Blue Space
Currently there is evidence to support that living near and regularly visiting surface bodies of water (i.e. blue space) is associated with better physical health, mental wellbeing, and increased levels of physical activity. Furthermore, improved access and quality of blue space infrastructure are considered key to provide sustainable benefits and reduce socioeconomic-related inequalities in health.
The aim of this project is twofold; first, to generate evidence on the economic and health impacts (value) of improving access and use of blue space for physical activity. Second, to explore criteria for priority-setting to inform economic valuation models for prioritisation of investment in blue-space that promotes population health and wellbeing.
Working closely with the organisation The Canal & River Trust and members of the public, we will hold group discussions and workshops to elicit stakeholder input on positive and negative qualities of canals for physical activity and health, and identify organisational processes in priority-setting of canal interventions. The evidence will be used to inform and pilot-test methods for developing economic valuation models of investment in blue space. Our overarching goal is to support policy-making and inform investment decisions, data will be collected for different geographical areas, which will be matched with comparison sites based on size and demographic characteristics, to observe changes in outcomes through knowledge co-production.
Green Space
Lead researcher: Ms Humera Sultan
COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of green spaces for population physical activity, health and wellbeing. Despite increasing evidence for the relationship between green space and wellbeing, there is insufficient economic evidence to justify investment in these spaces as part of a population-wide prevention programme to help boost physical activity, promote quality of life and wellbeing, and save long term health and social care costs. Given the multi-sectoral nature of how green spaces are developed and maintained, tracking the flow of resources and resulting impact from investments is complex. This workstream forms part of a NIHR pre-doctoral fellowship awarded to Ms Humera Sultan with the aim of developing a competitive PhD fellowship application to work with all stakeholders within green space to justify investment. This is an area of priority for local authorities to ‘build back better’ and crucially ‘build back fairer’ following the COVID-19 pandemic. This work will consider cost-effectiveness, equity, and affordability of investments within the green space context.