InVEST mental health model

General information

• Mental health model design doc
• Data and log doc (internal use only)

Directory structure

invest-mental-health/
  ├── code/
      ├── nature-availability/ 
      ├── nature-accessibility/
      ├── nature-visibility/
  ├── data/ 
      ├── raw
      ├── intermediate
      ├── output
      ├── para_nature_health            # parameters for modeling nature-health relation
      ├── example                       # example data for modeling
  ├── docs/
  ├── figures/

Nature Exposure

Urban nature exposure can be measured in different ways. Here, we present the three most commonly used nature exposure measurements that relate to mental health outcomes.

Detailed description can be found in this Google Slide, (internal use only)

• nature availability ...... the amount of nature (e.g., % of greenspace, average greenness/NDVI) near residential areas or workplaces

• nature accessibility ...... see InVEST Urban Nature Access model

• nature visibility ...... the visible green considering topography and buildings

Modified from Labib et al 2021

Mental Health

<TBD ...>

Nature-Health Model Integration

<TBD ...>

Key References

• Li, Y., Mao, Y., Mandle, L., Rydström, A., Remme, R.P., Lan, X., Wu, T., Song, C., Lu, Y., Nadeau, K.C., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Daily, G.C., Guerry, A.D., 2025. Acute mental health benefits of urban nature. Nature Cities 2, 720–731. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00286-y
• Bratman, G.N., Anderson, C.B., Berman, M.G., Cochran, B., Vries, S. de, Flanders, J., Folke, C., Frumkin, H., Gross, J.J., Hartig, T., Kahn, P.H., Kuo, M., Lawler, J.J., Levin, P.S., Lindahl, T., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Mitchell, R., Ouyang, Z., Roe, J., Scarlett, L., Smith, J.R., Bosch, M. van den, Wheeler, B.W., White, M.P., Zheng, H., Daily, G.C., 2019. Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective. Science Advances 5, eaax0903. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0903
• Remme, R.P., Frumkin, H., Guerry, A.D., King, A.C., Mandle, L., Sarabu, C., Bratman, G.N., Giles-Corti, B., Hamel, P., Han, B., Hicks, J.L., James, P., Lawler, J.J., Lindahl, T., Liu, H., Lu, Y., Oosterbroek, B., Paudel, B., Sallis, J.F., Schipperijn, J., Sosič, R., Vries, S. de, Wheeler, B.W., Wood, S.A., Wu, T., Daily, G.C., 2021. An ecosystem service perspective on urban nature, physical activity, and health. PNAS 118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018472118