ABSTRACT
Urban nature is situated within a diverse range of landscape types: greenspaces such as parks and greenway corridors, blue spaces such as waterways and shorelines, and gray spaces such as redesigned industrial lands and hybrid infrastructures. In the past decades, research has focused on building an understanding of how urban landscapes impact health outcomes. Confronting issues such as climate change and societal changes are challenging the way cities will support healthy living into the future. Shared societal challenges such as intergenerational differences in nature exposure and affiliation and urban-rural nature gradients demonstrate shared points of understanding. Greenspace types vary within cities, and along the urban-rural gradient. Design solutions and research needs will vary for green, blue, and grayspaces of different sizes and within different matrices. Many notable urban greenspace projects have been built or planned within the Pacific Rim region. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
