scholarly journals Thoughts on Public Space and Flourishing during COVID-19

2020 ◽  
pp. 249-254
Author(s):  
Setha Low
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Exposure Risk ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Informal Work ◽  
Health And Well Being

Public space offers the places, circuits and networks used for contact with the diverse people and different activities that make up our social and psychological world. There is 35 years of ethnographic research evidence that public space is a major contributor to a flourishing society by promoting social justice and democratic practices, informal work and social capital, play and recreation, cultural continuity and social cohesion, as well as health and well-being. During this COVID-19 pandemic, however, we are experiencing a shrinking sense of this world and the resulting isolation tears at the fabric of our lives and exposes how dependent we are on one another for well-being and happiness. At the same time the pandemic highlights the socioeconomic basis of disease vulnerability and exposure risk. Expanding the use of streets, parks and open spaces can help to reinstitute the kinds of connections and relationships that underpin a flourishing society but only if a social justice agenda is kept in mind.

Enhancing Response Ability: Dietetics as a Vehicle for Social Justice—A Primer

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 159-166
Author(s):  
Jennifer Brady ◽  
Tanya L’heureux
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Dietetic Education ◽  
Collective Response ◽  
Critical Reflexivity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Do So ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

Recent world events have shone a spotlight on the social and structural injustices that impact the lives, health, and well-being of individuals and communities under threat. Dietitians should be well positioned to play a role in redressing injustice through their individual and collective “response abilities”, that is, the combination of responsibility for and ability to be responsive to such injustices due to the varying privilege and power that dietitians have. However, recent research shows that dietitians report a lack of knowledge, skill, and confidence to take on such roles, and that dietetic education includes little knowledge- or skill-based learning that might prepare dietitians to do so. This primer aims to introduce readers to concepts that are fundamental to socially just dietetics practice, including privilege, structural competence, critical reflexivity, critical humility, and critical praxis. We assert that when implemented into practice and used to inform advocacy and activism these concepts enhance dietitians’ individual and collective response ability to redress injustice.

Well being experiences in nature An emerging form of tourism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alba Font Barnet ◽  
Marta Gemma Nel-lo Andreu
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural Areas ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Environmentally Responsible ◽  
Protected Natural Areas ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Competitive Products ◽  
Health And Well Being

Tourism is a dynamic, constantly evolving activity that requires detecting consumer trends so that companies and destinations can adapt by offering new and improved competitive products and experiences. For the post-COVID-19 era, dominant projected trends suggest that consumers will be more attracted to authentic, environmentally responsible experiences in less touristy destinations and wide-open spaces. Natural areas and protected spaces rank among the clearest beneficiaries of such trends because they combine relaxation with environments conducive to social distancing as well as offering direct, positive impacts on human health and well-being. For all of those reasons, such spaces not only have the potential to offer new experiences closely related to well-being and the search for overall health but also face challenges to that end. Against that background, this chapter examines experiential tourism in relation to improved holistic well-being and provides examples of experiences in protected natural areas worldwide that offer physical, mental, social, environmental, spiritual, and/or emotional well-being.

scholarly journals Restoration Experience Measurement Methods in Contact with Green Open Spaces

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahimeh Malekinezhad ◽  
Hasanuddin bin Lamit
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Fatigue ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Natural Landscape ◽  
Stress Alleviation ◽  
Attention Restoration ◽  
Supportive Environment ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Health And Well Being

Contact with nature is suggested to be as an important resource for human health and well-being. Stress alleviation and reduction of mental fatigue are main instances of improvement of human health and well-being in contact with nature. Although the term restoration experience in contact with nature has been used repeatedly for concepts of stress alleviation and reduction of mental fatigue, these refer to different sets of theories and research studies. In this paper, by reviewing the nature-health related theories of Biophilia, Stress Recovery Theory, Attention Restoration Theory and Supportive Environment Theory (SET), the similarities and differences between these two concepts have been discussed. Moreover, the measurement approach instruments based on different study methodologies and aims are provided. This paper could provide information for future studies with focus on factors to be of benefit for restoration experience in design and planning of natural landscape environments with the aim of health and well-being development.

scholarly journals Still striding toward social justice? Redirecting physical activity research in a post-COVID-19 world

