Increased levels of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, a legacy of the industrial revolution, population growth pressures, and consumerist lifestyle choices, are the main contributors to human-induced climate change. Climate change is commensurate of warming temperatures, reductions in rainfall, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and contributions toward declining public health trends. Green Infrastructure (GI) presents diverse opportunities to mediate adverse effects, while simultaneously delivering human health, well-being, environmental, economic, and social benefits to contemporary urban dwellers. To identify the current state of GI knowledge, a systematic quantitative literature review of peer-reviewed articles (n = 171) was undertaken using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) method. Temporal publication trends, geographical and geological information of research efforts, as well as research focus areas were recorded and reported against each article. The findings of this review confirm the research area to be in a state of development in most parts of the world, with the vast majority of the research emerging from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Cooler climates produced the majority of research, which were found largely to be of a traditional research article format. The GI research area is firmly dominated by foci comprising planning and policy, environmental and ecological, and social content, although modest attempts have also appeared in health and wellbeing, economic, and quality/performance of green infrastructure areas. Knowledge gaps identified by this review as requiring attention for research growth were identified as: (i) the ambiguity of terminology and the limited broad understanding of GI, and (ii) the absence of research produced in the continents of Asia and South America, as well as in regions with warmer climates, which are arguably equally valuable research locations as cooler climate bands.

Consistent with the Land Urbanism and Green Infrastructure theme of this special issue of Land, the primary goal of this review is to provide a plain language overview of recent literature that reports on the psychological, physiological, general well-being, and wider societal benefits that humans receive as a result of experiencing public green infrastructure (PGI) and nature in urbanized landscapes. This enhanced well-being and the wider societal benefits that accrue to urban dwellers as a result of interacting with quality PGI contributes to the concept known as city or urban livability. The quantitative analysis and theoretical synthesis reported in this review can inform decision makers, stakeholders, and other PGI and urban nature (UN) researchers of the benefits that urban populations receive from experiencing quality PGI spaces and UN and the contribution those spaces make to the livability of urban areas. With diminishing opportunities for the acquisition of new public open space to increase PGI and re-establish UN near urban centers, the efficient management and continuous improvement of existing PGI and UN is essential to promote and foster opportunities for human-to-nature contact and the known benefits therein derived. In addition to identifying an increased research interest and publication of articles that report on the contribution of PGI spaces to urban livability over the past decade, the review identifies and reports on the seven focus areas of PGI-livability research and the six attributes of PGI spaces that the current literatures report as contributing to the livability of urbanized landscapes. After providing a quantitative analysis for the reporting of those research areas and PGI attributes and summarizing key findings reported in the literature regarding the contribution that PGI spaces make to urban livability, this review also identifies knowledge gaps in the published literature and puts forward recommendations for further research in this rapidly expanding multidisciplinary field of research and policy development.