Bowler_2010 - Urban greening to cool towns and cities: A systematic review of the empirical evidence

Basic Article Info:

Article key Bowler_2010
Title Urban greening to cool towns and cities: A systematic review of the empirical evidence
Year 2010
Review type systematic review
Main topic Effect of greening interventions on the air temperature of an urban area
Subjects area(s) Environment and nature, Health and well-being
Built environment scale Urban area / Urban system
Application(s) Implementation, Design
Geographically focused no
Prisma diagram used no
Study focus start 1991
Study focus end 2009
Search string Scopus: urban AND (green* OR vegetat* OR tree* OR "open space*" OR park OR parks OR wood* OR forest* OR garden*) AND (climate OR "climate change" OR "heat island*" OR temperature* OR ultraviolet OR "UV " OR ozone OR "O3" OR "heat wave*" OR "heatwave*" OR "volatile organic compounds" OR "VOC*" OR "nitrogen oxide*" OR "NOx" OR "NO2")
No. of original sources 47
Synthesis method qualitative + quantitative
Quantitative map included yes
Conflict of interest not declared specifically
Comments Includes a meta-analysis. Information about searches (databases, keywords) is not mentioned specifically in this article itself, but given a link to a detailed report: http://www.environmentalevidence.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SR41.pdf

 

Details about searches

Search sources
Search source name Source type Comments Weblink
Medline Online Database MEDLINE® contains journal citations and abstracts for biomedical literature from around the world. PubMed® provides free access to MEDLINE and links to full text articles when possible. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/pmresources.html
CAB Abstracts Online Database Produced by CABI, CAB Abstracts is the leading English-language abstracts information service providing access to the world’s applied life sciences literature. https://www.ebsco.com/products/research-databases/cab-abstracts
Science Direct Online Database ScienceDirect is a website which provides subscription-based access to a large database of scientific and medical research. It hosts over 12 million pieces of content from 3,500 academic journals and 34,000 e-books. https://www.sciencedirect.com/
Science and Social Science Citation Index Other Source The Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) is a commercial citation index product of Clarivate Analytics Healthcare & Science division. It was developed by the Institute for Scientific Information from the Science Citation Index. http://mjl.clarivate.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=SS
ISI Proceedings Other Source ISI Proceedings have been incorporated in the Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI). CPCI is accessible via Web of Science, Core Collection.
Geobase Online Database GEOBASE is a database of indexed research literature unequalled in its coverage of the international geoscience literature: Earth sciences, ecology, geology, human and physical geography, environmental sciences, oceanography, geomechanics, alternative energy sources, pollution, waste management and nature conservation. The content crosses subject, language and cultural boundaries, providing a unique research tool to users. GEOBASE covers 3+ million abstract records of multidisciplinary content enabling comprehensive geological evaluation of any desired region. This includes geological structure and relation to natural resources as well as linking resource management, transport, and regional and urban planning. https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/engineering-village/content/geobase
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management sub-files (CSA) Online Database CSA (formerly Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) was a division of Cambridge Information Group and provider of online databases, based in Bethesda, Maryland before merging with ProQuest of Ann Arbor, Michigan. CSA hosted databases of abstracts and developed taxonomic indexing of scholarly articles. These databases were hosted on the CSA Illumina platform and were available alongside add-on products like CSA Illustrata (deep-indexing of tables and figures). The company produced numerous bibliographic databases in different fields of the arts and humanities, natural and social sciences, and technology. Thus, coverage included materials science, environmental sciences and pollution management, biological sciences, aquatic sciences and fisheries, biotechnology, engineering, computer science, sociology, linguistics, and other areas.
Copac Online Database National, Academic and Specialist Library Catalogue http://copac.jisc.ac.uk/
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses — UK & Ireland Other Source ProQuest Dissertations and Theses — UK & Ireland (also known as Index to Theses): The most comprehensive available record of doctoral theses from the United Kingdom and Ireland, now available on ProQuest. http://www.proquest.com/products-services/pqdt_uk_ireland.html
The Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Other Source The Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) is a national network intended to facilitate ecological and environmental research on biocomplexity. https://knb.ecoinformatics.org/
Keywords used in search climate change, forest, garden, green, heat island, heatwave, nitrogen oxide (NOx), open space, ozone (O3), park, temperature, tree, ultraviolet (UV), vegetation, volatile organic compounds (VOC), wood

 

Authorship

Authors
Name Email Organisation Address Country
Diana E. Bowler* Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation, School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University United Kingdom
Lisette Buyung-Ali Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation, School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University United Kingdom
Teri M. Knight Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation, School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University United Kingdom
Andrew S. Pullin a.s.pullin@bangor.ac.uk Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation, School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University United Kingdom

 

Funding

Funding sources
Funding source Address Country Funded year Comments
Natural England United Kingdom


Article publication information:

