Harnessing AI for Healthier Urban Green Spaces: Advancing Public and Environmental Health

Urbanization poses both significant challenges and unprecedented opportunities for public health, particularly in the equitable distribution and design of urban green spaces. As city populations increase, the role of these natural environments becomes crucial for ecological balance and enhancing population health and well-being. With recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), there are now unprecedented possibilities for optimizing the planning, management, and evaluation of these spaces. Integrating AI can strategically foster environmentally sustainable urban areas that also promote health equity.

This Research Topic aims to synthesize and expand knowledge on AI-driven techniques for enhancing urban green spaces focused on health outcomes. The primary objective is to examine how AI tools such as machine learning, neural networks, and computer vision can be employed to analyze and improve human interactions with urban natural settings, emphasizing the improvement of health, accessibility, and quality. Contributions should address innovative applications of AI that result in actionable insights, capable of significantly influencing healthier urban environments.

This topic cuts across critical areas in public health and urban planning, integrating various aspects of environmental health, life-course epidemiology, public mental health, and digital public health innovations. Specific topics of interest include but are not limited to:

- Public opinion analysis using AI: Using sentiment analysis to gauge public perceptions and demands related to urban greenery;
- AI in therapeutic landscape design: Utilizing AI to plan and manage green spaces that enhance both mental and physical health;
- AI-Enhanced sensor networks for greenspaces: Implementing AI-driven sensor networks to monitor ecological health and human interactions with green spaces;
- AI and health equity: Developing AI strategies to address health disparities through improved access to and design of urban parks.
- Exploring environmental health through green spaces: Understanding how urban green areas can mitigate environmental health risks;
- Green spaces across the life span: Analyzing the impact of green spaces on health throughout different life stages and socio-economic conditions;
- Mental health benefits of urban greenery: Delving into the mental health advantages provided by green spaces in urban areas;
- Innovation in health via digital tools: harnessing digital tools and AI to amplify the health benefits of green spaces;

We encourage innovative papers that connect environmental science, urban planning, and public health to promote healthier urban living environments.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: green spaces, public health, AI, urban planning, environmental health

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.