Not everyone has equitable access to greenspace in the UK. In this podcast we discuss the reasons why and what we’re doing to tackle some of these inequalities, with a focus on ageing well.
Dr Yoseph Araya – Senior Lecturer in Ecology & Environmental Science (The Open University)
Dr. Jitka Vseteckova – Senior Lecturer in Health & Social Care (The Open University)
Sonal Mehta – Pharmacist (NHS) and Founder/Director of Catalyst Health Solutions C.I.C.
Ellie Broad – Project Engagement Officer (The Parks Trust)
Hello welcome to our first podcast of 2024 I hope you are having a great start to the year and hopefully making good progress in your staying well actions I am ysf ARA a senior lecturer in environmental Sciences from open University today we are joined by our
Special guest son Al meta who works for the NHS and our regulars Dr yka vova and Ellie broad from MK Park today while following our team of Aging well and natural spaces we are addressing the topic of Health inequality what its impacts are and how it can be
Addressed we will start first with Dr yka Who will give us a background to Healthy Living first over to you yka thank you youf and hello everyone um so we are all aware from diverse messaging around us that our physical and mental health and well-being is an
Important thing for us to keep an eye on throughout our lifespan and as we grow older because we just all are in our previous podcasts we have talked about the best ways to do that and in the work I do specifically at the open University this evolves around the Five Pillars for
Aging well these are nutrition hydration physical social and cognitive stimulation and some of you might already be familiar with these from the Aging way public talks that have been now running for 5 years we have also co-produced between the OU and Elia the parks trust and sonnel at the BLM kic
Many resources such as open learn public facing articles and podcasts that support us looking after our health and these are available on the open learn platform and also on the parks Trust website and our joint YouTube channel where we have placed all our co-produced podcasts to date these looked at for
Example boosting our memory and generally supporting our health and well-being while staying outdoors and also as we age we often talk about aging well from the perspective that we all age from the moment we’re born and sometimes this is reinforced by talking about staying well and keeping well not
Just aging well but these in the work we all do are the same thing the current research suggests that the sooner we start taking good care of our physical as well as mental health and wellbeing the more likely it is for us to stay well keep well age well and
As I said in the work we do these are synonymous in the previous work we have explored nutrition hydration physical and social and cognitive stimulation and today we would like to add to this a perspective on health inequalities Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population and between different
Groups within society and these include how long people are likely to live the health conditions they may experience and the care that is available to them we may or may not be aware that these structural Health inequalities could be one of the barriers we might be experiencing in looking after our health
Access to care and services and as we realize from our joint work with Josef sonal and Ellie also to learning So today we’re here to talk about learning learning in nature accessing nature and discussing how to work with or around some of these structural Health inequalities that might challenge us to
Do so so back to you YF and please tell us more about these how these are linked to learning yes thank you yka the benefits of interacting with nature is well known from the physical benefits that is for example exercising our bodies to the mental health benefits for example
Providing has time to reflect and relax and of course the social element that is engaging with others while it is well known while these benefits are learning about them also helps to improve engagement with nature thereby positively affecting well-being recent studies actually have shown that uh it will help uh mental
Health and well-being if one is also learning about their interaction this has also been picked up by for example the UK government and the National Health Service where they are trying to integrate awareness and care for nature for example is it in the school curriculum or whether it is
Embedding in uh nature learning throughout the curriculum now in our increasingly sedentary working and lifestyle there is a lot of lack of exercise and there is often reduced need for exercising which means various other health issues are becoming even more and more frequent I mean lack of exercise has been linked
With uh weight issues uh type 2 diabetes and even some types of cancer and of course the social isolation element and also mental health has been really apparent as well so the benefits to people when engaging in natural spaces is recognized and which means that with recent evidence even Urban Design areas or
Green spaces are being Incorporated in uh engagement and in treatment as well in fact the National Health Service actually recommends being active but also being active Outdoors but unfortunately there is inequality in access to Green spaces to the general population and within our society and despite the known benefits
And especially to those who need the most uh there does appear to be a lot of inequality and it is not only here but it has been recognized in several studies in other countries as well sonal will hopefully address some of this in her uh points now uh over to you
Sonel thanks very much yose so um ysep has described you know has described the the sort of the you know the range of benefits that we can derive from engaging with nature whe you know whether that’s from a health and well-being point of view or a learning
Point of view but you know he’s also descri you know alluded to the fact that these benefits aren’t seen equally across different sections of society um so there there’s existing inequalities in a number of areas which means that some individuals and communities are less likely to access um nature or if