Article type Journal article
Article category Text
Geographical scale International
Language English
Chapter or part
Conference date
Conference venue
Published date 2010-06-26
Edition
Issue 3
Journal Landscape and Urban Planning
Pagination 147-155
Peer reviewed yes
Publication place
Publisher Elsevier B.V.
School / department or centre
Series volume no.
Series title
Series sort no.
Volume 97
Website owner
Copyrights of article Elsevier Ltd.
Licences of article
Identifiers of article DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.05.006, ISBN: 0169-2046, ISSN: 01692046, PMID: 21481997


Quality assessment

Quality measure Details Score Comments
QA question 1 Are the research questions and inclusion criteria for the review clearly delineated? 1 = “Yes” = Who (Population), What (Intervention, Comparator group, Outcome), Where and When described. general but concrete description of aims
QA question 2 Did the report of the review contain an explicit statement that the review methods were established prior to the conduct of the review and did the report justify any significant deviations from the protocol? 0 = ”No” = research question and inclusion criteria not outlined in detail. not provided
QA question 3 Did the review authors explain their selection of the study designs for inclusion in the review? 1 = “Yes” = explicit justification of the study designs/types included in the review. observational study involving a site comparison between green and non-green area(s) within an urban area; experimental studies not available?
QA question 4 Did the review authors use a comprehensive literature search strategy? 1 = “Yes” = searched at least 2 databases (relevant to research question), provided key word and/or search strategy, justified publication restrictions (e.g. language), AND searched the reference lists / bibliographies of included studies, searched trial/study registries, included/consulted content experts in the field, where relevant, searched for grey literature, conducted search within 24 months of completion of the review. searched 11 databases, grey literature, NO search dates
QA question 5 Did the review authors perform study selection in duplicate? 0.5 = “Can’t answer / not sure / partially” = Cannot decide between “yes” and “no”, basing on the information provided in the paper. two reviewers had moderate agreement on a on a 25% subset of articles
QA question 6 Did the review authors perform data extraction in duplicate? 0 =”No” = only one reviewer involved in the study selection or no description how many reviewers participated in data extraction. no mention of duplicate data extraction
QA question 7 Did the review authors provide a list of excluded studies and justify the exclusions? 0 =”No” = No list of studies excluded at a full-text stage. not provided
QA question 8 Did the review authors describe the included studies in adequate detail? 1 = “Yes” = ALL the following: Who (Population), What (Intervention, Comparator group, Outcome), Where and When described in detail. Tables 1 - 4
QA question 9 Did the review authors use a satisfactory technique for assessing the risk of bias (RoB) in individual studies that were included in the review? 0 =”No” = no mention of RoB assessment of individual included studies. not provided
QA question 10 Did the review authors report on the sources of funding for the studies included in the review? 0 =”No” = no report of the sources of funding for individual studies included in the review. not provided
QA question 11 If meta-analysis was performed did the review authors use appropriate methods for statistical combination of results? 0.5 = “Can’t answer / not sure / partially” = Requirements for “Yes” only partially fulfilled. Cannot decide between “yes” and “no”, basing on the information provided in the paper. insufficient detail on statistical models used
QA question 12 If meta-analysis was performed, did the review authors assess the potential impact of RoB in individual studies on the results of the meta-analysis or other evidence synthesis? N/A RoB not specifially assessed
QA question 13 Did the review authors account for RoB in individual studies when interpreting/ discussing the results of the review? 0.5 = “Can’t answer / not sure / partially” = Cannot decide between “yes” and “no”, basing on the information provided in the paper. discussed potential factors biasing the results
QA question 14 Did the review authors provide a satisfactory explanation for, and discussion of, any heterogeneity observed in the results of the review? 1 = “Yes” = There was no significant heterogeneity in the results OR if heterogeneity was present the authors performed an investigation of sources of any heterogeneity in the results and discussed the impact of this on the results of the review. discussed methodological factors
QA question 15 If they performed quantitative synthesis did the review authors carry out an adequate investigation of publication bias (small study bias) and discuss its likely impact on the results of the review? 0 =”No” = The authors did not perform any tests for publication bias and did not discuss potential impact of publication bias. not provided
QA question 16 Did the review authors report any potential sources of conflict of interest, including any funding they received for conducting the review? 0.5 = “Can’t answer / not sure / partially” = Cannot decide between “yes” and “no”, basing on the information provided in the paper. funding from Natural England, no statement on conflict of interests
Quality index Overall rating (Quality Index) assigned to each SR, highlighting whether major concerns arose during quality assessment that may affect overall conclusions of a SR: A = Minimal flaws; B = Some flaws; C = Major flaws in many aspects of the review. B no protocol, some details missing, some bias might be present
Suggested review type Actual review type:systematic map, systematic review, rapid review, scoping review, narrative review, etc. systematic review N/A
Risk of bias level How likely are the main conclusions of the review to be biased? Basing on review type and quality index and quality_index_comment assign: high moderate or low risk? medium no protocol; no statement on conflict of interests; included observational studies with unknown bias levels