Seminar: Improving Wellbeing through Urban Nature

IWUN is winding up and we are keen to see the impact of our policy and practice recommendations. However, in today’s climate of austerity, coupled with the seemingly never-ending political negotiations around Brexit, it’s often difficult to be optimistic about innovation and collaboration in and between the urban parks and green spaces, health and social care and urban planning sectors.

Nevertheless, there are possibilities for change in at least three key areas: social prescribing, housing and transport.

In this presentation I’ll be putting current constraints to one side and focusing on the opportunities for rethinking and renaturing urban areas and health and social care practices in the light of developments in social prescribing (NHSE has recently mandated for social prescribing through the new Primary Care Networks), the requirement to build circa 300,00 new homes every year in England and predictions concerning the potential impacts of driverless cars.

I’ll be indulging in a bit of blue skies thinking and visioning, imagining what cities/health/social care could be like if we take the opportunities on offer.

View the presentation slides (PDF, 2.3MB)