They are able to access it they may have a less positive experience once they’re there um the uh the restrictions we had during the covid-19 pandemic meant that a lot of us became much more aware of the you know nature that’s on our doorstep and and the benefits that you
Know that we can gain from engaging with nature unfortunately we also saw um you know we also became much more aware of the inequalities that exist in society and in some cases we saw them widen so for example those that didn’t have access to private Green Space like a
Garden didn’t you know didn’t experience you know didn’t have uh didn’t have the same level of benefit that that that other people might so while while people from all different backgrounds um value nature there’s nearly three PE three million people who live in the UK um
That are more than 10 minutes walk away from a green space now that may not sound like a lot 10 minute walk but actually it can make a big difference in in terms of the effort required so you know ju just to give my own personal example I’ve got a garden um very
Fortunate to have one but I come across so much nature just walking to the local shop that there’s absolutely no effort required on my part to you know to be able to um you know put a smile on my face watching a little duckling swim across the pond for example um so it’s
The you know it’s that it’s that effort that’s involved for for some people and and they you know their broader C circumstances then create other barriers so it’s no surprise that um you know people living in urban areas for example will place more value on access to Green
Space um and even even there we see an unequal distribution within urban areas so people that live in more affluent urban areas we’ll also you know we’ll tend to have more parks and green space available to them uh son that’s very exciting that you are mentioning there are a lot of
Key points like this could you elaborate some with which might be relevant to some groups of people as well yes sure yoseph so um if we think about people’s Financial circumstances to begin with that that can really compound a lot of these issues further so if there’s um
You know if there’s uh sort of charges or expenses associated with with um accessing parks and green spaces that can create barriers so uh entrance fees or the cost of parking or even the cost of public transport um and then for some groups actually it’s a lack of suitable
Public public transport May May mean that they have trouble getting to a green space so you know sort of taking this in the round from a a financial point of view though you know sort communities that live in deprived urban areas actually experience a double whammy in terms of their health
Inequalities um so that you know they’re already more likely to experience poorer Health outcomes just because they live in a more deprived area but then they also struggle to access one of the things that are likely to prevent them from sort of feeling you know feeling or
Getting worse in terms of their health um and then you’ve got other groups struggle to access nature for different reasons or you know they may access it but they have a poor experience once they get there so people with disabilities for example they they may experience uh combined financial and
Transport barriers more than the general population um and then once they’re there it’s Su you know suitable Provisions so uh even paths for those that use wheelchairs uh accessible toilets or plenty of seating for people that have mobility issues if you know if these things aren’t in place it it can
Create further barriers and lead to poor experience and then reduces the benefits that that you know an individual might might gain from from uh going going to a park or a green space others that um that make that also may have a poor experience are people from uh ethnic
Minority backgrounds people from lgbtq plus uh communities and uh women and girls so if we think about people from ethnic minority backg grounds to begin with quite often there might have been less emphasis on um on engaging with nature you know especially when they’re younger so they don’t necessarily know
Where to go um what to wear you may need to you know certain activities May you may require a bit of preparation or specialist equipment um and if you’ve got this you know an absence of childhood experience it can lead to less confidence in an as an adult and actually that can become
Self-perpetuating through you know through future Generations um people from ethnic minority backgrounds may also have experienced racism and that can lead to feelings uh you know feeling unsafe or unwelcome in certain spaces um whe that that tend to maybe be accessed um more by people from a white background uh
Some you know someone from an ethnic minority Community might just feel that that space isn’t for them and uh and those feelings of um you know of lack of safety or not being welcome can also be experienced from um you know from people by from other communities as we said
LGBT Q plus communities you know people people from uh you know people from those communities may also have experienced discrimination in public spaces um and then we also need to pay um special attention to women and girls as well because quite often they they also don’t feel safe or welcome in in
You know in some of these spaces quite often you know a lot of the activities or the provision it might be uh it can often be perceived as as sort of more geared towards you know traditionally male activities like sport for example and if there’s you know if there’s poor
Maintenance of lighting um that you know in in sort of winter evenings that can that can lead to feeling unsafe as well so as you can see you know many of these issues they’re not you know they’re not single issues experienced by an individual actually they’re you know
They’re Interlink issues and can really compound each other so I you know I think it’s really important we see access and experience of nature as a social justice issue um and leading on from that you know that if the more you feel connected connected to Nature the
More you want to protect it so actually also links to to being a climate climate and environmental justice issue um but you know it’s not all doom and gloom there’s loads of fantastic local interventions and I’ll hand over to Ellie from The Parks trust now who can
