This morning I was talking with a doctor about community care, mental health and the government's preference to keep people in the community for as long as possible. I remarked that community care schemes only work if the community actually cares. The classic question "who gives a toss?" is important. If we are to value something or someone we have to know about them in the first place. Just as the environmental movement needs us to know what grass feels like under our bare feet, and what birdsong sounds like, so too we need to know our neighbours. Knowing them is the first step to valuing them. Only then can we begin to care enough so that their welfare is of interest to us. In short we need resilient communities. 

Urban design for health and well-being relies to a large part on creating spaces that foster a shared sense of community - natural playgrounds, community gardens, healing gardens and sensory gardens work to bring people together because they are, necessarily, inclusive, accessible public spaces.

We then went out into the garden and checked on the new chickens , because even busy doctors, and perhaps especially busy doctors, need nature connections in their lives too...

Forest bathing or Shinrin-yoku refers to time spent walking in forests. In Japan the practice has been studied by forestry, agriculture and health officials. The rest of the world is now catching on to the idea that rather than being a nice-to-have feature, urban forests are vital to balance the health effects of modern life.

In the UK some cities are blessed with urban parks with mature trees. However, some communities lack mature trees, some have decided to remove tall trees due to various pressures, some people like visiting forests but don't feel the need to have them near their home. Perhaps that situation is about to change.

We know that an active lifestyle is necessary for health and well-being. 20-30 minutes walking 5 times per week maintains our mental alertness, blood pressure, body fat ratio and overall stress levels (a leading cause of cancers) at manageable levels. New findings have discovered that walking in forests is even better for us than just going to the gym or taking a stroll down a local pathway. 

Walking in forests (shinrin-yoku) may prevent the onset of chronic illnesses like cancers, reduce blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones (which may have a preventive effect on hypertension).  It is also credited with creating calming psychological effects through changes observed in parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves. 

Forest bathing appears to increase the level of serum adiponectin--a hormone that in lower concentrations is associated with obesity, type 2 DM (diabetes mellitus), cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome, among other metabolic disorders. A combined study found shinrin-yoku reduces anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue and feelings of emotional confusion.

By developing urban forests we create an oasis in the city, somewhere we can actively balance the indoor air pollution of modern buildings, the information overload and the stress and pressures of the modern world. Sustainable urban planning requires us to include more trees in the urban setting. To mitigate climate change we need more long-lived trees to sequester carbon. Rather than being a nice-to-have feature, urban forests are vital for a cost effective public health system.

Read the full article here

In 1997, the World Health Organization identified that the health “arena”, 
including priority settings and frequently used spaces such as the workplace, schools, hospitals, correctional institutions, commercial offices and public spaces within our cities should be at the centre of health promotion activities in the 21st century.

During the 66th meeting of the General Assembly of  the United Nations this year, the socio-economic challenge facing the world of non-communicable disease was discussed for the first time.

Effectively designed landscaped and urban settings are a powerful and cost effective tool in the fight to reduce the incidence of non communicable threats to health and well being such as depression, type 2 diabetes, obesity.

I've just submitted an abstract to the World Design and Health Congress for a paper on using landscape and urban design for health and well being. Urban planning for social housing must address the mental health and well being of users. In order for green cities to be cost effective, person-centred landscapes the garden design of the whole needs to be investigated in part.

We can all make a difference. 

"Rising levels of non-communicable disease and social pathologies erode economies and communities, putting pressure on limited health and welfare resources. Links between health and the environment have been demonstrated in the literature."  

This week we have been asked to design dementia gardens for care homes in 3 different countries. It has been a busy week, and it's only Thursday! As award winning designers and active researchers in care home gardens and dementia garden design we are commissioned to improve the quality of life of residents, the business bottom line, staff retention and job satisfaction. At times it can be quite a challenge.

Generally though we talk to the care home manager or their architect about what we can achieve. We work in collaboration with staff, and where possible families, carers and the residents to design practical spaces with soul. Too many dementia gardens emphasise care free surfacing - that effectively means the client has been convinced that concrete in its many and varied forms can be therapeutic. Not so! From experience we know practical, abundant planting, set within a low maintenance planting plan can create a calming, stimulating environment in even tiny courtyard garden, roof garden or balcony spaces.

Whenever we are commissioned to design a new dementia garden there is a real buzz in the office as well get excited about the project and the difference we can make. If it sounds corny, it is! We love to use our talent to show the boring old status quo that creative landscapes are a cost effective tool for the management of dementia.

Designing gardens for health requires a broad view of landscape. Health care gardens  require more than perfumed plants in a garden for the blind, more than a textured pathway in a stroke rehab garden.

A true wellness garden design includes elements to uplift and inspire. A perfumed walkway hung with flowers and edible fruits delights the senses. A pergola, cloister or verandah structure offers shade in the heat of the day, and shelter from light rain and harsh winds.

When we have been unwell and stuck indoors we long to breathe fresh air and delight in nature. Seemingly regardless of cultural background, we respond to nature at a deep level. Our overall well being is enhanced by time in a well-designed garden. Health care gardens succeed when they honour and respond to that need.

