Urban Blue Acupuncture: A Protocol for Evaluating a Complex Landscape Design Intervention to Improve Health and Wellbeing in a Coastal Community
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Background
1.2. Conceptual Framework
- 1.
- To what extent does the renovation of a blue space, by adding a small-scale physical intervention and associated public engagement, attract more people: a) to the site; b) to the water?
- 2.
- How might changes to the blue space (or changes in visit characteristics) have a positive impact on community-level health and well-being?
- 3.
- What are the social and economic values of the intervention?
2. The Study Site
2.1. Plymouth
2.2. The Active Neighbourhoods Programme
2.3. Teats Hill
2.4. A Two Pronged (“Complex”) Intervention: A Community Co-Creation Design Process at Teats Hill
3. Research Strategy and Methodology
3.1. Strategy
3.2. Research Methodology
3.2.1. The BlueHealth Environmental Assessment Tool (BEAT)
3.2.2. The BlueHealth Behavioural Assessment Tool (BBAT)
3.2.3. BlueHealth Community-Level Survey (BCLS)
3.2.4. BlueHealth Site Interview (BSI)
3.2.5. Ethical Approval
4. Discussion
4.1. Teats Hill in Context
4.2. The Importance of Describing the Protocol
4.3. Issues and Limitations
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Renovation Element | Example of Functional and Cognitive Affordances |
---|---|
Open-air theatre (circular floor/stage, wall, hard stepped seating, grass area on slope for seating) | The circular floor/stage (or “orchestra” in ancient Greek theatre terms) allows people to gather, stand, sit, view, engage in social interactions, play with dogs, relax and observe. The flat surface allows wheelchair users to sit and observe and stay close to the water. The wall around the stage allows people to lean-on to and sit on it. Seating areas (i.e., hard and soft) allow people to sit and lounge freely, sunbathe, view, exercise, read and sit to eat and drink. |
Slipway resurfacing improvement | To improve perceived physical safety and allow people to go closer to the water. |
Vegetation clearance (along the edge and face of the cliff) | To open up views, increase visibility and improve perceived safety and place attractiveness. |
Children’s play area improvement (new play surface, sand pit, new play units) | To increase place attractiveness, safety and encourage play activity. |
Installation of information boards | To enhance knowledge about the biodiversity, environmental quality of the site and history of the area, in addition to activities and project related information. |
Installation of gates | To improve pedestrian accessibility, prevent parking (negative affordance), facilitate easy access to children’s play area and prevent dogs accessing the area (negative affordance). |
Behaviour Change Technique Category | Behaviour Change Technique | Operationalisation |
---|---|---|
Social support | Social support (practical) | Formal organisation of public “fun” days at Teats Hill where other people from the local community would also be present. Promoted to the community though flyers around the community and leaflet drops. |
Shaping knowledge | Instruction on how to perform a behaviour | New signage provided instruction on how to carry out recreational activities in an environmentally responsible way. For example, while rock-pooling, “Use a bucket to scoop up creatures – nets can cause injury and pull up seaweed”. At public engagement days, activity facilitators often instructed attendees on how to perform certain behaviours in a safe and ecologically sensitive way such as litter picking. |
Natural consequences | Information about social and environmental consequences | Operationalised in a number of ways on new Teats Hill signage. For example, opportunities to enjoy the views, the wildlife, to connect with the site’s history, its flora, its new facilities, and the new artificial habitats (bio-blocks). |
Natural consequences | Salience of consequences (i.e., to make above consequences more memorable) | On the signage, people were invited to share photographs of the improved views or of wildlife on social media. Contact details of how to book the new facilities (e.g., open air theatre) were provided. People were invited to count how many marine animal species they could identify, and how species of seaweed they could find. People were encouraged to “look out” for particular plants (ox-eye daisy, vipers bugloss). |