Uh talk to you a little bit more about you know what what’s happening in that space yeah thank you sol it’s really good introduction um yes so my name is Ellie and I work for the parks trust in Milton ke um and we’re a self- financing
Charity and we care for 6,000 Acres of Park and green space in Milton ke which is about 25% of the new city area so I’m here today to talk a little bit about what we’re doing as Park managers um and what’s happening in the Parks industry to tackle these Health inequalities in
An outdoor setting um because obviously we’re all really passionate about the outdoors but we know we’ve got a responsibility to help other people um to gain the benefits of green space as well so public parks are just an amazing resource for health and well-being and in a lot of cases they’re kind of
Completely free to visit and they’re open a lot of the time so they’re they’re kind of situated on people’s doorsteps so they’re maybe the primary place people would kind of interact and interface with green space in their local area um sometimes access to destination Parks is limited by access
To a car um as sunel said um particularly sometimes remote Landscapes they can be miles from towns and cities so if you think about the UK’s national parks they’re actually really far away from a lot of civiliz which is part of the reason why they’re so beautiful and
Appealing to some groups of people but is another reason why for others they’re quite inaccessible and hard to get to um but in the UK we are really lucky to have many green spaces on our doorstep so lots of towns actually have local nature reserves Community Gardens or
Even Recreation Fields um and you might be surprised that there’s one on your right by your house where you live um and you’ve never thought to explore it before I think a lot of people discovered green spaces during CO as we said at the start um but that’s sort of
Tailing off now so perhaps people could be inspired to go out and find something new um we’re particularly lucky here in Milton Kings because the parks in the new city were designed alongside the urban areas so the lcap Architects were thinking really closely about uh how
They want to to design the city so that people could have access to Green Space right from their doorstep and that means that we benefit from this amazing network of linear parks that all the way through the city plus we also have access to the Grand Union Canal which
Runs all the way through the city too and that provides a really good green Corridor of people and Wildlife and sunel was saying that there’s three million people in the UK who live more than a 10-minute walk from a green space but actually in Milton Kings we’ve got pretty much everybody
Lives within a 20 minute walk uh of a local park so yes it’s a little bit longer but the way the city’s been designed has been quite future proof in that sense so the parks are available to people wherever they live and this applies to kind of affluent areas as
Well as more deprived areas and lots of the homes in the city were built with Gardens so during the co pandemic lots of the residents of Milton keing did benefit from having access to Green Space right outside their back doors so here at the parks trust we have a really
Great EXC um education program and this encourages children from really young ages so we’ve got a a educ ation program that goes actually from like zero and one years old so called Treet tots um which encourages people to start learning about nature and natural processes from a really young age and
Our goal is to Foster lifelong enthusiasm in these groups to help people recognize the benefits of green space right from a young age and lots of our workshops are either completely free or they cost a very nominal fee to attend um so they’re kind of they’re open to everybody so we’ve removed that
Barrier um in kind of from a very young age but we also engage with adults through volunteering programs guided walks Workshop activities um and it’s been really interesting over the past few years of my working at the trust to see to kind of witness the way people use their
Local parks and see how this has changed over time um so as I said as the city was uh designed the idea was people would step outside their front door and visit their local park but actually because of covid it’s slightly changed now people are are venturing a bit
Further a field they’re crossing the city they’re perhaps taking taking a drive or cycling across the city to visit something different um to find their favorite Parks so when you are visiting a park that’s further a field um my bit of advice would be just really check ahead
To see if it is serviced by local public transport because often the first thought is to just hop in the car but sometimes the parks are actually really well serviced by public transport and that’s true um kind of all all around the UK okay and also now lots of parks
Are being fitted with bike parking so you know cycling once you’ve got a bike it’s completely free U it’s also low carbon which is brilliant so a car might not always be necessary for visiting a green space um son mentioned about uh Health inequalities for people who are living
With disability um and we’ve recognized this at the parks trust because we have inherited a lot of Landscapes which were designed at a time where disability wasn’t really considered um in the layout of different places and we’ve now got a lot of Landscapes which are quite physically inaccessible to a
Lot of people so we’ve started out on a journey to improve accessibility in our parks and a huge CH of this work is about providing people with the information that they need before they go out and visit so I don’t know if you’re like me but I always like to look
At the menu of a restaurant before I get there um so it’s that sort of thing giving people um a flavor of what that place is like so they can plan accordingly so for many people just knowing how big the park is and where they can park the car or their public
