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The health effects of green space: then and now

International Journal of Obesity volume 39, page 1329 (2015)Cite this article

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Health has been connected to parks since the earliest days of park design. In an 1870 presentation, Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York’s Central Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, the Capitol grounds in Washington DC and Piedmont Park in Atlanta, laid out his arguments for the importance of green space.

‘It has been shown, for example, that under ordinary circumstances, in the interior parts of large and closely built towns, a given quantity of air contains considerably less of the elements which we require to receive through the lungs than the air of the country or even of the outer and more open parts of a town, and that instead of them it carries into the lungs highly corrupt and irritating matters, the action of which tends to strongly vitiate all our sources of vigor—how strongly may be indicated in the shortest way by the statement that even metallic plates and statues corrode and wear away under the atmosphere influences which prevail in the midst of large towns, even more rapidly than in the country. The irritation and waste of the physical powers which result from the same cause doubtless indirectly affect the mind and moral strength…’ 1

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References

  1. Olmsted FL . Public parks and the enlargement of towns. In: Sutton S (ed). Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes by Frederick Law Olmsted. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 1971. pp 314–320.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    W H Dietz

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  1. W H Dietz
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Correspondence to W H Dietz.

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Dietz, W. The health effects of green space: then and now. Int J Obes 39, 1329 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.72

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