Welcome to the Making the Most of Green Space for People’s Health pages
Making the Most of Green Space for People’s Health is new guidance for Local Authorities and other stakeholders on the ways in which green space benefits health, and can be improved, expanded and promoted to maximise benefits for people and place.
You can download the 2-page summary here (pdf)
Sub-sections
- Summary of evidence
- Supporting Documents and Research Papers
- How Green space contributes to other agendas for local authorities
- What local authorities can do to enhance the health benefits of green space
- Principles of successful interventions for improving health benefits of green space
- Case Studies
You can download a PDF of the whole Making the Most of Green Space for Peoples Health guidance from this link.
Note on COVID-19
This work was mainly developed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are clearly implications of the pandemic and control measures for the ways in which public open spaces are managed for the benefit of public health whilst maintaining safety and protecting our natural environments. This work does not deal with these issues specifically, but a wide range of other resources have been developed during this time, for example:
- Midlands Parks Forum COVID-19 Survey
- Fields in Trust COVID-19 Knowledge Base
- cfp Response to COVID-19
There are also some very important implications of the pandemic that are likely to amplify inequalities in access to green/blue space and the opportunities it provides:
Covid-19 has highlighted the inadequate, and unequal, access to high quality green spaces – BMJ blog from Selena Gray and Alan Kellas
What is the value in local outdoor space for our mental health and wellbeing?– NIHR blog from Sarah Rodgers
Acknowledgements
Making the Most of Green Space for People’s Health evolved from a workshop held in Exeter in November 2019. This work has been produced collaboratively with the following individuals and organisations:
University of Exeter European Centre for Environment & Human Health: Ben Wheeler, Rebecca Lovell, Harriet Gordon-Brown, Jo Garrett, Sian de Bell, Ian Alcock, Lora Fleming, Cecilia Manosa Nyblon
WHO European Region: Matthias Braubach
Born in Bradford: Rosie McEachan
Devon Nature Partnership/Centre for Sustainable Healthcare: James Szymankiewicz
Cornwall Council Public Health: Richard Sharpe
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council
Public Health Dorset: Rupert Lloyd and colleagues
Environment Agency: Jon Snowden
UWE/Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments: Danni Sinnett
Thanks to Leap for excellent design work: https://leap.eco/2020/07/22/the-health-benefits-of-green-spaces/
Funding
This work was supported by:
1. The National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Environmental Change and Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in partnership with Public Health England, and in collaboration with the University of Exeter, University College London, and the Met Office. (HPRU in ECH)
2. The European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 66677 (BlueHealth)
3. The NERC South West Partnership for Environment & Economic Prosperity (SWEEP)