IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v379y2025ics0277953625005209.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How mobility-based exposure measures may mitigate the underestimation of the association between green space exposures and health

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Yang
  • Kwan, Mei-Po
  • Song, Liuyi
  • Yu, Changda
  • Cui, Yuhan

Abstract

Recent urban green space research highlighted that mobility-based measures of green space exposure may significantly mitigate a particular type of exposure measurement error (contextual errors) of residence-based measures. In this study, we examined an important manifestation of the contextual errors of residence-based measures: neighborhood effect averaging. We analytically illustrated that the contextual errors of residence-based measures may lead to a considerable underestimation of the associations between green space exposures and human health, and the reduction of such underestimation can be quantified through a mitigating factor. We employed data from a cross-sectional survey to assess the usefulness of our analytics. Based on participants' 7-day GPS trajectories, we derived residence-based and mobility-based measures of participants' exposures to green space using a spatiotemporally weighted approach. Logistic regression was employed to estimate the associations between green space exposures and participants’ overall health. We derived consistent and significant mitigating factors based on our analytics from the magnitudes of the estimated associations or the variances of green space exposure distributions. Our results indicate that mobility-based measures reduced about 20.9 % – 52.3 % of the underestimation of the associations between green space exposure and health, which reflected the considerable influence of exposure measurement errors. Our study sheds light on how contextual errors may obfuscate the association between green space exposures and human health, which may also be true for other mobility-dependent environmental factors. This has crucial implications for a broad range of environmental and public health studies that need accurate estimation of health impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Yang & Kwan, Mei-Po & Song, Liuyi & Yu, Changda & Cui, Yuhan, 2025. "How mobility-based exposure measures may mitigate the underestimation of the association between green space exposures and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 379(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:379:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625005209
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118190
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625005209
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118190?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mei-Po Kwan, 2018. "The Neighborhood Effect Averaging Problem (NEAP): An Elusive Confounder of the Neighborhood Effect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-4, August.
    2. Yang Liu & Mei-Po Kwan & Changda Yu, 2024. "How Mobility and Temporal Contexts May Affect Environmental Exposure Measurements: Using Outdoor Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) and Urban Green Space as Examples," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 114(5), pages 1098-1117, May.
    3. Bertram, Christine & Rehdanz, Katrin, 2015. "The role of urban green space for human well-being," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 139-152.
    4. Yang Liu & Mei-Po Kwan & Zihan Kan, 2023. "Inconsistent Association between Perceived Air Quality and Self-Reported Respiratory Symptoms: A Pilot Study and Implications for Environmental Health Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Liu, Yang & Kwan, Mei-Po & Wong, Man Sing & Yu, Changda, 2023. "Current methods for evaluating people's exposure to green space: A scoping review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    6. Perchoux, Camille & Kestens, Yan & Thomas, Frédérique & Hulst, Andraea Van & Thierry, Benoit & Chaix, Basile, 2014. "Assessing patterns of spatial behavior in health studies: Their socio-demographic determinants and associations with transportation modes (the RECORD Cohort Study)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 64-73.
    7. Yu, Changda & Kwan, Mei-Po & Liu, Yang, 2024. "Assessing momentary stress responses to dynamic real-time greenspace exposure: Unveiling algorithmic uncertainty and the temporality of exposure context," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 363(C).
    8. Wang, Jianying & Liu, Yang & Kwan, Mei-Po, 2025. "Cross-validation between GPS-derived trajectories and activity-travel diaries for transport geography studies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    9. Spielman, Seth E. & Yoo, Eun-hye, 2009. "The spatial dimensions of neighborhood effects," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1098-1105, March.
    10. Junghwan Kim & Mei-Po Kwan, 2021. "How Neighborhood Effect Averaging Might Affect Assessment of Individual Exposures to Air Pollution: A Study of Ozone Exposures in Los Angeles," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 111(1), pages 121-140, January.
    11. Jianwei Huang & Mei-Po Kwan, 2022. "Uncertainties in the Assessment of COVID-19 Risk: A Study of People’s Exposure to High-Risk Environments Using Individual-Level Activity Data," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 112(4), pages 968-987, April.