Comparison of behaviour | Demonstration of behaviour | Activity facilitators attending public engagement events at Teats Hill would often demonstrate environmentally responsible behaviours (litter-picking, sustainable rock-pooling) in order to inform visitors on how to conduct these activities safely and in an ecologically responsible manner. |
Associations | Prompts/cues | New signage prompted specific environmental behaviours upon entering the site. For example, “always put rock pool creatures back where you find them,” or, “only keep one creature in your bucket at a time,” or “help us care for this beach by taking your litter home”. |
Comparison of outcomes | Comparative imagining of future outcomes | The public engagement process allowed both the imagining of future recreational visits to the site and what these would involve post-renovation, and the opportunity for school children to imagine the future of the site in a virtual world of “Minecraft” and thus how it may attract or support recreation. |
Reward and threat | Material incentive | Adverts for public engagement days (“fun days”) often included material incentives. For example, pasties, hot drinks, and family games were offered as incentives for visiting the site on these specific public engagement days. New signage also offered the incentive of enjoying the nearby aquarium before or after a visit. |
Reward and threat | Material reward | Attendees who visited the site on public engagement days (“fun day”) were often, in addition to the above, offered rewards for doing so that they may previously have been unaware of. These ranged from food and drink, to the opportunity to participate in voluntary social or environmental activities. |
Antecedents | Restructuring the physical environment | Certain elements of the site were restructured e.g., the removal of overgrown vegetation and litter which had previously obstructed views, and removal of illegally parked cars from the slipway. These strategies were aimed at increasing recreation. |
Antecedents | Restructuring the social environment | Often, public engagement events were specifically aimed at families i.e., they advised that people visit with their family in an effort to increase recreational visits. |
Antecedents | Adding objects to the environment | The addition of the new play equipment, open air theatre, and signage represented the principal additions to the environment which were used to encourage increased recreational behaviour. |
Section | Description |
---|---|
Part 1: Green and blue spaces | Questions concerning frequency of visits to green and blue spaces in general. Questions concerning details of most recent visit to Teats Hill, including activities, duration, companions etc. |
Part 2: Perceptions of Teats Hill | Perceived environmental quality, safety, community engagement etc. |
Part 3: Economic valuation | (i) Before survey—How much would respondents be willing-to-pay (WTP) for the proposed improvements (ii) After survey—How much would respondents be willing-to-pay (WTP) for site maintenance |
Part 4: Background information | Questions concerning the respondent’s health and well-being and socio-demographics. |
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Bell, S.; Mishra, H.S.; Elliott, L.R.; Shellock, R.; Vassiljev, P.; Porter, M.; Sydenham, Z.; White, M.P. Urban Blue Acupuncture: A Protocol for Evaluating a Complex Landscape Design Intervention to Improve Health and Wellbeing in a Coastal Community. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4084. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104084
Bell S, Mishra HS, Elliott LR, Shellock R, Vassiljev P, Porter M, Sydenham Z, White MP. Urban Blue Acupuncture: A Protocol for Evaluating a Complex Landscape Design Intervention to Improve Health and Wellbeing in a Coastal Community. Sustainability. 2020; 12(10):4084. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104084
Chicago/Turabian StyleBell, Simon, Himansu Sekhar Mishra, Lewis R. Elliott, Rebecca Shellock, Peeter Vassiljev, Miriam Porter, Zoe Sydenham, and Mathew P. White. 2020. "Urban Blue Acupuncture: A Protocol for Evaluating a Complex Landscape Design Intervention to Improve Health and Wellbeing in a Coastal Community" Sustainability 12, no. 10: 4084. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104084
APA StyleBell, S., Mishra, H. S., Elliott, L. R., Shellock, R., Vassiljev, P., Porter, M., Sydenham, Z., & White, M. P. (2020). Urban Blue Acupuncture: A Protocol for Evaluating a Complex Landscape Design Intervention to Improve Health and Wellbeing in a Coastal Community. Sustainability, 12(10), 4084. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104084