OPENspace Research Associate Dr Antonio Ross-Perez presented preliminary findings from the WIAT2 research project at the International Medical Geography Symposium 2026, held in Toronto in July.
His presentation explored the potential effects of a nationwide woodland intervention programme on child development in Scotland. The research, being undertaken within OPENspace, examines how changes to the environment may influence children’s development and wellbeing.
Improving and maintaining woodlands in deprived communities is linked with reduced antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication use, research suggests.
People living in deprived communities are less likely to use medication for depression and anxiety if they have easy access to well-maintained woodlands, the study found.
Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow analysed data from more than 129,000 people over five years.
The study is one of the largest analyses of its kind, assessing how investments in local woodlands in and around towns in Scotland affect people’s mental health.
The researchers used NHS prescription records and census data to see whether people living within a 10-minute walk of an improved woodland area were more or less likely to be taking medication for depression or anxiety.
Woodland improvements had been supported through Scottish Forestry’s Woods In and Around Towns (WIAT) initiative, which provided funding for practical improvements such as new footpaths, better signage, and community events.
The initiative prioritised areas that were more socially and financially disadvantaged, where woodlands required improved management to reduce barriers and enable more local people to use and enjoy them.
People living in urban deprived communities that were close to a woodland area that had been made more welcoming and easier for people to use were 10 per cent less likely to be prescribed antidepressants and six per cent less like to be prescribed anti-anxiety medication, than those living further away.
This was the case even when accounting for other factors linked to mental health outcomes, such as demographics and poverty.
The benefit of living near these woodlands showed up for the same people even when their proximity to these woodlands changed. For example, when someone moved closer to an improved woodland, their need for medication went down.
By tracking the same individuals over time, the researchers say they can be more confident that it was the woodland improvements making the difference, rather than simply healthier or wealthier people happening to live in greener areas.
“The research provides stronger evidence on the mental health benefits of woodland improvements for local communities than was possible in earlier studies. It also shows that these benefits may contribute to reducing inequalities in health across the population.”
Professor Catharine Ward Thompson
“For the first time, we have an opportunity to link data on mental health services with a long-term national urban forestry intervention programme to offer the kind of evidence required to inform future forestry policy. Our results tell us that relatively modest investments in local greenspaces can make a real difference to people’s mental health. Nature-focused initiatives like Woods In and Around Towns (WIAT) can be a valuable tool to complement ongoing efforts to improve wellbeing and mental health.”
Dr Scott Ogletree
Around one in eight people globally live with a mental health condition, and those in poorer communities tend to be hit hardest. At the same time, these are often the communities with the least access to good quality parks, woodlands, and greenspaces.
The researchers say that their findings make a case for integrating nature-based interventions into public health strategies, particularly in urban areas where greenspace can be limited and poorly maintained in certain neighbourhoods.
The research team have worked with experts from Scottish Forestry and Forest Research for over 20 years to gather evidence on the social and health benefits that local woodlands can offer to communities, pioneering work on this topic within Europe.
“This groundbreaking study provides further compelling evidence of the benefits that local woodlands deliver for people and communities. The association between the investment in woods in and around Scotland’s towns and cities, and lower prescription use for depression and anxiety, highlights the importance of continuing to expand, manage and improve these valuable green spaces.”
Jim Fairlie, Minister for Agriculture, Marine and the Islands
The research used census data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study which tracks the lives and health of thousands of people in Scotland to help researchers understand what affects people’s wellbeing.
The study is published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
The research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the GroundsWell Consortium, a UK-wide research partnership funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP), that studies how green and blue spaces, can improve health and reduce health inequalities.
OPENspace Co-Director, Prof. Simon Bell, was invited to speak at the ‘Connecting through Nature’ interdisciplinary gardening and wellbeing workshop for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) at the University of Manchester on 11th March.
The workshop, which focused on sustainable gardening and landscape-wellbeing design, explored the relationships between landscape, health, and sustainable urban environments.
Prof. Bell’s lecture, “Connecting Through Nature: Urban Allotment Gardening and Wellbeing in Europe”, drew on insights from the edited volume Urban Allotment Gardens in Europe. The session explored the historical evolution, governance, and socio-ecological significance of urban allotment and community gardens across European cities.
Through comparative case studies, Prof. Bell highlighted how allotments contribute to food security, biodiversity, social cohesion, and cultural identity, while also revealing tensions around land tenure, planning policy, and gentrification.
Alongside the lecture, participants took part in a hands-on gardening activity, creating small plant installations using recycled materials. The workshop combined practical making with shared reflection and research-led discussion, encouraging interdisciplinary dialogue across planning, geography, and architecture.
OPENspace is broadening its research focus beyond urban green and blue spaces, extending its work into a wider range of environments that shape health and wellbeing.
Researchers are currently collaborating on projects exploring the benefits of White Spaces (landscapes dominated by snow and ice), Skyscapes, and Seascapes, including submerged marine environments such as seagrass ecosystems. Together, these initiatives expand how we understand therapeutic and restorative landscapes, from ground level to underwater and even to the skies.
Several proposals are in development, including:
OPENspace researchers are also participating in the RethinkBlue COST Action, a European network advancing social science perspectives on the Blue Economy.
Together, this work reflects an important evolution in the Centre’s research, extending our environmental lens while continuing to explore how diverse landscapes offer nature-based solutions to enhancing human health and wellbeing.
Prof Catharine Ward Thompson has been invited to speak at Trees and Development 2026: Putting Nature at the Heart of Urban Design and Planning Future Woodlands, a conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Foresters.
