WORLD GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AWARD
Integrating health and wellbeing into design
Category:
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC WORK
Project creators
New Zealand
Country
Sheffield
City
Greenstone Design
Institution
Phd
Nominator Degree Program
Gayle Souter-Brown
Nominator
Project specifications
Research includes physical testing
or observation location
Location City(s)
Main location Country
Other countries list
YES
Auckland
New Zealand
none
Project Abstract
Originality Declaration
Consent for Use of Materials
This mixed methods study tested research in practice, with effects both quantified and qualified. The randomised controlled trial explored effects of a specially designed biodiverse sensory garden on 165 18-65 yr olds. Participants were randomised to spend 30 minutes once a week, over 4 weeks, in the garden or an adjacent planted plaza. Control group and both intervention group participants were sampled pre and post intervention for salivary cortisol and other wellbeing measures. Results showed statistically, clinically and socially significant reductions in chronic stress and increases in wellbeing and productivity, in the sensory garden group. Focus groups and journalling reported positive behaviour changes after experience of the sensory garden. The plaza, although planted and aesthetically pleasing architecturally, offered no similar benefit. A new salutogenic design framework developed from the study findings shows how design offers potential to integrate health and wellbeing with
The randomised controlled trial was the first of its kind globally, in architecture, urban design or landscape architecture, to test design against formal health and wellbeing measures. No similar studies have been completed since.
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Research details
Breef research description
New Zealand
Source of funding
New Zealand
The Research type
The Research relates to
Source of funding
public green space
health
university
Year of construction
Year of research completion
Area brutto (m2)
2016
2019
900
Research outcomes
Is the research a precursor to expected follow up research?
Yes, I am applying for research grants for follow up research in a range of settings, from hospitals to prisons
How does the research address the issue of water stewardship?
The research does not address water stewardship, other than to use a thick layer of mulch to retain soil moisture, and grow plants adapted to drought conditions
How does the research address the human well-being aspects of GI?
The research is focussed 100% on addressing the human well-being aspects of GI. Without ecological health there can be no sustained human health and wellbeing. The research showed the need for GI to be an accessible everyday nature experience.
How does the research address the economic aspects of GI?
Depression alone costs countries hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity, reduced social capital and increased healthcare expenditure. The World Urban Forum estimates the global cost of the top five non-communicable diseases at over $47 trillion. That this research showed an almost 20% reduction in the chronic stress hormone, cortisol, is significant economically in that stress is associated with the five biggest health costs, being cancer, CVD (cardiovascular disease), diabetes, mental illness and chronic respiratory disease. GI, through public parks and gardens designed as biodiverse sensory gardens, can therefore have a considerable economic impact. If the multifunctionality of GI is considered, further economic benefit can be expected through mitigating climate change and creating resilient communities.
How does the research address the environmental sustainability aspects of GI?
The study was designed to measure the effects of environmental sustainability through the RCT. The research applied features of GI to aid environmental sustainability through sustainable urban drainage, enhanced biodiversity, reduced urban heat island effect, and through carbon sequestration.
How does the research address social aspects of GI?
Study participants in the sensory garden group reported feeling more comfortable socially. They felt able to approach strangers and initiate conversation while in the garden setting. Some participants also spoke of the garden allowing them to take 'me time' where they felt able to just sit quietly, alone, to rest and restore. They reported feeling more aware of nature generally and pro conservation. Participants in the plaza group, in contrast, said they were so bored they had to talk to someone and some only attended a session if they knew someone also attending that session. Participants attended 97% of sessions in the sensory garden. In contrast, attendance in the plaza was only 65% and people there complained of the cold winter weather, whereas the garden's users enjoyed being outside in the same weather and south additional nature experience outside of the study.
How does the research address the topic of biodiversity?
Biodiversity was mapped using grid sampling pre, during and post intervention, in both intervention sites. Pre intervention, in the sensory garden, 300mms of organic compost was laid on top of the existing compacted grass prior to planting and further site development. In the first week, one arthropod was found in the garden, and one visiting bird. Nothing was seen in the plaza. By week four, the garden was teeming with biodiversity, with multiples of insects, birds (insect eaters and nectar feeders), new shrubs, trees, flowers, fruit and fungi observed. Four birds and one spider were seen in the plaza over the same period.
What types of GI multifuncionality are addressed by the nominated research?
Multi-functional green infrastructure, retrofitted into a university campus as a workplace wellbeing initiative, can address climate change, boost biodiversity and aid human health and wellbeing. Ecological health is vital to sustained human health outcomes. The research showed multi functional GI provided a cost effective option for funders looking to invest in sustainable futures.
Does the research support innovation?
Yes, the research supports innovation. The study demonstrated the effects of standard design practice, and thereby the need to innovate, in that stand practice produces spaces like the plaza, the study's comparator intervention site, which showed measurable harm to human health and well being. Climate adaptation requires innovative solutions to complex problems. Green infrastructure, fitted into the urban fabric’s public greenspace as an innovative, biodiverse sensory garden, can be effective to sequester carbon while aiding health outcomes.
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