ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Developmental Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1560467
Connecting Urban Green and Blue Spaces with Children' Health: A Bibliometric Analysis in CiteSpace and VOSviewer
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xi'an Innovation College of Yan'an University, Xi'an, China
- 2Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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Rapid urbanization has limited children's access to natural environments, raising concerns about its impact on their physical, mental, and social well-being. Green and blue spaces, encompassing parks, rivers, lakes, and coastal areas, provide significant health benefits, including enhanced physical activity, mental restoration, and social development. Our study explores the intersection of urban green and blue spaces and children's health through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis spanning from 1981 to 2024. Using data from the Web of Science, this analysis evaluates 575 relevant publications through keyword clustering, co-citation, and burst analysis, employing CiteSpace and VOSviewer for visualization. Findings reveal three distinct research phases: initial exploration of physical health, broadening focus to urban environments, and recent emphasis on sustainability, quality, and walkability. Despite extensive studies on green spaces, blue spaces remain underexplored, with limited understanding of their synergistic benefits when combined with green spaces. The study identifies research hotspots, including physical and mental health impacts, social skill development, and the educational role of natural environments. It highlights the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of this field, underscoring the need for equitable access to high-quality natural spaces in urban areas. This work offers critical insights for urban planners and policymakers, providing a foundation for future research on sustainable urban development and children's health.
Keywords: urban green space, Urban blue space, Children's health, Citespace, VOSviewer
Received: 14 Jan 2025; Accepted: 24 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kang and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhengbing Guo, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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