Date: 4 - 5 October (Wed & Thu), 2023
Venue: Sands Expo and Convention Centre
The Congress was divided into several breakout sessions, out of which this specific one dedicated to mental health and well-being promotion through contact with urban nature. Below are the descriptions of speakers and talks. Among them our own Dr Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo. More details can be found at the Congress website.
Liveability: Nature and Well-being
This session brought together various speakers from the public sector and research spheres, to highlight leading areas of research and application in advancing nature-based solutions for health and well-being, as part of Singapore’s overall transformative efforts under its “City in Nature” vision.
Prof Tan Puay Yok
Chief Science & Technology Officer and Director, Singapore Botanic Gardens
National Parks Board (NParks)
Professor, College of Design and Engineering
National University of Singapore (NUS)
Topic: The Salubrity of Urban Nature: From Patterns to Mechanisms
There is probably a universal acceptance that nature in cities provides numerous benefits for urban dwellers. Among these, the health benefits from urban nature is a recurring and long-standing theme across different disciplines, from landscape architecture to urban planning, to human geography and public health planning. This is reflected in the increasing number of scholarly articles on this topic published over the last two decades. Such a recognition of the salubrious benefits of nature that cuts across cultures, however, can be said to be a rediscovery of old knowledge. For instance, more than two thousand years ago, Hippocrates said “Nature itself is the best physician”.
In Chinese culture, the idea of “天人合一” promotes the practice of harmony between human and nature as a way of living and an ethical treatment of the environment. Therefore, given the long cultural associations and increasing scientific evidence, what else needs to be done to increase the health benefits of nature exposure? One such area is to undertake studies that go beyond documenting benefits of nature exposure, to understanding the mechanisms leading to health benefits. Understanding mechanisms, in turn, provide the necessary evidence to design optimal interventions that address constraints of space, time and lifestyles of urban living. This presentation shares perspectives on the need to invest more efforts to develop a better mechanistic understanding of the health-promoting effects of nature exposure.
Dr Lin Shengwei Ervine
Senior Lecturer
Programme Director Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture
National University of Singapore (NUS)
Topic: Measuring Urban Landscapes for Assessment of Restorative Potential
Exposure to nature is widely suggested to provide multiple benefits, including the capacity to trigger mental restoration. This makes it essential to integrate natural elements into urban landscapes through purpose-built parks or neighbourhood greening efforts. Singapore is no stranger to this and has spent decades greening the city into its current state. However, it is unclear what kind of greenery typologies should be prioritized in relation to the urban environment, and how the two interact and affect restorative potential. This talk will showcase two novel methods for measuring urban landscapes specific to assessing and predicting the restorative potential of neighbourhood landscapes.In doing so, it will shed light on preliminary research findings which point towards the importance and complexities of attempting to measure such an elusive effect. Such findings pave the way for fresh insights into planning and designing urban landscapes in order to maximise restorative benefits to urban dwellers.
Dr Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo
President & Co-founder
NeuroLandscape
with
Ms Alicia Soh,
Senior Manager, Development Management
National Parks Board (NParks)
