Designing healthier cities. An empirical study of the ecosystem functioning and mortality in the districts of Turin (Italy)

Abstract

The twenty-first century is called “the age of the metropolises and cities” as they become the predominant living environments of human beings. Nonetheless, metropolitan areas are more vulnerable, for their intrinsic nature is dense and interconnected. The experience from the COVID-19 crisis teaches us how an epidemic outburst has been generated by reducing habitat at the planetary scale, and how the quality of the environment even affects the diffusion of the virus. But what is the relation between Health and Nature in urban areas? Is this relation so evident? Within this study, a preliminary assessment of the relations between urban environment and health will be evaluated by modelling the spatial distribution of the Habitat Quality in Turin and the mortality rates in the same areas. Data will be gathered at their maximum spatial precision, thus obtaining a reliable map of the distribution between the two indicators at the district level. Habitat Quality will be composed by the value of the supporting biophysical function and anthropic threats. Health will be evaluated using the death number in the statistical units and the accessibility of citizens to green areas. An overall assessment will be finally presented considering the simultaneous evaluation of spatial clusters and delineating how conservation and valorization measures can benefit from a site-specific evaluation of Ecosystem Services, while revealing their effects on human health.