Designing Urban Green Blue Infrastructure for Mental Health and Elderly Wellbeing

Abstract

The main objective of this essay is to illustrate the state-of-the-art on ‘mental health-sensitive’ open space design in the built environment. Urban Green Blue Infrastructure can contribute to urbanites’ mental health and wellbeing as well as healthy aging, while providing co-benefits balancing the negative impacts of climate change, through the provision of integrated ecosystem services. There are a number of ways that exposure to and affiliation with Nature have shown to support mental health, but we are still missing the necessary evidence of the actual benefits achieved, as well as the key performance indicators and metrics to monitor and adapt our open space to the growing urban challenges. After introducing the key concepts of degenerative mental disorders as they are growing in the urban environment, and the emerging green blue infrastructure design approach, the authors present international case studies describing how evidence-based design and Nature-based Solutions have been found to be beneficial, especially to those diagnosed with mental disorders. Subsequently, in a comparative critical analysis, the authors look closer at a number of design solutions capable, at different scales, to support healthy aging through exposure to, and affiliation with, biodiversity.

Human Dimensions of Urban Blue and Green Infrastructure during a Pandemic. Case Study of Moscow (Russia) and Perth (Australia)

“…BGI includes publicly accessible and private green space, natural green space (remnants of native vegetation which experience different intensities of human intervention and where some or all endemic ecosystem processes are affected) as well as specifically designed and managed green space (e.g., parks, gardens, lawns, street plantings, green roofs) and blue space (retention and detention ponds, re-naturalized and de-culverted rivers, swales and "bioswales", or rain gardens) [5][6][7][8]. The theme of positive benefits of urban BGI and associated urban green and blue spaces for human physical (e.g., through the opportunity for physical activity, recreation) and mental (e.g., ability to relax, stress reduction, spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, aesthetic experiences) health of urban dwellers prior to the pandemic is also thoroughly studied [7,[9][10][11][12][13][14]. Urban green and blue spaces also contribute to a sense of place as well as fostering social cohesion and stewardship.…”

The Associations of Built Environment with Older People Recreational Walking and Physical Activity in a Chinese Small-Scale City of Yiwu

“…Physical activity would bring in obvious and vast health benefits as plenty of previous papers have suggested [ 1 , 2 ]. The health benefits of physical activity include risk reductions in coronary heart disease, cancers, type 2 diabetes in physical health, and also improvements of depression, cognitive impairment, and social isolation in mental health [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. There are four types of physical activity including work-related, family-related, traffic-related, and leisure-time physical activity [ 6 ].…”

How Can the Lived Environment Support Healthy Ageing? A Spatial Indicators Framework for the Assessment of Age-Friendly Communities

“…Blue space is defined as outdoor environments (natural or manmade) that prominently feature water and are accessible proximally (being located in, on, or near water) or distally/virtually (being able to see, hear, or sense water) [ 57 ]. Therapeutic design of a built environment using urban green and blue infrastructure was shown to be protective for healthy ageing while supporting those with cognitive decline, or illness [ 58 ].…”