I attended the Well-being and Place conference held at the University of Durham on 7th - 9th April. The conference explored the spatiality of well-being in many different contexts. The sessions that I attended over the 3 days included many presentations relevant to the work of the Outdoors and Health Network (including presentations from OHN members Catharine Ward Thompson and Liz O’Brien).
On day one, the session on ‘Well-being, Mobility and Youth Transitions’ included several interesting presentations on the connections between young people’s physical and mental well-being, the places they inhabit and how they move through space and place. Colin Pooley’s (Lancaster University) work on how children’s mobility has changed over time was particularly interesting, as was Margaret Grieco’s (Cornell University and Napier University) presentation on the “Walking Bus in International Perspective”. Both papers raised questions about current and potential opportunities for children to engage with nature on the way to and from school.
On day two, therapeutic spaces were the focus of two sessions. The “Therapeutic Greenspaces” session explored the role of urban green space in physical and mental well-being. Catharine Ward Thompson’s (Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh) presentation illustrated the long-standing association between urban parks and human health. John Leah’s (Lancaster University) paper on “Well-being and Greenspace” suggested that a sense of community may be linked to people’s feelings of safety within greenspace. Clive Davies (Newcastle University) presented some interesting findings relating to collaborative work with two Italian Universities that has examined the “perceived benefits of green areas during periods of heat stress”. Helen Beck’s (CABE) presentation illustrated that an examination of the well-being benefits of green space will need to consider the community cohesion and social networking benefits of green space.
In the “Therapeutic Spaces” session Liz O’Brien (Forest Research) gave a presentation on the “Social and Cultural Connections with Trees and Woodlands for Well-being”. This illustrated socio-cultural benefits that may also be related to other types of green space, such as health, education and learning, community development and recreation; as well as some of the psychological, socio-cultural and physical barriers to accessing such spaces. Stephen Hughes (Central Scotland Forest Trust) presented findings from the Trust’s perception surveys, which also showed that there are physical and social benefits to be gained from the use of forest spaces.
On day three, an interesting session discussed well-being and place in relation to “Children and Young People”. Gordon Jack’s (Durham University) presentation considered the “Significance of Place Attachments for Children’s Well-being” – this raises questions about the ‘place’ of the outdoors in childhood.
