Environmental management plays a key role in the sustainable development of cities. The effectiveness of environmental management is commonly examined through some evaluation schemes, but the effectiveness of such evaluation schemes also needs to be verified. As such, in this study, meta-evaluation was creatively introduced into environmental management to improve the evaluation of environmental management (EEM). Meta-evaluation is the evaluation of an evaluation scheme, and can verify and enhance the evaluation quality. First, a set of new meta-evaluation standards and criteria was proposed based on the unique characteristics of environmental management, which made meta-evaluation standards more adaptable and effective. After that, the efficacy of the proposed meta-evaluation standards was verified through their application to two evaluation schemes used in different fields of EEM. Based on meta-evaluation, suggestions for improving these two EEM schemes were also provided. The major contributions of this study are to introduce meta-evaluation into environmental management, establish new evaluation standards, and examine the efficacy of EEM. The research showed that it is critical to carry out meta-evaluation before and/or after the implementation of EEM.

Introduction: Rapid urbanization has increasingly restricted children’s access to natural environments, raising concerns about potential consequences for their physical, mental, and social well-being. Urban green and blue spaces are known to offer significant health benefits, including physical activity promotion, psychological restoration, and social development.Methods: This study conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to examine the relationship between urban green/blue spaces and children’s health. A total of 575 relevant publications from 1981 to 2024 were retrieved from the Web of Science database. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used for keyword co-occurrence analysis, co-citation mapping, and burst detection to visualize research trends and thematic evolution.Results: Three major research phases were identified: (1) early focus on physical health outcomes, (2) a shift toward urban environmental contexts, and (3) emerging emphasis on sustainability, environmental quality, and walkability. While green spaces have been extensively studied, blue spaces remain underrepresented, especially in terms of their synergistic benefits when combined with green spaces. Key research themes include mental and physical health impacts, social skills development, and the educational functions of nature exposure.Discussion: This study reveals the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of current research and emphasizes the importance of ensuring equitable access to high-quality natural environments in urban areas. The findings offer practical implications for urban planners and policymakers and establish a research foundation for promoting sustainable urban development that supports children’s health and well-being.

Background: With rapid urbanization, mental health challenges such as depression and emotional distress are becoming increasingly common. Contact with natural environments has been shown to improve mental health, yet most studies focus on direct associations between environmental exposure and mental health. The behavioral mechanisms underlying these benefits remain underexplored. This study aims to investigate whether outdoor activity frequency mediates the relationship between individuals’ intention to engage in outdoor activities and depressive mood. Methods: We used data from the 2021 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and supported by Stress Recovery Theory (SRT) and Attention Restoration Theory (ART), we constructed a mediation model. Ordinary Least Squares regression, ordered logistic regression, and mediation analysis were applied to assess the relationships among outdoor activity intention, activity frequency, and depressive mood. Results: The analyses revealed three main findings. First, outdoor activity intention alone did not directly reduce depressive mood. Second, outdoor activity frequency significantly alleviated depressive mood, suggesting that actual behavioral engagement with nature is critical. Third, the effect of outdoor activity intention on depressive mood was fully mediated by activity frequency. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that the mental health benefits of natural environments are not automatically derived from intention or preference but require active and frequent engagement. These findings provide empirical support for behavior-based interventions in urban mental health strategies and establish a theoretical foundation for future research on the pathways linking nature and mental health.

Introduction: Human wellbeing is closely linked to interactions with natural environments, yet research on blue space has primarily focused on proximity to water bodies, paying limited attention to ecological quality, resource sufficiency, and the integration of subjective perceptions with objective conditions. Methods: This study examines how both subjective and objective dimensions of blue space influence individual happiness in China. We used data from the 2021 Chinese General Social Survey, linked with provincial-level ecological indicators from the China Statistical Yearbook. Multilevel ordered logistic regression models were applied to assess the associations between blue space indicators and happiness, with particular attention to cross-level interactions. Results: The results show that blue space quality and quantity contribute to happiness in distinct ways. At the individual level, more favorable perceptions of water quality and water sufficiency are associated with higher happiness. At the provincial level, higher wastewater treatment rates and greater groundwater supply are positively associated with happiness, whereas higher ammonia nitrogen emissions and excessive surface water resources are negatively associated. Cross-level analyses further indicate that the positive effect of perceived water quality on happiness weakens in provinces with higher levels of pollution. Discussion: These findings extend the Biophilia Hypothesis by demonstrating that, in addition to green spaces, contact with blue spaces enhances happiness through both subjective perceptions and objective environmental conditions. The results highlight the importance of sustainable water resource management for maximizing the social benefits of blue space.

Introduction: Sport is often understood as a health behavior associated with happiness through physical activity and psychological regulation. However, less is known about the social pathways connecting different forms of sport involvement with happiness. This study examined the associations of structured exercise participation (SEP) and live sports spectatorship (LSS) with happiness and investigated the mediating role of neighborhood social capital (NSC). Methods: Data were drawn from 5,451 respondents in the 2023 Chinese General Social Survey. OLS regression was used as the main analytical approach, ordered logistic regression was conducted as a robustness check, and bootstrap mediation analysis was used to estimate the indirect, direct, and total associations of SEP and LSS with happiness through NSC. Results: Both SEP and LSS were positively associated with happiness after adjustment for demographic, socioeconomic, health-related, and residential characteristics. The ordered logistic models produced substantively consistent results. Bootstrap analysis showed significant positive indirect associations through NSC for both SEP and LSS. For SEP, the direct association remained statistically significant after NSC was included. For LSS, the direct association was not statistically significant, whereas the indirect and total associations remained significant. Discussion: The findings suggest that sport involvement is associated with happiness not only through active physical participation or spectator-based leisure, but also through neighborhood social connections and everyday social embeddedness. SEP appears to be linked to happiness through both direct and socially mediated pathways, whereas the association of LSS with happiness appears to operate primarily through NSC. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal effects.