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Designing healthier cities with good bacteria

Designing healthier cities with good bacteria

Research from the University of Adelaide and Flinders University shows that urbanisation of cities may be contributing to poor health outcomes in our communities.

In the narrative review, published in the journal Environmental Research, researchers highlight the good bacteria we evolved with through well-designed cities, urban landscapes and buildings, which can help our immune systems function properly.

It is important to include large green spaces that take into account the effects of nature conservation, the environment, social aspects and public health. Building designs should also include windows that open and house plants.

“Exposure to lots of bacteria in the environment is actually good for us,” said lead author Kate Matthews, a graduate of the University of Adelaide and PhD candidate at Flinders.

“Our bodies are adapted to deal with the diversity of bacteria in our environment. This ensures that our immune system learns not to overreact to daily exposure.”

The researchers found that as people moved further away from nature, the diversity of microbes in the green spaces they were exposed to decreased. This could mean that immune systems could become overactive and make allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases worse.

“Soils are an incredibly rich and diverse source of microbes, and so are the plants that grow in them,” Matthews said.

“We can regain the healthy exposure to nature we have lost by designing more green spaces in urban areas.

“As the percentage of the global population living in urban areas increases (68 percent by 2050), it becomes increasingly important to design our urban environments to expose humans to diverse microbiota, which can improve health outcomes.”

The World Health Organization recommends that at least one public green space of at least 0.5 hectares be created within 300 meters of a residential area. This is an important point of attention for urban planners if they want the inhabitants of their cities to remain healthy.

“Unlike other approaches to altering the human microbiome (including diet, exercise and probiotics), making changes to the design of the environments people are exposed to means that people don’t have to change their behavior to improve their health,” said Dr. Jessica Stanhope, leader of the university’s Environmental Allied Health group.

“Landscape designers need to consider how people use these spaces, including those who have difficulty with accessibility, such as people with disabilities and people living in care homes.”