Transport links that can remove a lot of anxiety about getting outdoors and make people feel more welcome so to help us do this work we’ve Enlisted the help of a panel of access ambassadors um and these are individuals who have lived disability lived experience of disability uh in many different forms
And they’re helping us to guide our work they’re encouraging us to think creatively about getting people out and about all across the city um at the trust we also hold uh the Milton ke’s Health walks U which is a weekly rolling program of walks around the city and the
Idea is to boost participants physical mental and social well-being which Taps into what yka was saying earlier about the Five Pillars to aging well and these are just really popular and there are PES and roots to suit everybody but most local authorities will have a similar program if you search for it
Online likewise Milton King is a really diverse City and we have communities from cultures all around the world here which makes it so much richer as a place to live and we love to celebrate different cultures in our Parks here at the trust um and we host many different
Events throughout the year including uh kind of big Flagship events such as India day and African diaspora day to name just a few um and we love helping Community groups to lead their own events in our Parks so we’ve got a a program similar to the access ambassadors which is we call Community
Ambassadors uh where we provide different cultural groups with advice on leading activities safely in the Parks and helps us to understand as well how we can make our wider events program more inclusive sonnel also mentioned um kind of a a current topic is about how parks
Are not feeling so safe for for women and girls and there has recently been a a study completed by the organization called Mak space for girls which researched the barriers to accessing Green Space amongst girls and women and sadly as sonnel said women generally feel less safe in Parks than men and
Therefore don’t visit as often which means they’re missing out on exercise fresh air mental health benefits and all a whole array of of other benefits that you get from Green Space Make spaces for girls are actually campaign sorry campaigning for Park managers to implement new safety measures to make
The parks more Equitable for example campaigning for adding lighting uh having a greater staff presence in the Parks and making sure that w finding is really clear so people know how to enter and exit the green space and at the trust we have our own uh women’s walking
Network which is a program uh just for women um which offers a safe and friendly environment for people to explore and exercise together so I obviously I’ve given a flavor of Milton keing but it’s true across the whole of the parks sector uh in the UK people are working really
Really hard to promote Equitable access to the Great Outdoors so you might be surprised R to discover the number of different ways that you can get involved however we recognize that as custodians of green space and blue space we always can do more and we always welcome public
Feedback on the ways that we can improve thank you Ellie for providing us a fascinating insight into what can be done and what is being done locally in Melton kins and thank you sonel for providing us a view of uh what inequalities exist and that there are
Many of them and in general it shows that we have to address this as a partnership together uh as we conclude our podcast I’m just going to ask our panelists just one advice they can suggest about how to tackle inequality of space in green spaces uh let me start
With yka what would be one advice you would say for improving this thank you youf uh from from my part it would certainly be partnership and participatory approach uh such as co-production where we’re involving people with LIF experiences in the work we do um that is supposed to help them
And support them and have practical impact so for example like the work Alie mentioned earlier about the five was Cafe so that would be that would be my my bit thank you uh brilliant yka uh sonal what do you have one advice yeah so I I think um I would
Really encourage health professionals to to build on on the good work that’s already happening between um the NHS and and other sectors so that we can really start to um really start to improve on on um you know the benefits that people can experience in terms of their health
And well-being um you know y mentioned right at the beginning that that actually more you know 80% of our health and well-being actually is affected by things that sit out outside of the Health Service I think the more that that health professionals can can start to make connections outside of outside
Of their own sector um and work in partnership with with others it would be really helpful excellent thank you sonal uh Ellie what would you have on your case yeah I I think I would say something similar to Y already so I think the way to do it is to provide much more
Face-to-face support and encouragement for people from different groups to help them feel uh confident exploring Green Space so we do a lot of this at the trust but I always feel like we could do a lot more you know um helping people from different backgrounds to really get
To grips with what it means to go outdoors and and all the benefits that they can find there thank you uh Ellie and if I may case if I may say on my case is I would think that designing for addressing inequality from the very early start is
Probably one very good way of addressing addressing issues before they arise uh but overall uh I think I’m really pleased to know that uh we have a lot of activities being done and understanding of what are the limitations in ensuring that our uh Society benefits as much as
Possible and equally from our existing green and blue spaces uh thank you very much for listening and uh I like to conclude this podcast by thanking our panelists and you our listeners and next time we’ll be looking at uh social prescribing especially focusing on green social prescribing to include uh
Medicine inequalities and facilitate learning about taking active and healthy approach and avoid taking medicines if healthy habits of hydration going outdoors and not being sedentary might prevent us from needing them and we will do that about healthy activities uh across the lifespan