Data from: Balanced spatial distribution of green areas creates healthier urban landscapes

The benefits of green infrastructure on human well-being in urban areas
are already well established, with strong evidence of the positive effects
of the amount and proximity to green areas. However, the understanding of
how the spatial distribution and type of green areas affect health is
still an open question. Here, we explore how different spatial
configurations of green and built-up areas, through a land sharing and
sparing framework, and how different types of green areas affect
cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalizations in São Paulo city, Brazil.
Sharing/sparing indicators were selected as the main explanatory factors
in the control of all groups of diseases. Land sharing appeared as a
favourable spatial condition to prevent cardiovascular hospitalization,
while land sparing and arboreal vegetation were relevant to reduce
hospitalization by lower respiratory diseases. For upper respiratory
diseases, forests seem to provide a disservice, once they were associated
with increased rates of hospitalization by respiratory allergies
causes.Considering that hospitalization rates and severity of
cardiovascular diseases are substantially higher than those of upper
respiratory ones, dense vegetation tends to provide more services than
disservices. The land sharing configuration, which is characterized by
green areas spread throughout the urban network (in streets, gardens,
small squares, or parks), should lead to higher exposure and use of the
benefits of green areas, which may then explain the greater prevention of
cardiovascular diseases. These novel results indicate that a more balanced
distribution of green areas across built-up areas creates healthier urban
spaces, and thus can be used as an urban planning strategy to leverage the
health benefits provided by green infrastructure. Policy
implications:  Aiming to reduce hospitalizations by
cardiovascular and pulmonary causes, urban planning should promote the
spreading of green areas across the cities, in order to increase daily
contact with natural attributes, giving preference to distribution over
total quantity of green in urban landscape.