Street Trees and Health in Urban Areas

Share On Social!

Improving health isn’t limited to the doctor’s office or to a lab. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The zip code you grow up in is a better predictor of your health than your genetics. This is due to non-medical drivers of health that influence health behaviors.

Take street trees, for example.

A recent study, on neighborhood green space and health, found that street trees have numerous economic and health benefits.

Exposure to green spaces can reduce sedentary time, promote physical activity, and reduce blood pressure, which is important for communities that are impacted by the non-medical drivers of health, because they often lack aesthetically pleasing active spaces, yet are burdened by increased rates of obesity, cancer, and chronic diseases like diabetes.

“We find that having 10 more trees in a city block, on average, improves health perception in ways comparable to an increase in annual personal income of $10,000 and moving to a neighborhood with $10,000 higher median income or being 7 years younger.”

Read more about street trees here.

Access the study here.