Menu
City Know-hows
Target audience
Organizations involved in nature-based solutions or Green Care activities, health promotion professionals, and communities.
The problem
There has been an increased desire to use nature to tackle health inequalities, especially due to the recent covid-19 pandemic but also through prescribing access and activities outdoors. In particular this has been growing in the United Kingdom in the form of community gardens and care farms, but we need to increase our understanding of the impacts on health to further advocate for the expansion.
What we did and why
We raise awareness of the value of interventions such as community gardens and care farms, while advocating for radical methods to be embedded in research and present their use in a case study based around these sites.
Our study’s contribution
We add:
• Awareness of interventions and research in the use of nature for health and wellbeing
• An outline of pilot radical methods employed for use in research projects.
• A discussion of the limitations of interdisciplinary methods within the world of health geography
Impacts for city policy and practice
We suggest an increased awareness of the value of outdoor spaces across all populations, but research into the field being done so in a careful and crafted way to ensure protection of participants when investigating the impacts of health and wellbeing.
Further information
Full research article:
Mind, body and blood: advancing green care through innovative methodologies within the field of health geography by Louise M. Mitchell, Michael Hardman, Michelle L. Howarth & Penny A. Cook
Related posts
This comparative study of 10 cities across the globe aims to understand the major factors that drive the sprawl conditions and their impact on the outer edges of the cities. Land is a very potential natural resource that has been exploited over the past few decades. Migration of people in search of better living conditions has led to the formation of cities, which are deemed to provide better quality of life. However, the rate of influx has become very high, leading to saturation in cities and forcing people to move towards the outskirts.
The meaning, measurement, causes and consequences of social connectedness in cities. A useful primer and pragmatic framework for healthy cities, urban futures and public health.
Well-planned cities and neighbourhoods are building blocks for health and wellbeing. Our study evaluated one approach that two English local government organisations took to facilitate healthier environments, in both ‘healthy places officers’ were employed to bridge the gap between planning and public health teams.
