Category Archives: Simon Bell

Launch of the International Journal of Healthy Space

The International Journal of Healthy Space has officially launched, with its first issue now available here. Featuring editorial contributions from Professor Simon Bell, Chief Editor, and Ziwen Sun, Executive Editor, the journal marks an important step in advancing research and practice at the intersection of design and health.

The International Journal of Healthy Space aims to bridge design with the disciplines of health and wellness, fostering collaboration between researchers and practitioners across fields.

Focusing on the core theme of healthy living environments, the International Journal of Healthy Space explores the crucial role of design in promoting health, improving healthcare settings, and enhancing quality of life. The journal places particular emphasis on innovation and application of design in the health field, addressing not only human-centered healthy spaces but also the design and understanding of non-human health environments.

The journal is also inviting submissions for a special issue on the theme of ‘Healthy Urban Landscapes: Designing for Well-being through Evidence and Practice.‘
Aligned with the IFLA Urban Health and Well-being Working Programme 17, this special issue will explore topics including:

  • Urban environmental stressors and well-being
  • Lifestyle, behaviour, and urban form
  • Blue and green infrastructure for health and well-being
  • Community-based practice

For more information on how to contribute, please visit https://www.hwipgl.com/sys-nd/185.html.

Prof. Simon Bell Presents at International Conference on Integrated Forest Management

Prof. Simon Bell participated in the international conference “Integrated Forest Management for Environmental, Social, and Economic Balance,” held in Riga, Latvia, on 18–19 September 2025.

The event was organised by Rīgas Meži (Riga Forests), the organisation responsible for managing over 65,000 hectares of forest owned by the City of Riga since the Middle Ages.

Prof. Bell delivered a presentation entitled “How to Plan and Manage Forests to Maintain Aesthetic, Recreational, Health and Wellbeing Values.” His talk addressed the need to integrate cultural and social dimensions into forest planning and management, ensuring that these landscapes continue to deliver benefits for both people and the environment.

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Activities in the Joint Lab of Healthy Space

In July 2025, Prof. Simon Bell and Iain Scott visited the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), where they co-taught a summer school attended by a diverse group of students. They also participated in a research symposium on Healthy Design.

Research Symposium on Healthy Design

Work is underway to complete the Chinese translation of the Urban Blue Spaces book and to develop a proposal for a major international conference, OpenSpace:HealthySpace, planned for October 2026. The event will be co-organised with OPENspace to mark 25 years since OPENspace was founded.

Preparations are also progressing for the launch of the International Journal of Healthy Space, expected by the end of 2025. The inaugural issue will feature editorial contributions from Prof. Simon Bell, Chief Editor, and Ziwen Sun, Executive Editor.

BIT visit 2025

Prof. Simon Bell takes on the role of Director of the IFLA Working Programme on Urban Health and Well-being

In time for the 2025 IFLA World Congress held in Nantes, France in September, 19 new Working Programmes were set up representing  a wide range of the many issues landscape architects face. This ambitious initiative seeks to unite the expertise of IFLA members to confront global challenges and elevate the profession’s impact on an international scale.

Working Programme 17 covers Urban Health and Well-being. It has a director (Prof Simon Bell), a co-director (Dr Gayle Souter-Brown) and several working members from around the world, representing academia and practice. A work programme and terms of reference have been prepared for approval by the IFLA Executive Committee.

IFLA Working Programmes

Prof Simon Bell and Iain Scott visit the Beijing Institute of Technology, strengthening ongoing collaboration

In early July 2024, Professor Simon Bell and Iain Scott visited the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), where they took part in a number of activities including a summer school with students, academic meetings with Tsinghua and Peking Universities in Beijing, and a seminar on BlueHealth at the BIT campus in Zhuhai, in the south of China.

The summer school focused on students designing a blue space in a local park and Simon and Iain introduced the theories and practical usages of the BlueHealth Behaviour Assessment Tool (BBAT) and the BlueHealth Environmental Assessment Tool (BEAT) to the students. Iain was also appointed as a visiting professor during the visit.

This visit follows the establishment of the Joint Lab on Healthy Spaces by BIT and OPENspace in the Summer of 2023 and a successful visit by faculty and students from BIT in early May (Read News post here). Looking ahead, another visit by the Edinburgh College of Art’s Head of School and Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA) and OPENspace researchers is planned for December 2024, and there’s potential for a Joint Lab conference in 2026. There are a few other exciting initiatives in the works, including the launch of an ‘International Journal of Healthy Space.’

The Surprising Benefits of Blue Spaces

On Friday 11 November 2022 the BBC published a long piece on its website under the Future Planet/MentaL Health section on “The Surprising Benefits of Blue Spaces” https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221108-the-doctors-prescribing-blue-therapy?utm_source=bbc-news&utm_medium=right-hand-slot .

In it, the EU Horizon 2020 BlueHealth project is specifically mentioned, and a link is made directly to one of Simon Bell’s articles from his work as a Principal Investigator on the BlueHealth project https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4084 which is all about the impact of a small-scale intervention in Plymouth on residents’ health and wellbeing.

The surprising benefits of blue spaces – BBC Future When Homo sapiens first evolved some 300,000 years ago, we lived in grasslands and forests, next to lakes and rivers. It wasn’t until 2007 that we became a majority-urban species. But as … www.bbc.com

(Image credit: Frankie Adkins)

Dr. Simon Bell – Research Papers

Dr. Simon Bell- Academic Papers

We’re launching a new MSc in Landscape and Wellbeing!

OPENspace is delighted to announce a new MSc in Landscape and Wellbeing at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) at the University of Edinburgh.

The one-year programme will take an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to understanding the importance of the environment for human health and wellbeing.

Delivered by an expert academic team led by Professor Catharine Ward Thompson, it will draw on the most advanced theoretical and methodological research in the field and is aimed at academics and practitioners working in landscape architecture, planning, design, geography, public health, psychology, epidemiology, horticulture and ecology.

It is designed to help you understand the evidence base on salutogenic landscapes (those that support and enhance human health and wellbeing), translate research into practice, and guide more effective environmental interventions.

> Find out more about the programme on the ECA website

> Watch a recording of an online Q&A about the programme
(Please note that this requires you to install and run Blackboard Collaborate)