Co-designing urban blue spaces for improved well-being (co-supervised by VU Amsterdam)
Blue spaces hold many benefits for human health; they not only enable adaptation to climate extremes by providing cooling effects, but they are also key to safeguarding mental and social wellbeing by providing stress relief and facilitating social connectedness. These benefits are of particular importance in cities where residents are increasingly facing extreme heat and rainfall, and where mental health issues, including social isolation and loneliness, are at an all-time high.
Although the development of urban blue spaces has been pointed out as a promising strategy, all too often the most vulnerable people (including older adults and homeless people) miss out on nature’s benefits due to a lack of such spaces nearby and additional barriers related to infrastructure, social stigma, and lack of involvement in urban planning processes.
In our ongoing collaboration project with the Athena Institute at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, we consider the needs and preferences of disadvantaged population groups, include them in urban planning processes supported by geoinformation systems and artificial intelligence, visualize and explore potential changes to the city landscape.
This MSc research project builds on our VU-UT collaboration, and
- measures the well-being effect of blue spaces on well-being
- co-designs an optimal health-promoting blue space in a deprived neighbourhood
It is co-supervised by Dr. Bep Schrammeijer at the Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.
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