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Availability of green amenities in cities often raises environmental justice issues. This study empirically examines Seoul, South Korea, where minority populations, such as foreigners, the poor, the old, the young, and the disabled, are generally increasing but the land area of parks and green spaces is gradually decreasing. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalised least squares (GLS) regression models, this study finds that foreign population is mostly negatively associated with green amenities. The old and the young are positively associated with the green amenities in general but negatively with small and children's parks. Neighbourhood parks do not seem to be associated with concentrations of any minority populations. Findings of this study argue for securing more lands for green amenities in cities and provide lessons to local planning practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Air pollution has been a serious public health threat worldwide. It has been linked to pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases but is also believed to contribute to air-pollution-mediated cardiometabolic disease such as diabetes. We investigated the relationship between type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and air pollution in densely developed urban settings in South Korea, using national epidemiologic data., Methods: The analysis focused on examining gender-related differences in the relationship between DM 2 and air pollutants, specifically particulate matter ≤ 10μm (PM 10 ) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ). To assess the relationship between DM and exposure to PM 10 and SO 2 , multivariate logistic regression models were developed using the 2012 Korea Community Health Survey data and the ambient air pollution data in South Korean cities at both Gu - and Si levels., Results: The commonly encountered levels of PM 10 and SO 2 may be associated with DM 2 prevalence in South Korea but it appears there may be gender differences. In particular, exposure to either PM 10 or SO 2 was significantly related to the prevalence of DM 2 among women but not among men., Conclusion: These findings provide new evidence of an association between air pollution and the risk of diabetes in urbanized areas of South Korea.