Physical And Mental Health-Design

Physical and mental health, design | Food, herbs, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals | Global environmental change, biodiversity, infectious diseases

Organizations and Initiatives

Alterra (Netherlands): Recreation, Landscape Perception and Cultural Heritage. Research focusses on the value of landscape for people and society as a whole. Working across disciplines, research includes e.g. landscape perception and appreciation, leisure and tourism, health and the green environment, environmental policy analysis, decision support systems and valuation of ecosystem services.

Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University is home to the world’s largest collection of interdisciplinary faculty, students, and affiliated professionals committed to research and education about environments for healthcare.

COST Action E39: Forests, Trees and Human Health and Wellbeing. The main objective of this European network is to increase the knowledge about the contribution that forests, trees and natural places make, and might make, to the health and wellbeing of people in Europe. The benefit will be a better understanding and improved description and evaluation of processes and pathways linking forests to human health and well being.

International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS). The Objectives of IAPS are to facilitate communication among those concerned with the relationships between people and their physical environment; to stimulate research and innovation for improving human well-being and the physical environment; to promote the integration of research, education, policy and practice.

The Japanese Society of Forest Medicine promotes research on forest medicine including the effects of forest bathing trips and therapeutic effects of forests on human health.

Landscape and Human Health Laboratory (LHHL) at the University of Illinois is a multidisciplinary research laboratory dedicated to studying the connection between greenery and human health.

Norwegian University of Life Sciences: The research group Nature, Health and Quality of Life works with documenting and providing education concerning the effects of wild and cultural nature with respect to people’s physical and mental health as well as the economic, pedagogical and planning consequences.

OPENspace research centre focuses on inclusive access to outdoor environments – the work covers all types of landscape, in urban or countryside contexts, the benefits it can offer and the barriers to access.

UK Forest Research, the research agency of Forestry Commission. People, trees and woodlands. Research aims at developing a greater understanding of the ways in which trees benefit society and improving delivery of those benefits.

Children & Nature Network The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) is created to encourage and support the people and organizations working worldwide to reconnect children with nature. C&NN provides access to news and research in the field and a peer-to-peer network of researchers and individuals, educators and organizations dedicated to children's health and well-being. The movement was very much inspired by Richard Louv's book The Last Child in the Woods.