When my editor asked me to think of all the potential users of a book on sensory gardens I came up with the following list:

1. Stroke victims – through discovering how to use surfaces, scents and tastes  to stimulate walking and memory  responses
2. Spinal injured and nerve damaged patients – through discovering accessible, therapeutic horticulture
3. Teachers and carers of children with ADHD, Angelman Syndrome, ASD, Autism, Barth Syndrome, Brain Tumour, Cerebral Palsy, Chromosome Disorder, Cornelia De-Lange Syndrome, CP, Developmental Dysplaysia, Diastrophic Dysplaysia, Downs Syndrome, Encephalitis, Epilepsy, Fragile X Syndrome, Global Development Delay, Heart Condition, Hemiplegia, Hypermobility, Hypotonic, Lissencephally, Low Muscle Tone, Microcephaly, Muscular Dystrophy, Ohtahara Syndrome, Pneumocoocal Meningitis, Pulmonary Stenosis, Rett Syndrome, Scoliosis, Sotos Syndrome, Spastic Diplegia, Spina Bifida, Tetrasomy, Tuberous Sclerosis.  - creation of calm space for those in ‘sensory overload’, balanced with stimulating environment to boost confidence and self expression
4. Occupational therapists, or persons in the caring professions and charities concerned with this client group
5. Teachers and carers of global development delay children – through learning how to provide a stimulating environment to elicit a response
6. Social housing owners and developers – cost effective gardens for ‘at risk’ residents, creating sense of community, safe natural play places to reconnect children with nature
7. Urban designers – architects, urban planners, landscape architects – how to create urban environments to meet changing needs of community (aging, disabled, immigrant)
8. Play providers – local authorities, national trust, forestry commission, head teachers association – those requiring guidance on how to design and provide spaces where a child can withdraw easily and safely, so that they can learn to regulate his or her own sensory input, and welcoming spaces where intergenerational groups can relax and engage and enjoy their time together.

We are asked to design sensory gardens for children and adults all around the world. But what is a sensory garden? Over the past 20 years interest in sensory gardens has grown. Early 'sensory gardens' were simple gardens for the blind, with aromatic planting and textured leaves about the only feature of the gardens. They evolved into Wellness Gardens in the late 1990's.

Today a sensory garden is a soft landscape designed to stimulate the senses. Specially designed gardens for disabled children can be deeply therapeutic spaces. Sensory gardens are acknowledged as benefitting non disabled children as offering a calming space to recoonect with nature. Sight, sound and touch are easily designed for within such a space.

Our sensory gardens generally offer taste sensations through edible planting. We are careful to ensure that anything that can be put into the mouth is non toxic. This is not only good for the people using the garden, but also good for the environment

Greenstone Design UK Ltd, specialises in the design and development of sustainable landscapes, for schools, adventure playgrounds, hotels and hospitals, housing estates and private residences. We work around the world, wherever projects take us.

Our mission is to make the world a better place through design, so we accept commissions wherever we feel we can make a difference, environmentally and socially, and where appropriate, to a business’s bottom line.

Originally from New Zealand, I have lived in and learned from a variety of countries around the world. While living in Malaysia I was asked to design the grounds of the 50 acre Shangri-La group’s eco hotel in Sabah, Borneo. Netted butterfly café, viewing panels into the sea from decks around the beach bar, outdoor spas, were among features included to make the grounds pay for themselves.

In Portugal I designed the 8ha. grounds of Europe’s first disabled children’s hotel. Sensory gardens there include a wildlife petting zoo as well as kitchen gardens for guests to work in and profit from.

In Surrey, England, we designed 2 acre community gardens for a local food growing initiative. The gardens include inclusive full–height raised beds, a communal BBQ and children’s play area, wildlife pond, forest-garden shelter planting.

For the National Spinal Injuries Centre UK, we designed a low cost, low maintenace rehab garden. Numerous school projects have seen outdoor learning environments, roof gardens, rainwater harvesting, natural play, growing areas and proactively managed grounds develop the school site as an educational and community asset.

Residential Islamic paradise gardens, country house gardens, town house courtyard and roof gardens in counties, climates and cultures as diverse as UK, Singapore, India, France, Mexico, and NZ have all received the 'Greenstone touch'.

We believe that too often the grounds of a house, hotel, hospital or school are just there 'as a backdrop’ and do nothing positive to aid learning opportunities, fun, fantasy or bio-diversity, reduce the effect of urban heat islands and urban runoff, mitigate climate change, and ultimately bring sustainable communities together. We are keenly aware of the positive role of landscape in treating a variety of health conditions.

Our team is small, with hand-picked experienced landscape architects, garden designers, interior architects and CAD technicians. We have developed trusted relationships with land and quantity surveyors, a health and safety advisor, soil scientists, hydrologists and engineers. 

Costs vary. Projects start from around $20,000. The design fee is a small portion of that. If you are interested in how we might work together please do get in touch.

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