Abstract
Within the BlueHealth project, funded under the Horizon 2020 European Union research framework, a number of targeted experimental design interventions were used to test the effect and impact of planning and design on encouraging people to use various blue spaces. Complex interventions were implemented and evaluations before and after each were made using a set of tools which triangulate with each other—a site assessment tool, a behaviour observation tool, a questionnaire survey (including an economic evaluation) and qualitative interviews. The theoretical basis for the research is that of affordances, and the projects each involved modest changes to the landscape using the approach of “urban acupuncture” where a small intervention can potentially have an effect out of all proportion to the investment. This paper is a protocol paper and describes the research strategy and methodology in detail for one of the intervention sites, located in Plymouth in the UK. The aim is to present the methodology as a whole so as to act as (a) a reference framework for the results of all the projects which will be reported separately in a series of research articles once all the results are in and analysed and (b) a useful reference for other researchers wishing to carry out such complex projects and where a comprehensive presentation of the strategy and methodology is unavailable. We offer this protocol for reference, for critique and for inspiration to those following us.
Highlights
The current paper presents a small part of the BlueHealth project, funded through the European Commission Horizon2020 research framework, which focuses on strengthening the evidence base surrounding the potential health and well-being benefits of urban blue spaces
As a public greenspace in an urban area with direct access to the foreshore, BlueHealth researchers identified the Teats Hill area as an ideal site for the intervention research and together formed a project group with staff from the Active Neighbourhoods team and Devon Wildlife Trust to carry out a combined development and research project
The survey instruments were developed within the BlueHealth project for application across all case studies and in the case of Teats Hill were supplemented by additional research into the economic evaluation of the project and some follow-up qualitative interviewing of stakeholders and local residents
Summary
It is well documented that nature and green spaces have the potential to improve people’s health and well-being [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]). Research investigating outdoor environments for activities and place assessment for public space improvements for community benefits has focused on aspects such as the presence of facilities (e.g., paths, benches, attractive vegetation) [23,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36], and the absence of signs of negative behaviour (e.g., litter, vandalism, dog fouling or broken bottles) [8,37] These studies showed that there are some basic factors affecting how much people use spaces and the kind of activities they do in them which help to improve physical activity levels (such as by walking, dog walking, jogging or cycling) or for mental health (de-stressing, reducing depression). Sustainability 2020, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW academic constraints of not publishing data more than once) and because of this publication strategy iitt wwoouulldd nnoott bbee eeaassyy ttoo uunnddeerrssttaannddhhoowweeaacchhsseettooffreresusultlstsfifitstsinintotoththeewwhholoel.eT. hTehreerfoefroer, eth, tehaeimaimis itso tporepsreenstenthtethmeemtheotdhooldooglyogays aaswahowlehosoleassotoasactot aascat )aas rae)fearerenfceerefnracme efrwaomrekwfoorrkthfeorretshueltrseosuf latlsl othfeapllrtohjeecptsrowjehcitcshwwhililchbewreilpl obreterdepsoerptaerdatseelpyaarnadtebly) aanudsebfu) laruefseerfeunlcreeffoerreontcheerforresoetahrecrhererssewarischhienrgs wtoischairnrgy toouctasrruychouctosmupchlecxopmrpojleecxtspraonjedctws hanerdewahceorme aprceohmenpsrievheenpsrievseenptraetsieonntaotfiotnheofstthraetesgtryataengdy amnedthmoedtohloodgoyloisgyunisauvnaailvaabillea.bWle.eWofefeorfftehritshpisroptrooctoocl oflofrorrerfeefreernecnec,ef,ofrorcrcirtiitqiquueeaannddffoorr iinnssppiirraattiioonn ttoo tthhoossee ffoolllloowwiinngg uuss
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