Does urban greenery type matter for self-rated health status? A population-based multilevel study in Finland

While the health benefits of nature are widely studied, a lack of understanding remains of how various green space characteristics in the urban environment are related to health. This study investigated how various green space types and the overall quantity of green spaces are associated with self-rated health status. Green space types were classified into built green spaces, open green spaces, and forests, and into subcategories of these types offering more detailed definitions of green space characteristics. Our study used a cross-sectional survey of 3677 geolocated respondents living in Helsinki, Finland and spatial data on green spaces in the residential environment. These data were analysed with multilevel logistic regression. Good self-rated health was significantly associated with residential green spaces in general and with forests. When a more detailed classification of green space types was used, specifically forests near residential areas and recreational forests were positively associated with self-rated health. None of the built green space or open green space types had statistically significant linear associations with self-rated health. Our study highlights the importance of investigating the functions designed for various green space types in terms of urban health. The findings particularly suggest that residential environment with more forests is associated with better self-rated health and provide new insight into what forest characteristics are related to self-rated health levels in urban settings.