Photovoice for enhanced healthy blue space research: an example of use from urban India

Abstract

ABSTRACT Four general research strands are known to study the salutogenic aspects of urban surface waters (urban blue spaces): the experiential, the experimental, the preference-based, and the quantitative spatial approach. Although this scientific toolkit offers various ways to assess the health benefits that people can derive from blue space experiences, the considerable knowledge gaps on blue health require enhancing the existing methodological approaches. With the overall aim to promote blue health within cities and to better guide and convince urban planning and policy, photovoice is proposed as an innovative methodology to enhance application-oriented healthy blue space research. This paper builds upon the experiences made in applying photovoice in a blue health study targeting senior citizens in urban India. Despite methodological difficulties (e.g. participation level), which need further clarification, it is highlighted that photovoice is appropriate to record environmental perceptions and blue health experiences and to help uncover the underlying mechanisms in the blue space–health relationship (e.g. health-enabling landscape elements) that can better explain the linkages between urban waters, health and wellbeing.