enhancing food security and physical activity for maori, pacific and ...

Enhancing Food Security and Physical Activity for Māori, Pacific and Low-income PeoplesGreenspace and HealthRecent work in the GeoHealth Laboratory, University of Canterbury is contributing tointernational debates on greenspace and health through developing an area-levelmeasure of greenspace and considering the implications for health inequalities. Morespecifically, the aims of this project are threefold. First, to develop a small-areaclassification of greenspace types for urban areas of New Zealand, and in particular todifferentiate between ‘usable’ and ‘non-usable’ areas. Usable greenspace refers togreen areas that are accessible for recreational use such as parks, beaches and someforests. Non-usable greenspace refers to land in agricultural use, forestry or wetlands.Second, to examine whether the different types of greenspace were distributed equitablybetween areas stratified by area-level social deprivation. Third, to investigate theimplications of access to greenspace for health inequalities in New Zealand.Three datasets were used to identify different types of greenspace. All had nationalcoverage but differed in their positional accuracy and level of information provided(Department of Conservation; Land Information New Zealand; and the Ministry for theEnvironment’s Land Cover Database). The greenspace measures were appended tomortality records (1996-2005) for those aged 15-44 provided by the Ministry of Health.Negative binomial regression was used to model the relationship between greenspaceand health, and whether there were any significant interactions with social deprivation.Provisional (and unpublished) findings from this research suggest that greenspaceavailability varies linearly across areas stratified by social deprivation. The availability oftotal and non-usable greenspace decreases with increasing area-level deprivation Incontrast, availability of usable greenspace increases with deprivation, indicating thatalthough deprived areas have less greenspace in total, proportionally more of it isusable. Regression analysis suggests that greenspace (usable, non-usable andcombined) is associated with mortality. Further, in the most socially deprived areas ofNew Zealand greenspace dilutes inequalities in health. These findings require furtherinterrogation.National Policy StatementHistorically, city zoning ordinances have tended to be implemented with a view toseparating residential neighbourhoods from industrial facilities, to limit residents from theharmful effects (particularly health) of exposure to negative externalities such asinfectious disease and industrial air pollution. However, with the shift in focus over thecourse of the 20th century from infectious to chronic diseases such as obesity, publichealth concerns have largely become absent from major planning or land use decisionmaking. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many urban environments are not well designed toenable healthy lifestyles, and hence many residents of urban areas suffer poorer healthdue to badly designed physical environments.With regard to improving physical activity among our three target populations, a NationalPolicy Statement (NPS) may provide a useful framework for urban design. The Ministryfor the Environment (MfE) is currently working on an NPS under the ResourceManagement Act 1991 (RMA). According to Perdue et al (2003) an NPS on urbandesign ‘can be a potent tool in creating a built environment that is conducive to publichealth’ (p9). 65 Various avenues are possible within an NPS framework including zoning,139