The one-day event will take place at the University of Stirling on 17 June 2026 and will bring together the people shaping Scotland’s next generation of greener, climate-resilient urban spaces.
The conference will be chaired by Karen Anderson FRSE, President of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, for whom the subject is of particular personal interest.
With thought-provoking talks, real-world examples and a collaborative design challenge at its heart, the event will provide an opportunity for practitioners, researchers and policymakers to learn, connect and explore how trees and woodlands can help create nature-rich towns and cities.
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.
It’s time for the Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society, which is held in collaboration with the Institute of British Geographers.
The theme for 2016 is ‘nexus thinking’, a way of addressing the interdependencies, tensions and trade-offs between different environmental and social domains.
OPENspace is involved in five papers at this year’s conference, which you can follow on social media using the hashtag #RGSIBG16.
Here’s where you can find out more about two of our current research projects: Mobility, Mood and Place (which looks at older people’s mobility outdoors); and Woods In and Around Towns (which explores urban woodlands and quality of life in deprived communities).
RGS-IBG conference papers on Mobility, Mood and Place
Wednesday 31st August 2016
Measuring Wellbeing (11:10-12:50)
Skempton Building, Lecture Theatre 207
Mapping brain imaging as a measure of emotional wellbeing in older people walking in different urban spaces.
Dr Steve Cinderby* of The University of York will be presenting this paper, which has been co-authored by Dr Sara Tilley of OPENspace and colleagues at the Universities of Edinburgh, York, Heriot-Watt and University College London.
Thursday 1st September 2016
Everyday geographies of ageing (1): (im)mobility, independence and ageing ‘well’ (09:00-10:40)
Sherfield Building, Room 10
Living in the moment or experiences of a lifetime? Considering environmental influences past, present and future on mobility in older age
Professor Jamie Pearce of the The Human Geography Research Group at the University of Edinburgh will be presenting this paper, which has been co-authored by Professor Catharine Ward Thompson, Professor Jenny Roe, Dr Katherine Brookfield and Dr Sara Tilley at OPENspace, and colleagues at the Universities of Edinburgh, York, Heriot-Watt and King’s College London.
RGS-IBG conference papers on Woods In and Around Towns
Thursday 1st September 2016
Greenspace Justice for Health and Wellbeing (16:50-18:30)
Royal School of Mines, Room G.06
Exploring parents’ perceptions and visits to local urban woodlands in deprived communities
Dr Sara Tilley of OPENspace will be presenting this paper, which has been co-authored by Dr Eva Silveirinha de Oliveira and Professor Catharine Ward Thompson.
On Friday 2nd September, Sara will also be chairing the first session on ‘Time at the nexus: mobility and modal choice’, which she co-convenes with Dr Julie Clark of the University of Glasgow, and presenting her PhD research in the second session (again co-convened with Julie) in a paper entitled Understanding the Multi-Level Forces Affecting Mobility Trends.
* Steve will also be talking about MMP at the annual ‘research into policy’ event co-hosted by the Transport Geography Research Group and UK Department for Transport (DfT). This pre-conference event takes place at the DFT on Tuesday 30th August 2016. Steve’s presentation is entitled Interactions between urban infrastructure design and use on older people’s mobility and well-being: evidence from three UK case studies.
> Browse other conference papers given by OPENspace team members
At OPENspace, we are particularly interested in the role that quality green space and natural environments have to play in enabling and encouraging people to be active, from childhood into oldest age.
In the last week alone, Catharine Ward Thompson has touched on this theme at three events across Europe:
We welcome the opportunity that World Physical Activity Day brings to shed further light on the associations between access outdoors and patterns of physical activity, and of the importance of these associations throughout the life course.
In 2008, we published a paper called ‘The childhood factor: Adult visits to green places and the significance of childhood experience’ in Environment and Behavior.*
Drawing on data collected in different parts of Britain, we reported a strong relationship between frequent childhood visits to woodlands or green spaces and the likelihood of visiting such places, alone, in adult life.
The data also suggested that the physical and the emotional benefits of access to green space are strongly reflected in childhood experience.
Eight years on, with stories of diminishing childhood time spent outdoors still in the news (see yesterday’s Irish Times, for example), we’d like to finish with some conclusions from our paper…
“People who often visited green places as children are more likely to associate natural areas with feeling energetic and more likely to visit green or wooded areas within walking distance of home, both of which suggest that habits of healthy outdoor exercise as adults are linked to patterns of use established in childhood.
People who were frequent visitors as children are also more comfortable visiting woodlands and green places alone as adults and more likely to think green spaces can be magical places.
It appears that such people have not just a physical relationship with green outdoor places but also an emotional one that influences how people feel about themselves and makes them more open to positive and elemental experiences in these places. Because lack of confidence in going to parks or natural areas on one’s own may be a serious deterrent to people enjoying the physical, social, and psychological benefits of outdoor activities (Burgess, 1998), it is important to establish whether childhood experience can be a factor in increasing confidence levels for adult visits to such places.
Concerns about increased restrictions on today’s children and their freedom to roam outdoors, as expressed in the focus groups in our projects and described in the literature, must be reinforced by the possibility that this will be a factor in limiting healthy outdoor exercise and positive relationships with the environment when today’s children are adults”.
* Ward Thompson, C., Aspinall, P. and Montarzino, A. 2008. ‘The childhood factor: Adult visits to green places and the significance of childhood experience’ Environment and Behavior 40 (1) pp. 111-143. doi:10.1177/0013916507300119