Parks, Health & Sustainable Urban Communities LINKS TO RESOURCES

To Main project page (California Institute of Public Affairs)

[Note: The California Institute of Public Affairs (CIPA) became InterEnvironment Institute in February 2010. CIPA continues as a program of IE. See the home page for details.]

Following are links to publications and Web sites about connections between wellness and nature. "Wellness" is defined broadly to include not only human physical and mental health, but social connectedness and community spirit.

("Health" is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.")

AUSTRALIA

Victoria

International Healthy Parks Healthy People Congress (Melbourne, 11-16 April 2010).

Parks Victoria, “Healthy Parks, Healthy People”: www.parkweb.vic.gov.au

John Senior and Mardie Townsend, "'Healthy Parks, Health People' and Other Social Capital Initiatives of Parks Victoria, Australia." In Ted Trzyna, ed., The Urban Imperative: Urban Outreach Strategies for Protected Area Agencies, 2005.

Cecily Maller, et al. Healthy Parks, Healthy People: The health benefits of contact with nature in a park context: A review of relevant literature. 2nd ed. 2008: School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2008. Accessible via www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1grants.cfm

Mardie Townsend and Matthew Ebden, Feel Blue, Touch Green, 2006 (PDF) A study of connections between mental health and contact with nature. Accessible, with related documents, via the People & Parks Foundation Web site (see below).

Updates on Deakin University's and others' research: Deakin University Nature and Health Research Group (NiCHE):  www.deakin.edu.au/hbs/hsd/research/niche

New South Wales

Sydney Parks Group, Healthy Parks Healthy People program: www.cp.nsw.gov.au/about_us/healthy_parks_healthy_people/

CANADA

Canadian Parks Council: "Healthy by Nature" (brochure) (PDF)

UNITED KINGDOM

England

Liz O'Brien, Forestry Commission: Trees and Woodlands: Nature's Health Service, 2005: www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6j9gc4

CABE Space, www.cabe-org.uk. Go to "Health." CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, is "the government's advisor on architecture, urban design, and public space."

UNITED STATES

National

U.S. National Park Service, Health, Recreation, and Our National Parks: http://home.nps.gov/applications/release/Detail.cfm?ID=659 (Go to "Link" at bottom of page)

National Recreation and Park Association, "Step Up To Health" (SUTH): www.nrpa.org

Resources for the Future, "Outdoor Recreation, Health, and Wellness: Understanding and enhancing the relationship," by Geoffrey Godbey. RFF Discussion Paper 09-21, May 2009. Go to www.rff.org and search by title.

California

California State Parks: "Take a Hike in California's State Parks":

www.parks.ca.gov/takeahike.

California Institute of Public Affairs. Parks, Health & Sustainable Urban Communities project

Updated 10/2009

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