Understanding Medical Professionals’ Perceptions of Green Infrastructure and its Role in Health-centred Planning

Abstract

Green infrastructure (GI) is a form of urban planning that has been recognised for its capacity to increase the environmental sustainability of construction projects and create positive health outcomes for its users. Increasingly, stakeholders are beginning to understand the conceptual benefits of GI in health-centred planning (HCP), which focuses on creating built environments with specific positive health outcomes in mind. A central challenge of GI in HCP projects is its highly interdisciplinary nature, which demands involvement from not only traditional urban planning stakeholders but specialists in GI and medical professionals. The relatively recent focus on GI in HCP means that experts with the prerequisite interdisciplinary skillset able to advise on such projects are often in short supply. Hand-in-hand with this comparative lack of specialism in the area is the small pool of peer-reviewed literature on the topic. Critical in the development of effective HCP projects are medical professionals who lend a unique and valuable perspective on the preventative and therapeutic value of specific planning interventions. The following research project, a part of the broader EU Horizon 2020 HEAlthier Cities through BlueGreen Regenerative Technologies (HEART) project, aims to understand the perception of medical professionals concerning GI and its role in HCP and explore how this impacts the practical role that they can play in urban planning processes. A literature review is conducted to explore the existing understanding of the research question. Following this, a series of semi-structured interviews with practicing medical professionals, some participants of the HEART project and some not, are conducted. Thematic analysis of the interviews reveals that while the concepts of GI and HCP are viewed favourably, and the broad health impacts are well understood, there is less clarity amongst medical professionals on the practical role they can play in the planning process as well as disparate perspectives on motivators for involvement in such work. Recommendations are made to promote engagement and encourage the adoption of GI in HCP