Last month Dr Simon Bell, Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of OPENspace, spoke at the EUROPARC Conference 2019, Latvia which took place in Kemeri National Park from September 24-27. He talked about balancing accessibility and use of nature (the pressures of visitors to protected areas especially) with the capacity and limitations of the natural landscape – so as to prevent physical and ecological damage or disturbance as well as to ensure a good experience by the visitors. If you would like to hear his talk please see the video below.

Time: 12.00-13.00, 4 July 2019 (Thursday)
Venue: Drummond Street, Room (2.01)
Drummond Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9XP

Title: Urban greenery and mental wellbeing in adults: Mediation analyses on multiple pathways based on streetscape greenery measures

Speaker: Professor Ye Liu – Sun-Yat-sen University, China

Multiple mechanisms have been proposed to explain how greenery in the vicinity of people’s homes enhances their mental health and wellbeing. Mediation studies, however, focus on a limited number of mechanisms and rely on remotely sensed greenery measures, which do not accurately capture how neighborhood greenery is perceived on the ground. This study aims to examine: 1) how streetscape and remote sensing-based greenery affect people’s mental wellbeing; 2) whether and to what extent the associations are mediated by physical activity, stress, air quality and noise, and social cohesion; and 3) whether differences in the mediation across the streetscape greenery and NDVI exposure metrics occurred. We used a population sample from 2016 of 1,029 adult residents of the metropolis of Guangzhou, China. Two objective greenery measures were extracted at the neighborhood level: 1) streetscape greenery from street view data via a convolutional neural network, and 2) the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from Landsat 8 remote sensing images. Single and multiple mediation analyses with multilevel regressions were conducted. Regression results show that mental health and wellbeing and both streetscape and satellite-derived greenery seem to be both directly correlated and indirectly mediated. Our findings signify that both greenery measures capture different aspects of natural environments and may contribute to people’s wellbeing by means of different mechanisms.

Bio of the speaker:
Dr. Ye Liu is currently a Professor in the School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, China. Prior to joining Sun Yat-sen University in 2017, he was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of St Andrews (UK), The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong), and University of Lethbridge (Canada). His primary research interests focus on Health Inequalities, Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Environment, Migration and Urbanization. His research works have been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as Regional Studies, Urban Studies, Population Space and Place, Landscape and Urban Planning, Cities, Urban Geography, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Environment International, Journal of Affective Disorders and Environmental Research. He is sponsored by the Recruitment Program for Young Professionals of the ‘Thousand Talents Plan’ (qian ren ji hua). He is the Principal Investigator of two research projects funded by Natural Science Foundation of China.

‘Enhancing Health Through Access to Nature: How Effective are Interventions in Woodlands in Deprived Urban Communities? A Quasi-experimental Study in Scotland, UK’ is the title of a new paper that’s just been published online (Open Access), relating to our NIHR-funded project on Woods In and Around Towns (WIAT). Click here to read more or to download a PDF version of the paper.

We are hosting 3 events at the end of March 2019 to present the results of the study and provide an opportunity to meet with some of the researchers and rangers involved in the project.

We will be hosting events at the following locations: 
– Linwood on Monday 25^th March (book here)
– Pollok on Tuesday 26^th March (book here)
– Mayfield on Wednesday 27^th March (book here). 

All events will run as drop-in sessions from 6 – 7pm, so feel free to turn up whenever is convenient (although booking is preferred).

Please note there will be a short presentation at 6:15pm. Refreshments will be provided.

Our animation below is a summary of research that’s been conducted on woods and wellbeing in Scotland. In particular, we focus on a study we completed that examines the impact of Forestry Commission Scotland’s ‘Woods In and Around Towns’ (WIAT) programme on community stress levels and wellbeing. 

If you would like more information about the study please visit our Community page, where you can also download a summary of the research, as well as our final report. 

This book explores how natural landscapes are linked to positive mental wellbeing. While natural landscapes have long been represented and portrayed as transformative, the link to mental wellbeing is an area that researchers are still aiming to comprehend. Accompanying five groups of people to rural Scotland, the author considers individual, external and group motivations for journeying from urban environments, examining in what ways these excursions are personally and socially transformative. 
Far more than traversing mere physical boundaries, this book illustrates the new challenges, experiences, territories and cultures provided by these excursions, firmly anchored in the Scottish countryside. In doing so, the author questions the extent to which people’s own narratives link to the perception that the outdoors are positively transformative – and what indeed does have the power to influence transformation. 
Grounded in extensive qualitative research, this contemplative and ethnographic book will be of interest and value to students and scholars of the outdoors and its connection to wellbeing. 

