2025/06/05 by Adrian Buttazzoni, Bridget R. Irwin · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Community Health and Development #Place Attachment and Urban Studies #Urban Green Space and Health
paper · doi:10.1080/23748834.2025.2502192
openalex publication_date 2025/06/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
One’s sense of community (SoC) and place attachments (PA) related to their local environments can have important consequences for their health. Professionals in planning and public health have sought to promote health by designing and leveraging pedestrian places to support SoC and PA. Existing reviews are yet to document how engagement with pedestrian places and designs may impact SoC and PA. This review i) collates the existing literature exploring the relationships between engagement with natural and built pedestrian places and designs and SoC/PA, and ii) examines the inclusion of health equity considerations (via Cochrane PROGRESS+ tool) related to distinct groups. Systematic searches of Scopus and Web of Science produced 7,874 records, from which 35 articles were ultimately included in the review synthesis. Generally, increased engagement with both built and natural pedestrian places/designs improved reported PA/SoC; however, as evaluated in our quality assessments, the general strength of evidence was limited due to cross-sectional designs, selection bias, and blinding issues. Additionally, natural places and designs were more frequently examined, outcome dimensions were disparately assessed (e.g. ‘shared emotional connections’ in SoC), and equity considerations were mostly focused on age (i.e. older samples) and socioeconomic status. Implications for research and practice are discussed.