Mind, body and blood: advancing green care through innovative methodologies within the field of health geography

ABSTRACT

In the post-COVID city, interest in creative green interventions to tackle health inequalities are at an all-time high. Key actors, from policymakers to funding bodies and beyond, are increasingly investing in concepts such as Social Prescribing and Green Care. In particular, the latter has received a large amount of attention and support, with mainstream media and an array of studies raising awareness around the benefits of juxtaposing nature with the city. In this paper, we reflect on the growth in this interest, particularly with a focus on the United Kingdom and the immense potential for the approaches within the wider urban global expansion. Through a focused systematic approach, we highlight the impact of several interventions on the ground, with an explicit case study focus on community gardening and care farming: highlighting both micro and macro practices within the built environment. Our paper raises awareness around the value of these interventions and novel methods for further exploration by academics and practitioners, particularly within a UK context, while presenting an opportunity learn from a pilot case study. In doing so, we advocate for more radical approaches to exploring these spaces and showcase the power of interdisciplinary work between geographers and health researchers in this burgeoning field.

KEYWORDS:

• Health geographies
• mixedmethods
• social prescribing
• green care
• community gardening
• care farming

This article is related to:

Research for city practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. These examples have been selected as they illustrate ways of interacting with nature that has the potential to be nature-based activities, or green care if offered as a treatment intervention.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the University Alliance Doctoral Training Alliance.

Notes on contributors

Louise M. Mitchell

This cross-interdisciplinary and institutional team has interests in geography, public health, social prescription and are driven by creating impact from research.

Louise M. Mitchell set out to use innovative mixed methodologies to investigate the health and wellbeing influences of older populations when interacting with nature specifically across community garden and care farming spaces, yet the global Covid-19 pandemic redirected the scope of the study. Having completed her PhD at the University of Salford, she moved to SRUC to become a lecturer of Environmental Management, with wider interests in sustainability, justice and empowerment.

Michael Hardman

Michael Hardman specialises in Urban Geography at The University of Salford. With his work exploring ways of enabling sustainability within cities, from radical greening initiatives, to urban agriculture, guerrilla gardening and beyond.

Michelle L. Howarth

Michelle L. Howarth is a Senior Engagement fellow at Edge Hill University. With a specialist interest in social prescribing and the use of nature-based, person centred approaches to promote health and wellbeing. Michelle is passionate about promoting personalised care to support people with long term conditions and leads the National Social Prescribing Network Special Interest Group for Nursing and chairs the national PerCIE group, through which she is actively campaigning to raise awareness of social prescribing.

Penny A. Cook

Penny A. Cook is Associate Dean of Research and Innovation at the University of Salford, with her research spanning Public Health themes, specifically in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), alongside physical activity and the health benefits of greenspace.