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ABSTRACT
Four general research strands are known to study the salutogenic aspects of urban surface waters (urban blue spaces): the experiential, the experimental, the preference-based, and the quantitative spatial approach. Although this scientific toolkit offers various ways to assess the health benefits that people can derive from blue space experiences, the considerable knowledge gaps on blue health require enhancing the existing methodological approaches. With the overall aim to promote blue health within cities and to better guide and convince urban planning and policy, photovoice is proposed as an innovative methodology to enhance application-oriented healthy blue space research. This paper builds upon the experiences made in applying photovoice in a blue health study targeting senior citizens in urban India. Despite methodological difficulties (e.g. participation level), which need further clarification, it is highlighted that photovoice is appropriate to record environmental perceptions and blue health experiences and to help uncover the underlying mechanisms in the blue space–health relationship (e.g. health-enabling landscape elements) that can better explain the linkages between urban waters, health and wellbeing.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. In light of the therapeutic value of aquatic landscapes, ‘healthy blue spaces’ (Foley and Kistemann Citation2015, p. 158) are defined as ‘health-enabling places and spaces, where water is at the center of a range of environments with identifiable potential for the promotion of human wellbeing.’ However, the authors of this paper emphasize that blue spaces also include ‘environments where water may be a secondary aspect of the scene e.g., fountains or streams’ (White et al. Citation2010, p. 483), that is to say hybrid environments ranging from rather green-blue to blue-grey settings (Foley and Kistemann Citation2015, Doughty Citation2019).
2. Further individual and environmental factors include: accessibility, size, type and quality of the blue space (i.e. biological attributes and facilities), general weather and micro-climate, and the socio-demographics, living context, health status, attitudes and lifestyle of the blue space users (Bell et al. Citation2017, Grellier et al. Citation2017, Wüstemann et al. Citation2017, White et al. Citation2018). It is likely that the factors shape the relationship by determining people’s opportunities, personal drivers and motivations, and ease to use blue spaces, as noted for urban green spaces (Lachowycz and Jones Citation2013).
3. Systematic reviews of the health effects of blue spaces have been done by Gascon et al., (Citation2015) and Völker and Kistemann (Citation2011).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Anna Brückner
Anna Brückner holds a master's degree in public health and is currently a Ph.D. student in medical geography under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Kistemann. Her research is centered on the linkages between urban blue spaces, health and wellbeing of elderly people. She works as a health policy advisor in Bonn, Germany.
Timo Falkenberg
Timo Falkenberg obtained his doctor's degree in medical geography from the University of Bonn, where he worked on the diarrheal disease risk of wastewater-irrigated urban agriculture in India. He is currently the coordinator of the “One Health and Urban Transformation Graduate School” at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at University Hospital Bonn.
Urvashi Kasturirangan
Urvashi Kasturirangan obtained a bachelor's degree in commerce and law from Gujarat University and is an aspiring mental health therapist working with complementary and alternative healing methods such as reiki and hypnotherapy.
Thomas Kistemann
Thomas Kistemann is a professor of hygiene, environmental medicine and medical geography. He is deputy director of the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at Bonn University Hospital where he leads the GeoHealth Centre and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promoting Water Management and Risk Communication. His research interests include environmental health, infectious disease epidemiology, health landscapes, and public health applications of GIS.