYTE, IRINA MATIJOSAITIENE

Abstract

Due to urbanization, there is a high demand for research in urban ecosystems linkage to human health risks. By 2050, around 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas with the rising challenges of urban space, facilities, and services as well as increasing risks of safety, quality of life, health care, etc. Therefore, there is a great need to analyze the urban ecosystem as an urban planning tool to mitigate human health risks. The main objective of this research is to identify the most and the least investigated urban ecosystems linked to human well-being. The systematic review method is used to analyze the existing literature on ecosystem services’ impact on human health risks. Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, and other targeted databases are used for the defined keywords, such as urban ecosystem services and human health, urban ecosystem services and human mental health, etc. Moreover, this paper uses the chronological order and “Word and Word Combination Frequency” method for identified relevant publications. In total, there are 2,498 records analyzed as matching the searched keywords. After the reduction of duplicates, screening, and full article analysis, 107 articles were left for further analysis. The results show that interest in the topic is increasing. Some ecosystem services’ linkage to human health risks is more analyzed than others. The majority of analysis is done from a single urban ecosystem perspective (e.g., green infrastructure, water supply), therefore some challenges are defined, such as the lack of research. The majority of previous investigations focus on the urban ecosystem’s impact on physical illness. Although the attention towards mental health risks and urban ecosystems is increasing, there are still some gaps because of expensive and long-lasting research.

Keywords

urban ecosystem services, human health risks, systematic literature review