    12. Mei-Po Kwan, 2016. "Algorithmic Geographies: Big Data, Algorithmic Uncertainty, and the Production of Geographic Knowledge," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 106(2), pages 274-282, March.
    13. Liu, Dong & Kwan, Mei-Po & Kan, Zihan & Liu, Yang, 2023. "Examining individual-level tri-exposure to greenspace and air/noise pollution using individual-level GPS-based real-time sensing data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yu, Changda & Kwan, Mei-Po & Liu, Yang, 2024. "Assessing momentary stress responses to dynamic real-time greenspace exposure: Unveiling algorithmic uncertainty and the temporality of exposure context," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 363(C).
    2. Wang, Jianying & Liu, Yang & Kwan, Mei-Po, 2025. "Cross-validation between GPS-derived trajectories and activity-travel diaries for transport geography studies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    3. Liu, Dong & Kwan, Mei-Po & Kan, Zihan & Liu, Yang, 2023. "Examining individual-level tri-exposure to greenspace and air/noise pollution using individual-level GPS-based real-time sensing data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    4. Sophiya Gyanwali & Shashank Karki & Kee Moon Jang & Tom Crawford & Mengxi Zhang & Junghwan Kim, 2025. "Implications for spatial non-stationarity and the neighborhood effect averaging problem (NEAP) in green inequality research: evidence from three states in the USA," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 7-30, January.
    5. Matthew Dennis & David Barlow & Gina Cavan & Penny A. Cook & Anna Gilchrist & John Handley & Philip James & Jessica Thompson & Konstantinos Tzoulas & C. Philip Wheater & Sarah Lindley, 2018. "Mapping Urban Green Infrastructure: A Novel Landscape-Based Approach to Incorporating Land Use and Land Cover in the Mapping of Human-Dominated Systems," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-25, January.
    6. Hui, Ling Chui & Jim, C.Y., 2022. "Urban-greenery demands are affected by perceptions of ecosystem services and disservices, and socio-demographic and environmental-cultural factors," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Junghwan Kim & Mei-Po Kwan, 2018. "Beyond Commuting: Ignoring Individuals’ Activity-Travel Patterns May Lead to Inaccurate Assessments of Their Exposure to Traffic Congestion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-20, December.
    8. Eleonore M Veldhuizen & Karien Stronks & Anton E Kunst, 2013. "Assessing Associations between Socio-Economic Environment and Self-Reported Health in Amsterdam Using Bespoke Environments," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-10, July.
    9. Tamar Arieli & Gad Schaffer, 2023. "Ideology, environment, and open space in conflict arenas: The discrepancies and harmonizing strategies of West Bank Israeli settlers," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(7), pages 1441-1458, November.
    10. Lo, A. W.-T. & Houston, D., 2018. "How do compact, accessible, and walkable communities promote gender equality in spatial behavior?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 42-54.
    11. Chia-Tsung Yeh & Ya-Yun Cheng & Tsai-Yun Liu, 2020. "Spatial Characteristics of Urban Green Spaces and Human Health: An Exploratory Analysis of Canonical Correlation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-14, May.
    12. Yoo Min Park & Mei-Po Kwan, 2020. "Understanding Racial Disparities in Exposure to Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Considering the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Population Distribution," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-14, February.
    13. Sandra Rousseau & Nick Deschacht, 2020. "Public Awareness of Nature and the Environment During the COVID-19 Crisis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 1149-1159, August.
    14. Krekel, Christian & Rechlitz, Julia & Rode, Johannes & Zerrahn, Alexander, 2020. "Quantifying the Externalities of Renewable Energy Plants Using Wellbeing Data: The Case of Biogas," IZA Discussion Papers 13959, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Tiziana Laureti, 2014. "Life satisfaction and environmental conditions in Italy: a pseudo-panel approach," Discussion Papers 2014/192, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    16. Rasha A. Moussa, 2023. "A Responsive Approach for Designing Shared Urban Spaces in Tourist Villages," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-27, May.
    17. Jason Y. Scully & Anne Vernez Moudon & Philip M. Hurvitz & Anju Aggarwal & Adam Drewnowski, 2019. "A Time-Based Objective Measure of Exposure to the Food Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-14, April.
    18. Stephen Matthews & Daniel M. Parker, 2013. "Progress in Spatial Demography," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 28(10), pages 271-312.
    19. Kamyar Hasanzadeh & Tiina Laatikainen & Marketta Kyttä, 2018. "A place-based model of local activity spaces: individual place exposure and characteristics," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 227-252, July.
    20. Christine Bertram & Jan Goebel & Christian Krekel & Katrin Rehdanz, 2022. "Urban Land Use Fragmentation and Human Well-Being," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 98(2), pages 399-420.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:379:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625005209. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.