Author Archives: openspaceeditor

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.’

6th International Congress ISFT “Forest and its Potential for Health”

The 6th International Congress ISFT “Forest and its Potential for Health” will be held on 18-20th September 2024 in Druskininkai, Lithuania.

This congress, which is organised by the International Society of Forest Therapy and Association Gyvo Žalio, is a significant collaborating science event in the field of forest medicine and nature therapy, biomedical research, climatology, phytopharmaceuticals and forest-based tourism.

The central objective of the Congress is to present the latest research findings on how forest ecosystem services contribute to the health and well-being of people and communities. Additionally, it serves as a platform to share exemplary case studies of the non-wood forest economy and the application of forest therapies in the fields of public health and forest-based therapeutic tourism. There will be three days of scientific presentations, panel discussions, practical workshops of forest therapy and other healing practices as well as networking and cultural events.

Submission of abstracts is welcome until 31st May 2024.

Registration is now open, with early bird fees applicable until 30th June 2024.

Fostering Global Collaboration: OPENspace Welcomes Beijing Institute of Technology for Research Visit

We were delighted to welcome esteemed colleagues and students from the Faculty of Design and Arts at the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) to Edinburgh on May 3rd for a research visit hosted by OPENspace Research Centre. This event marked another milestone in our ongoing collaboration aimed at advancing research in the realm of healthy spaces.

OPENspace Co-Directors Prof Simon Bell and Prof Catharine Ward Thompson welcomed BIT visitors jointly with Dr Miguel Paredes Maldonado (Head of the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA)) and Dr Alex Nevill (ECA Director of Internationalisation). Faculty members and postgraduate students from both institutions exchanged ideas and presented their work.

This research visit follows the establishment of a Joint Lab on Healthy Spaces by OPENspace and the BIT Faculty of Design and Arts in Summer 2023, and OPENspace colleagues plan to visit Beijing in July 2024.

Collaboration Milestone: OPENspace and Beijing Institute of Technology Forge Partnership on Healthy Spaces

The Faculty of Design and Arts at the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) welcomed OPENspace Co-Director, Professor Simon Bell, in early March. This visit follows the establishment of a Joint Lab on Healthy Spaces by OPENspace and the BIT Faculty of Design and Arts in Summer 2023.

During this visit, Professor Bell was appointed a visiting professor at BIT and a small ceremony took place to unveil a plaque commemorating the establishment of the joint lab, and underscoring the significance of this partnership in driving forward interdisciplinary research and innovation.

Looking ahead, the collaboration is set to flourish further, with an upcoming exchange programme between OPENspace and BIT. On May 3rd, Faculty members and PhD students from BIT will journey to Edinburgh, so staff and students from both organisations can get to know each other before several staff members from OPENspace visit Beijing in July.

Dr Scott Ogletree’s research featured in The Guardian, revealing the impact of green space on cellular aging

The Guardian article focuses on findings from a recent study led by Dr Scott Ogletree, into the relationship between greenspace exposure and telomere length. The study found that those living in neighbourhoods with more green spaces had longer telomeres, the protective structures at the end of chromosomes associated with cellular health and aging. Telomeres prevent DNA unravelling and longer telomeres allow cells to replicate more times.

The study, based on the survey responses and medical records of over 7,800 participants, revealed that a 5% increase in neighbourhood green space was associated with a 1% reduction in cellular aging. However, the positive effects were less pronounced in low-income or segregated areas, indicating that a neighbourhood context, including deprivation, pollution, and segregation, may influence the health benefits of green spaces.

Photo by Matthias Zomer

Landscape Forum 2024: Tartu and South Estonia

The Landscape Forum 2024 will take place in Tartu, Estonia, from 24-28 June 2024.

The forum, which is hosted by the Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMU), will focus on the topic of The Landscape as the Container of the Bioeconomy with working groups on water, forests, fibrescapes, foodscapes, mobility and nature tourism. As well as cross-cutting themes on landscape economy and landscape democracy.

