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Data collected from 1990 to 2007 suggests that loss of trees to the emerald ash borer increased human mortality related to cardiovascular and lower-respiratory-tract illness. Across the 15 states in the study area...

Donovan, Geoffrey H., David T. Butry, Yvonne L. Michael, Jeffrey P. Prestemon, Andrew M. Liebhold, Demetrios Gatziolis, and Megan Y. Mao. (2013). The relationship between trees and human health: Evidence from the spread of the Emerald Ash Borer. American Journal of Public Health 44(2), 139-145.

Exposure to green space can be associated with stress reduction and increased meditation as indicated by a 2013 Edinburgh study that used portable electroencephalograms (EEGs) to analyze brain wave patterns. Each...

Aspinall, Peter, Richard Coyne, Panagiotis Mavros, and Jenny Roe. (2013). The urban brain: Analysing outdoor physical activity with mobile EEG. British Journal of Sports Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2012-091877

A study of 13 road safety measures in New York City installed between 1998 and 2008 found that road diets (reducing travel lanes and adding bike lanes) reduced crashes by 67%. High-visibility crosswalks reduced...

Chen, Li, Cynthia Chen, Reid Ewing, Claire E. McKnight, Raghavan Srinivasan, and Matthew Roe. (2013). Safety countermeasures and crash reduction in New York City—Experience and lessons learned. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 50, 312-322.

Non-steep berms, particularly with flat tops, were more effective at shielding road noise than noise walls of the same height due to wind effects. Berms with a forest-floor type cover reduced sound by 0.9 to 2.7...

Van Renterghem, Timothy, and Dick Botteldooren. (2012). On the choice between walls and berms for road traffic noise shielding including wind effects. Landscape and Urban Planning, 105(3), 199-210.

Four days of immersion in nature, and the corresponding disconnection from multi-media and technology, increases performance on a creativity problem-solving task by a full 50%.

Atchley Ruth A., Strayer David L., Atchley Paul. (2012) Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion in Natural Settings. PLoS ONE 7(12): e51474. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051474

The first protected bike lane in the US, on 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan, led to a 49% increase in retail sales from locally-based businesses along the route, compared to a 3% increase borough-wide.

New York City Department of Transportation. (2012) “Measuring the Street: New Metrics for 21st Century Streets.”

The first protected bike lanes in the US, on 8th and 9th Avenues in Manhattan, led to a 35% decrease in injuries to all users on 8th Avenue and a 58% decrease in injuries to all users on 9th Avenue.

New York City Department of Transportation. (2012) “Measuring the Street: New Metrics for 21st Century Streets.”

A nine-year study determined that a bioinfiltration rain garden clearly removed the pollutant orthophosphate from stormwater. The median orthophosphate concentration decreased from 0.21-0.25 mg/L in the ponded water...

Komlos, John, and Robert G. Traver. (2012). “Long-Term Orthophosphate Removal in a Field-Scale Storm-Water Bioinfiltration Rain Garden.” J. Environ. Eng., 138(10), 991–998.

Judicious use of vegetation can yield rapid and sustained improvements in street-level air quality in dense urban areas. A 2012 study found that planting grass, climbing ivy, and other greenery in urban street...

Pugh, Thomas A. M., A. Robert Mackenzie, J. Duncan Whyatt, and C. Nicholas Hewitt. “Effectiveness of Green Infrastructure for Improvement of Air Quality in Urban Street Canyons.” Environmental Science & Technology 46, no. 14 (2012): 7692–99. https://doi.org/10.1021/es300826w.

Green roofs act as passive filters of airborne particulate matter. This study estimated that 0.21 metric tonnes of PM10 a year could be removed if all flat roofs in an area of Manchester had extensive green roofs...

Speak, Andrew. F., J. J. Rothwell, S. J. Lindley, and C. L. Smith. (2012). Urban particulate pollution reduction by four species of green roof vegetation in a UK city. Atmospheric Environment, 61, 283-293.

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