Greenways to Health: The Links Between Access to Green Space and Healthy Communities

The European Landscape Convention stresses the significance of “everyday” landscapes in which people live and go about their daily activities; it identifies such landscapes as important for people’s quality of life, their wellbeing and their individual and cultural identity (Council of Europe, 2000, pp 8-11, 23). As we reach the point, globally, where more people live in towns and cities than in rural locations, new questions are being raised about how well such environments serve as human habitat. There is a new impetus to interest in links between environment, health and quality of life, and greenways and green spaces have an important role within this

Vegetation-Climate Interactions Along A Transition From Tundra To Boreal Forest In Alaska

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2005The climate of the Alaskan Arctic is warming more rapidly than at any time in the last 400 years. Climate changes of the magnitude occurring in high latitudes have the potential to alter both the structure and function of arctic ecosystems. Structural responses reflect changes in community composition, which may also influence ecosystem function. Functional responses change the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nutrients. We examined the structural and functional interactions between vegetation and climate across a gradient of vegetation types from arctic tundra to boreal forest. Canopy complexity combines vegetation structural properties such as biomass, cover, height, leaf area index (LAI) and stem area index (SAI). Canopy complexity determines the amount of the energy that will be available in an ecosystem and will also greatly influence the partitioning of that energy into different land surface processes such as heating the air, evaporating water and warming the ground. Across a gradient of sites in Western Alaska, we found that increasing canopy complexity was linked to increased sensible heating. Thus, vegetation structural changes could represent an important positive feedback to warming. Structural changes in ecosystems are linked to changes in ecosystem function. High latitude ecosystems play an important role in the earth's climate system because they contain nearly 40% of the world's reactive soil carbon. We examined Net Ecosystem Production (NEP) in major community types of Northern Alaska using a combination of field-based measurements and modeling. Modeled NEP decreased in both warmer and drier and warmer and wetter conditions. However, in colder and wetter conditions, NEP increased. The net effect for the region was a slight gain in ecosystem carbon; however, our research highlights the importance of climate variability in the carbon balance of the study region during the last two decades. The next step forward with this research will be to incorporate these results into coupled models of the land-atmosphere system. Improved representations of ecosystem structure and function will improve our ability to predict future responses of vegetation composition, carbon storage, and climate and will allow us to better examine the interactions between vegetation and the atmosphere in the context of a changing climate

‘Being there’ is what matters:Methodological and ethical challenges when undertaking research on the outdoor environment with older people during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper reflects on adapting research methods and processes during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on our experiences of conducting research on the outdoor environment with older people (aged 50+) living in Scotland. First, we discuss the challenges to the organisation of research experienced in the context of changing government and university guidelines and managing delays to planned research timelines. The shift toward remote methods stimulated by the pandemic transformed traditional notions of the research field. We consider some of the implications of this for outdoor environment research, grounded as it is on exploring the interaction between people and the places they are embedded within. Further, despite a growth of literature highlighting the benefits of remote research, we found uses for digital and online approaches limited when working with older people. Second, we reflect on whether research with older people in the context of a pandemic can be conducted ethically. Drawing on our research we describe how developing an ‘ethics of care’ included negotiating with formal ethics processes but also the relational, situated ethics of qualitative health research that, because of the pandemic, had begun to shift in new ways. We describe the often intangible impacts of COVID-19 such as social isolation and bereavement that we uncovered as researchers entering into the lives of older people. In closing, we outline some of the key lessons learnt from conducting research on outdoor environments with older people to enable future qualitative health research during and beyond the pandemic

Access to green space in disadvantaged urban communities: Evidence of salutogenic effects based on biomarker and self-report measures of wellbeing

AbstractThis paper describes two case studies from Scotland, UK, exploring links between access to green space, perceptions of and activities in green space, and health and quality of life. One study involved a natural experiment to study the effects of improvements to woodlands near a disadvantaged urban community, compared with a similar community without such interventions. The second study, a recent, innovative study for the Scottish Government, demonstrated use of a biomarker as a method for measuring the salutogenic effects of environmental settings such as green space, offering evidence of environment-body interactions within a real-world context of people's everyday lives

Perspectives on ‘novel’ techniques for designing age-friendly homes and neighborhoods with older adults

Worldwide, growth in the older population creates a pressing need to develop supportive environments that enhance quality of life as people age. Too often, built environments present barriers and challenges to older adults that compromise independent living and adversely affect health and life outcomes. Designing homes, buildings, and neighborhoods with older adults, through exercises in participatory or co-design, could help ensure that environments are better able to facilitate healthy aging. However, while it is potentially advantageous to involve this age group in environmental design decisions, doing so can be difficult. Analysis of and guidance on effective ways to involve older adults in these activities could make the challenge easier. With this aim in mind, this article provides critical perspectives on eight “less traditional” engagement techniques—walking interviews, photovoice, photo-elicitation, Talking Mats®, participatory mapping, drawing, model-making, and the “Design Fair”. Insights into the strengths and limitations of these techniques, gained from observation of their use in participatory design activities, as well as feedback collected from older co-design participants, are presented. The article concludes by offering a number of practical recommendations for those interested in designing age-friendly homes and neighborhoods with older people