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E Lee ◽  
Rodney P Joseph ◽  
Loneke T Blackman Carr ◽  
Shaila Marie Strayhorn ◽  
Jamie M Faro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Behavioral Medicine ◽  
Well Being ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Ecologic Model ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Disproportionate Burden

Abstract The COVID-19 crisis and parallel Black Lives Matter movement have amplified longstanding systemic injustices among people of color (POC). POC have been differentially affected by COVID-19, reflecting the disproportionate burden of ongoing chronic health challenges associated with socioeconomic inequalities and unhealthy behaviors, including a lack of physical activity. Clear and well-established benefits link daily physical activity to health and well-being—physical, mental, and existential. Despite these benefits, POC face additional barriers to participation. Thus, increasing physical activity among POC requires additional considerations so that POC can receive the same opportunities to safely participate in physical activity as Americans who are White. Framed within the Ecologic Model of Physical Activity, this commentary briefly describes health disparities in COVID-19, physical activity, and chronic disease experienced by POC; outlines underlying putative mechanisms that connect these disparities; and offers potential solutions to reduce these disparities. As behavioral medicine leaders, we advocate that solutions must redirect the focus of behavioral research toward community-informed and systems solutions.

scholarly journals Uniting Resilience Research and Practice With an Inequalities Approach

SAGE Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401668247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angie Hart ◽  
Emily Gagnon ◽  
Suna Eryigit-Madzwamuse ◽  
Josh Cameron ◽  
Kay Aranda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Young People ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Research And Policy

The concept of resilience has evolved, from an individual-level characteristic to a wider ecological notion that takes into account broader person–environment interactions, generating an increased interest in health and well-being research, practice and policy. At the same time, the research and policy-based attempts to build resilience are increasingly under attack for responsibilizing individuals and maintaining, rather than challenging, the inequitable structure of society. When adversities faced by children and young people result from embedded inequality and social disadvantage, resilience-based knowledge has the potential to influence the wider adversity context. Therefore, it is vital that conceptualizations of resilience encompass this potential for marginalized people to challenge and transform aspects of their adversity, without holding them responsible for the barriers they face. This article outlines and provides examples from an approach that we are taking in our research and practice, which we have called Boingboing resilience. We argue that it is possible to bring resilience research and practice together with a social justice approach, giving equal and simultaneous attention to individuals and to the wider system. To achieve this goal, we suggest future research should have a co-produced and inclusive research design that overcomes the dilemma of agency and responsibility, contains a socially transformative element, and has the potential to empower children, young people, and families.

scholarly journals Stigmatized places as therapeutic landscapes

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer T. Mokos
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Urban Rivers ◽  
Therapeutic Landscapes ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
River Bottom

Urban rivers in the United States have frequently been sites of long-term homeless encampments. Recent efforts to ‘restore’ these marginal waterways have focused on removing such camps, an approach that is justified in terms of concern for the health of both waterways and people. This article explores the intersection of landscape health and human health, based on twelve months of ethnographic research on the ecological restoration of the Ventura River in southern California. I argue that river-bottom camps contribute to the health and well-being of residents by helping them resist social exclusion and mitigate experiences of violence and stigma. It is important to recognize this complexity so that logics of exclusion are not unintentionally reproduced in how landscapes are understood, which can legitimate actions, such as camp removals, that cause marginalized communities additional harm. Embracing the complexity of therapeutic landscapes opens up possibilities for more just ways of restoring the health of human and nonhuman natures.

scholarly journals Public Space in the New Urban Agenda. The Challenge of Implementation

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Elmlund ◽  
Tigran Haas ◽  
Michael Mehaffy
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Cultural Expression ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
Being There ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
New Urban Agenda

The New Urban Agenda – the landmark 2016 agreement for sustainable urban development that has now been adopted by consensus by 193 nations – contains no fewer than nine paragraphs extensively discussing the importance of public space.  Among other things, the document describes public spaces as “drivers of social and economic development,” “enhancing safety and security, favoring social and inter-generational interaction and the appreciation of diversity” and “promoting walkability and cycling towards improving health and well-being.” There is also language on the role of public space in enhancing ecological sustainability and resilience, on equity and opportunity, on connectivity and social inclusion, on cultural expression and dialogue, and on broader human development (United Nations, 2017).

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