Chapter 12 - Urban blue spaces, health, and well-being

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors review what is known about urban blue spaces, health, and well-being. Urban blue spaces are made up of multiple typologies, spanning natural, seminatural and manmade, in the form of rivers, coast, lakes, canals, ponds, and sustainable drainage features. Urban blue space research is more limited than green space research but is a growing field that is proposing nuanced benefits and challenges of how urban water bodies can contribute to health and well-being. The authors summarize this research and include anthropological and environmental justice reflections on people’s engagement with urban water bodies. They summarize work from a local blue space project in East London focused on local community and place and suggest some innovative ways of engaging constructively with urban blue spaces that could offer opportunities for creatively using blue space-focused nature-based solutions to enhance the climate resilience and beauty of urban areas, while also positively impacting health and well-being of people and the urban environment.