WHO says green space & community matter?
Access to green space and community cohesion have been identified by the World Health Organisation as two key physical and social determinants of health.
Determinants of health:
"The conditions in which people live alongside the wider set of economic, communal, cultural, and educational forces/systems that shape daily life."
(WHO, 2021)
In 2018, it was estimated that 83% of the UK population lived in urban environments.
This figure has been progressively rising over recent history, offering an important development indicator when compared to other countries.
(TheWorldBank, 2018)
While a movement towards increased urban living can be seen as a key positive marker along the developmental continuum, such a shift also presents a range of challenges – everything from population density, concentrated areas of poverty, and disconnection from natural environments to increased noise/air pollution and social isolation. In tandem with this, the past two decades has seen a fragmentation of localised communities, a decrease in community groups, and the closure of community spaces, all of which have been argued as vital to mental health support (Walker et al, 2017).
“All manner of large-scale social forces and discreet local social experiences can come to be translated into personal distress... Psychological institutions, the socially approved authorities [of mental health], have understood this as disorders of thinking and feeling. However, these are actually how most of us would respond to periods of intense pressure, loneliness, despair, deprivation etc.”
With this new perspective on societal mental health in mind, throughout this publication, we aim to promote the key research relevant to our industry. As you journey through, consider how the findings might inform how the built environment can be crafted to ensure the health & wellbeing of individuals and communities as a whole.