The potential of sustainable development goals in enhancing well-being of elderly people through green public spaces

Abstract

Background: The population of older people living in urban areas is increasing rapidly, so investigating on the well-being of this important group in urban area is critical. There are many studies that claim green public spaces are very important on human well-being and especially elderly’s’ well-being (Sugiyama & Ward Thompson 2008; Maas et al. 2006). In SDGs, one of the targets is dedicated to green public spaces, but it does not determine the implementation of them. This research will help to facilitate implementing green public spaces in cities through introducing indicators for monitoring SDGs. Objectives and methods: This research is aimed to contribute to the discourse on transitions towards an economy whose ultimate goal is human well-being. Moreover, it will contribute to the shaping of the conceptual basis of SDG policy, through a critique of the apparent equal treatment of 17 goals, and the exploration of the implications of considering well-being as the ultimate goal of sustainable development. This research will explore that green public spaces can be considered as basic need for human well- being. Finally, this research contribute to the theoretical debate and practical dimension of measuring progress towards SDGs, through the more specific case of Green Public Space (GPS) as a target of SDG-11. Results: • Transition towards an economy based on well-being through Herman Daly “ends-means continuum” is crucial for human well-being. • SDG agenda have apparent equal treatment with 17 goals that leads to weak sustainability and finally cannot bring about well-being. • GPS can be considered as basic need for human well-being that is crucial for enhancing elderly peoples' well-being. • Three indicators introduced to enhance the implementation and monitoring of the GPSs in the context of SDG-11.