The Landscape Forum aims to stimulate knowledge building, collaboration and action for local sustainable development, while integrating a European dimension. It provides a unique opportunity to interact creatively with colleagues from a range of landscape disciplines through informal workshops and in field visit settings.

Registration is now open, with early bird fees applicable until 30 April 2024.

Congratulations to Dr Scott Ogletree on receiving the WIMEK research fellowship 2024 at Wageningen University & Research

Dr Scott Ogletree has been awarded a visiting research fellowship this coming summer at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. Scott will be collaborating with Agnès Patuano to explore the potential of Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) for testing the effects of design scenarios on the health of urban communities, in an effort to develop Research through Design methodologies. During his stay, Scott will also contribute to selected courses via guest lectures and provide reviews for courses in Landscape Architecture and Planning. The visit will be an opportunity to build networks and collaboration between OPENspace and other researchers in landscape and health.

Agnès is an Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning and a former postdoctoral researcher with OPENspace. She also completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2017 with Professor Catharine Ward Thompson and Prof Peter Aspinall.

Scott’s visit will run from mid-June to mid-July 2024.

Prof Catharine Ward Thompson contributing to a new parliamentary inquiry into Urban Green Spaces

OPENspace Co-Director, Prof Catharine Ward Thompson, is contributing to a new parliamentary inquiry into Urban Green Spaces.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee invited Prof Ward Thompson to attend an oral evidence session in the House of Commons, Westminster, on 5th December 2023 as a witness, covering differences in access to green spaces, the barriers to using them, and how they can be made more inclusive, while linking this to the health and wellbeing benefits of green spaces, and their relationship with health inequalities.

The full Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee event recording is available via Parliamentlive.tv.

Prof Catharine Ward Thompson’s essay published in ‘Garden and Metaphor: Essays on the Essence of the Garden’

Catharine Ward Thompson has a short essay published in ‘Garden and Metaphor: Essays on the Essence of the Garden’, a book edited by Ana Kučan and Mateja Kurir and published by Birkhäuser in October 2023. In this book, landscape architects, sociologists, architects, artists, philosophers and historians illuminate different aspects of the garden in the Anthropocene: the garden as a place of community, garden as art, and the garden as a place of enchantment and rapture. The book is in part a tribute to the work of the late Slovenian landscape architect, Professor Dušan Ogrin, whose work over many decades to support education in the profession was untiring, international and inspirational.

Mediaeval flowery mede/pleasaunce: illustration from Roman de la Rose (The Romance of the Rose),
Master of the Prayer Books, Bruges, c. 1490–1500.

Joint Laboratory of Healthy Space established between University of Edinburgh and Beijing Institute of Technology

Following the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the University of Edinburgh and Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) over the summer of 2023, the two institutions have decided to set up The Joint Laboratory of Healthy Space in the related fields of urban design, landscape architecture and environmental design.

It is an international and interdisciplinary laboratory, with the aim of “creating healthier living environments for the public”. The OPENspace Research Centre in Edinburgh College of Art and the Social Space and Healthy Environment Laboratory at BIT are the two bodies within each institution who are forming research teams to further the collaboration.

To address global health threats and challenges in relation to living environments, the laboratory will join hands with interdisciplinary global experts to investigate new evidence on the impact of built environments on health and well-being, and promote the construction and renewal of healthy spaces around the globe, with a view to improving the health and well-being of all human beings. At the local level, the laboratory will focus on the national strategy of “Healthy China 2030” and the needs of the construction of a healthy China. It has the following mission:

  • To promote health and well-being for the public in relation to landscape architecture and design
  • To provide the highest-quality research and teaching
  • To challenge the boundaries of knowledge, research and disciplines
  • To enable our graduates and staff to be exceptional individuals equipped to address global challenges

Activities of the laboratory will facilitate academic exchange, student supervision, bi-lateral workshops and research projects in investigations of the many links between health and the built environment.