'Green infrastructure and the Health and wellbeing Influences on an Ageing population (GHIA)

Green and blue spaces (GI) can directly and indirectly influence human health and wellbeing. However, access to health and wellbeing benefits is not shared equally amongst the population, particularly in urban areas. Research shows that people aged 65 and over are most likely to suffer from poor health, yet this group may be the least likely to benefit from GI. Although good health and wellbeing in an ageing population might be promoted through access to GI, using GI may not always be beneficial particularly as older people can be more susceptible to environmental stressors. Understanding how GI is valued in the context of the health and wellbeing of older people is one such unknown. This value might include the monetary value of preventing ill-health but also broader interpretations, such as the historical, heritage or wildlife value that influences whether older people actively seek experiences in green and blue spaces.
The GHIA research project; 'Green Infrastructure and the Health and Wellbeing Influences on an Ageing Population' aims to better understand the benefits and values of urban GI for older people and how GI and specific 'greening projects' can be best used to support healthy ageing in urban areas.
The proposed case-study area is Greater Manchester (GM). GM is the first northern city to adopt a devolutionary settlement including control of health and social care spending. The research team are partnering with organisations involved in improving the health and wellbeing of older people and the design and management of GI across GM, including GM's Red Rose Forest, Public Health Manchester, Manchester City Council and Manchester Arts and Galleries Partnership. A core part of the research will look at how the research findings can be translated into policy and practice and the transferability of findings to other cities, potentially with similarly devolved powers.
It will do this by involving older people as 'co-producers' of the research to better understand thoughts, experiences and values that are associated with green and blue spaces. This will have a particular arts focus, including storytelling, sensory engagement and offering new experiences for engaging with green and blue spaces. Different types of urban GI will be used, including green 'patches' within the city (e.g. urban parks), green and blue 'corridors' (e.g. canals and waterways) and green spaces within the wider urban fabric or 'matrix' (e.g. private gardens). This co-production of research findings will be linked to all the other areas of work undertaken in the project.
Other aspects of research will be conducted on the potential benefits and disbenefits of green spaces on ageing health and wellbeing and the value that this provides. This will include looking for relationships between health data and the occurrence of GI across space, 'before and after studies' exploring the influence that different greening projects have on the physical activity of older people, measuring how GI may affect older people's exposure to environmental hazards (such as air pollution and extreme temperature) and working with people with early-onset dementia to understand how they appreciate the urban landscape through different 'sensory' perceptions.
The findings from the other components of the research will then be used to explore the values applied to the GI benefits and how these can help guide policy and practice. This will include evaluating existing measures of valuing greenspace, including monetary valuation and then work with older people to understand broader interpretations of value, such as culture, heritage, history and the natural or 'biodiversity' value. These findings will be used to develop online mapping tools that demonstrate the needs, provision and value of GI for older people. The team will then work to explore how these findings relate to other locations and communicate findings to urban areas across the UK.

The primary beneficiaries of the research in this proposal are policy-makers, practitioners, the third sector and the wider public, particularly older groups. The direct beneficiaries are local to the City of Manchester and Greater Manchester city-region as the case study area. We are partnered with Manchester City Council, Red Forest Forest (a Community Forest Group), the Canal and Rivers Trust, Manchester Museums and Galleries Partnership, The Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisations. Although not a formal project Partner, the Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA) has a formal Memorandum of Understanding with Age UK. Through these links we have strong and meaningful connection to the wider public and expect many older groups to be direct beneficiaries of our research. Our partners are committed to assisting the project team in reaching wider audiences giving confidence that the outcomes from the project will be sustainable over the longer term and shape both practice and behavior with long-term health benefits for the UK's ageing population. The ability to find ways to express and appreciate values around biodiversity and nature-based heritage has the potential for building a strong foundation for the future protection and enhancement of green infrastructure within urban areas.
Policy-makers - Manchester City Council will be direct beneficiaries of the arts and heritage work, the evidence from the environmental analyses and alternative valuation methods developed through deliberative mapping. The work contributes to the Cultural Strategy of Age-Friendly Manchester. The Greater Manchester Authorities will also benefit from the work as well as other local authorities, e.g. through connections with the Local Government Association. The research aims to mobilize local community groups and create mutually beneficial relationships through enabling and promoting use of local parks, canals and other areas of urban greenspace. In turn the promotion and encouragement of environmental volunteering will have wider benefits for implementation of the City Council's Green and Blue Space Strategy, shaping the Biodiversity Strategy and assisting with on-the-ground practical management activities.
Charities - GMCVO see a direct benefit to their new 5 year Ambition for Aging Project. The work brings an additional angle to their existing project and they are also committed to helping the consortium disseminate more widely. This centres on overcoming social isolation and inequalities between older people but does not have a green and blue space element without this research. Red Rose Forest's Dementia Naturally Active project is strongly connected to the research theme and they will assist the team reaching other community forest groups in the UK. Like Red Rose, the Canal and Rivers Trust are actively involved in interventions and the practical design of green infrastructure. They are similarly confident that there is an appetite for the design guidance, knowledge basis and methodologies which will be created. The Manchester Museums and Galleries Partnership has direct connection to community groups via their Culture Champions. Newsletters reach 1000s of age-friendly registered organisations.
Wider Public - The research will have a significant impact on local groups by developing and enhancing creative output and by extension will enhance quality of life, social connections and demonstrably. Older groups will be directly involved in the co-research of the project and in the co-creation of our outputs, particularly in terms of creative mapping and public participation GIS. We have a strategy to reach a range of older audiences from those living with early onset dementia, to those who have physical mobility restrictions to those who are more active in the community.