Dr Rebecca Crowther is a transdisciplinary ethnographic researcher working between, across and beyond disciplines within the arts, humanities and social sciences. Her research interests lie in the phenomenological experience of natural landscapes.

email: sharingnaturalscotland@gmail.com 

website: www.sharingnaturalscotland.com

OPENspace is pleased to host Jung-Hwa Kim and welcome her to the University of Edinburgh. Her research explores contemporary landscape architecture, the redevelopment of botanical gardens, showing them as the theatre of plants; an emblem of the human relationship with nature. She will be reviewing the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, as well as others in the UK. In this blog post you can find out more about Kim and her research project at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH).

Biography

Jung-Hwa Kim is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh and a Visiting Researcher of the Environmental Planning Institute at the Seoul National University. Before launching her academic career, Kim worked as a landscape architect in several design firms in Seoul, Korea. She holds a PhD in Engineering and has received an MLA and a BS in Agriculture from the Seoul National University. She has previously served as a lecturer at the Graduate Landscape Architecture Programme of Gachon University in South Korea in 2015 and 2017 and as a short-term fellow at the International Centre for Jefferson Studies in the US. Her scholarly interest focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century landscape history and global, contemporary landscape architecture. Her work explores the global transfer of ideas and the role of politics, technology, and plants in the field.

Research Project at IASH

1. Outline

Since their origin as teaching gardens at medical universities, botanical gardens have functioned as a platform to collect and display plants for educational purposes. They have served as living ‘encyclopaedias’ showing knowledge about nature, as exemplified by the title page of Theatrum Botanicum by the famed seventeenth-century herbalist and botanist John Parkinson.

However, the role of botanical gardens is changing and expanding today. Botanical gardens in the 21st century not only contribute to the spread of knowledge about plants but also inspire people to take steps to conserve or cultivate plants. The new social role of botanical gardens requires fresh modes of nature and display. Accordingly, landscape architecture studios have created innovative botanical displays. As a result, many historic botanical gardens have been reinvented through new master plans. The redevelopment of botanical gardens is especially prominent in the United Kingdom, which possesses many botanical gardens with a long history.

At IASH at the University of Edinburgh, her research project aims to explore a phenomenon in contemporary landscape architecture, the reinvention of botanical gardens, by placing it in a longer lineage to show botanical gardens as the theatre of plants, an emblem of the human relationship with nature. She will review recent master-plan projects of botanical gardens in the UK, such as the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

2. Previous accomplishments

Kim has studied the history of botanical gardens in Korea, with an emphasis on the transnational transfer of ideas, technology, and plants. By reviewing the introduction of Neo-Confucianism and the change of perspective on nature and plants in the thirteenth century Kora, she has revealed that the interest in native medicinal plants had grown and promoted to establish royal physic gardens. Through a review of Korean intellectuals’ visits to botanical gardens in the West from 1876 to 1910, she has found that establishing gardens was regarded as a means of civilisation. In an analysis of the Changgyeongwon Botanical Garden from 1910 to 1945, she has shown that the first botanical garden in Korea played a role in developing knowledge and taste.

As a short-term fellow at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies in Virginia, US, in March 2018, she has investigated the background and significance of Thomas Jefferson’s Botanical Garden at the University of Virginia. Furthermore, she has participated in planning the Seoul Botanic Park, which will open to the public this year.

3. Relevance to Edinburgh and collaborative outcomes

The UK contains many historic botanical gardens, such as the Oxford Botanic Garden, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Chelsea Physic Garden. Edinburgh is a central city in the network of Scottish botanical gardens, with the second oldest botanical garden, Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh. Edinburgh is also home to the GROSS. MAX. design studio, which proposed a new master plan for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

The Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA) at the Edinburgh College of Art already has a good working relationship with the Botanical Garden Edinburgh and regularly holds classes there. This would also provide her with the opportunity to contact Edinburgh-based landscape architecture studios. Through collaborations with ESALA, she will access the previously networked botanic gardens in Edinburgh and practitioners, which are essential resources for her research.

In collaboration with OPENspace she will develop seminars/workshops about design approaches to the issues of health and well-being in botanical gardens.

Today, on World Cities Day 2018, we’re launching our animation and infographic about research into woods and wellbeing in Scotland.

We’ve worked with a fantastic team: animator Kevin Rob (http://kevinrob.com/) and illustrator Sophie Powell-Hall (http://www.sophph.com/) to create this summary of research that’s been conducted on woods and wellbeing in Scotland. In particular, we focus on a study we recently completed that examines the impact of Forestry Commission Scotland’s ‘Woods In and Around Towns’ (WIAT) programme on community stress levels, funded by NIHR, which is forthcoming (https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/phr/10300518/#/).

We were able to produce the animation and infographic from funding awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Working with partners Forestry Commission Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage we have been working on a project to share findings from the WIAT study more widely on social media. We hope that you find it useful and interesting – please use and circulate widely!

The funding also allows us to host a seminar to present evidence on the health and wellbeing benefits and challenges in enhancing access to woodlands and natural environments, including presentations on the Woods In and Around Towns NIHR research study in more detail. The seminar will include contributions from Forest Research, Scottish Natural Heritage, and key international speakers. Those with an interest in how woodlands and the natural environment can be used to improve public health and wellbeing should watch this space for more details coming soon…

Edinburgh filmmaker shortlisted for prestigious national Award

A film made by Catharine Ward Thompson and her team has been shortlisted for the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s prestigious 2018 Research in Film Awards.

The film, called ‘Mobility, Mood and Place – key findings’, has made the shortlist for the Social Media Short Award. 

Nearly 150 films were submitted for the Awards this year and the overall winner for each category, who will receive £2,000 towards their filmmaking, will be announced at a special ceremony at 195 Piccadilly in London, home of BAFTA, on 8 November.

Launched in 2015, the Research in Film Awards celebrate short films, up to 30 minutes long, that have been made about the arts and humanities and their influence on our lives.

There are five categories in total with four of them aimed at the research community and one open to the public.

Filmmaker Catharine Ward Thompson, said: “The film illustrates key findings from our Mobility, Mood and Place project. It shows how the planning and design of everyday environments can support healthy and active ageing, and is aimed at everyone, from politicians to the general public. It was produced by animator Kevin Morris, with the support of our Mobility, Mood and Place communicator Máire Cox, and reflects findings from across our expert multidisciplinary team of researchers.  We are delighted that it has been so well received, by policy-makers, planning officers and third sector groups, and that the Arts and Humanities Research Council have recognised its merits by shortlisting it for this award.”

Mike Collins, Head of Communications at the Arts and Humanities Research Council, said: “The standard of filmmaking in this year’s Research in Film Awards has been exceptionally high and the range of themes covered span the whole breadth of arts and humanities subjects.

“While watching the films I was so impressed by the careful attention to detail and rich storytelling that the filmmakers had used to engage their audiences. The quality of the shortlisted films further demonstrates the fantastic potential of using film as a way to communicate and engage people with academic research. Above all, the shortlist showcases the art of filmmaking as a way of helping us to understand the world that we live in today.”

A team of judges watched the longlisted films in each of the categories to select the shortlist and ultimately the winner. Key criteria included looking at how the filmmakers came up with creative ways of telling stories – either factual or fictional – on camera that capture the importance of arts and humanities research to all of our lives.

Judges for the 2018 Research in Film Awards include Joanna Norman, Director of the V&A Research Institute, Steve Harding-Hill, Creative Director in Commercials and Short Form at Aardman Animation and Dorothy Byrne, Head of News & Current Affairs, Channel 4 News. ^[3]

The winning films will be shared on the Arts and Humanities Research Council website and YouTube channel. On 8 November you’ll be able to follow the fortunes of the shortlisted films on Twitter via the hashtag #RIFA2018.

Our research study, ‘Mobility, Mood and Place’ (MMP), was featured in several French newspapers on Sunday 9^th September including: Liberation, l’Express, and Sciences et Avenir.

In an article about landscape and wellbeing, the findings from the MMP study were reported as follows:

In Scotland, researchers have asked people in their 70s about the environment they live in and the landscapes they have visited since their childhood in the 1930s.

These testimonies were analysed alongside maps displaying health and socio-economic data from the archives of Edinburgh and its region. “We concluded that visiting public parks during childhood and adulthood can slow cognitive decline in older people, and this finding was even more pronounced for women and people from disadvantaged backgrounds,” summarizes landscape architect Catharine Ward Thompson.

The same thing was found for depression and anxiety. “Access to green spaces can reduce social inequalities in terms of health,” says the director of OPENspace Research Centre.

Access the full article here…