Urban Healthscapes

Community gardens for health and urban biodiversity

Urban Biodiversity , Urban Foodscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Vebjørn Egner Stafseng is a PhD student working on urban community gardens. These are initiatives where urban food gardening is carried out cooperatively, with aims of including a diversity of urban dwellers. Improved mental and physical health, increased…


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SLU Urban Futures joins the Sea Forum of BoSS Malmö

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Healthscapes

The Bauhaus of the Seas Sails (BoSS) is a project funded under the call for the development of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) by the European Union. The project aims to promote renewed ethical and aesthetic regenerative development…


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Room4water

Unspecified , Urban Design , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Room4water aims to link spatial planning, risk management and climate adaptation with nature conservation through cross-sectoral and cross-boundary cooperation within a case study watershed, with the overall aim of working towards a shared vision on creating space of…


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A safe garden environment can create a path into the job market

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Healthscapes

[Article in Swedish] Trädgårdens trygga miljö, med inspirerande omgivning och praktiska arbetsuppgifter, kan påverka livet för den som under många år levt i utanförskap eller arbetslöshet. Det visar en studie av SLU-forskaren Anna María Pálsdóttir på institutionen för…


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NORDGREEN – Smart Planning for Healthy and Green Nordic Cities

Nature-Based Solutions , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

How are human wellbeing and access to green spaces integrated into city planning? The aim of NORDGREEN is to support integrated planning efforts for urban sustainability by developing and implementing smart planning and management solutions for well-designed, high-quality…


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Panel discussion: Loss of biodiversity – a threat to our health

Urban Biodiversity , Urban Healthscapes

[Article and video in Swedish] Biologisk mångfald och hälsa hänger tätt samman, och det är en viktig fråga för många delar av samhället. Men vem tar ansvar för frågan om hälsa och artrikedom? I samband med den Biologiska…


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GreenME – Advancing Greencare in Europe

Nature-Based Solutions , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

An integrated multi-scalar approach for the expansion of Nature-Based Therapies to improve mental health equity. Swedish chapter: Marcus Hedblom, Anna María Pálsdóttir, Helena Nordh, Anna Åshage


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Sustainable outdoor activities at large preschools

Urban Childhoods , Urban Healthscapes

[Article in Swedish] Förskolemiljön håller på att förändras. Naturliga grönytor försvinner, barngrupperna växer och byggnadskomplexen likaså. Vad betyder det för barns hälsa, för deras relationer med varandra och förhållandet till naturen? Det undersöker Annika Manni och hennes forskargrupp…


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RULES AND TOOLS – safeguarding neighbouring green space for human health and well-being

Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

In times of urbanization and densification, rules and tools are used to design residential areas that preserve and develop health-promoting outdoor environments.But how do rules safeguard the quality of the outdoor environment?


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Urban Health – Diverse perspectives on health in urban settings

Nature-Based Solutions , Urban Biodiversity , Urban Healthscapes

How can we understand the term Urban Healthscapes? SLU Urban Futures and SLU Future One Health teamed up in an Urban Health webinar, aiming to bring together diverse perspectives on health in urban settings.


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SOIL at Botildenborg

Living Labs , Urban Foodscapes , Urban Healthscapes

The Botildenborg Foundation in Malmö runs a farm and meeting place, combining urban gardening with social activities. Since the spring of 2024, SLU Urban Futures has been part of the project SOIL - a Social Innovation Living Lab,…


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Urban Healthscapes and Urban Forestscapes – Granted seed funding calls 2023

Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

In the spring of 2023 SLU Urban Futures issued two seed funding calls; one from the hub in Umeå focusing on Urban Forestscapes and one from the hub in Alnarp focusing on Urban Healthscapes. Six applications were granted…


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Naturens hälsofrämjande effekter

Urban Healthscapes

IN SWEDISH: Föreläsningar och samtal från 'Djur, natur och hälsa 2019' - en nationell konferens om djur och natur som resurs för framtidens folkhälsa. Inspelat den 1 april 2019 på Hasselbacken i Stockholm. Arrangör: SLU.


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Therapeutic landscapes beyond the lush season: extending the well-being benefits of urban green and blue spaces through outdoor leisure

Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes , Urban Wildlife

This project examines possibilities for planning and use of nearby green/blue spaces beyond the ‘lush season’, to extend access to their benefits as ‘therapeutic landscapes’ throughout the year.


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OUT-FIT: Health-promoting outdoor environment in special housing for the elderly

Urban Design , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

(Article in Swedish) Det finns inga regler som bestämmer hur tillgången till utevistelse och naturupplevelser ska ske för äldre personer som bor på särskilda boenden i Sverige. Göteborgs universitet, Chalmers och SLU driver ett gemensamt forskningsprojekt som bland…


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ARWIDSSON TALKS – Barns rätt till staden

Governance , Urban Childhoods , Urban Healthscapes

(Podcast in Swedish) Stillasittande och psykisk ohälsa men också leklust och medskapande. Vad betyder stadsplanering och utemiljöer för barn och unga och vilka utmaningar står världens barn inför när det gäller deras hälsa och välbefinnande? Med Lena Jungmark…


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The Teenager City

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Urban Childhoods , Urban Design , Urban Healthscapes

(Video in Swedish) Lena Jungmark, landskapsarkitekt och nationell koordinator för barns och ungas utemiljö på SLU Tankesmedjan Movium, pratar om tonåringarnas plats i staden, under Lunchskap Tema Tonårsstaden den 26 augusti 2022.

ARWIDSSON TALKS – Vardagsnatur

Governance , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

(Podcast in Swedish) Matthias Qviström, professor i Landskapsarkitektur vid SLU, belyser samspelet mellan den fysiska planeringen och landskapets utveckling i podcasten Arwidsson Talks. Samspelet (och konflikterna mellan) mellan stad och land, inte minst i stadsnära landskap, har varit…


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Child-Friendly Environments—What, How and by Whom?

Urban Childhoods , Urban Healthscapes , Urban Mobility

The socio-physical qualities of built environments are, in several ways, of imperative importance for children growing up. The Child-Friendly Cities initiative by UNICEF, an implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, has made local…


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Live pod: Learning about research on landscapes for a sustainable society

Nature-Based Solutions , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

(Link to Spotify) How can we research and how do we research, in SLU Landscape, with the objective of creating a more socially sustainable and health-promoting society? Human Land podcast, together with researchers from SLU Landscape, will explore…


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Learning from the Global South: strategic public space design for the informal city

Global Urban Sustainability , Governance , Urban Healthscapes

Landscape architecture scholar Caroline Dahl of SLU Landscape travelled to Buenos Aires in May 2022 for a teacher’s exchange and engaged in a conversation with urban researcher Max Rohm of UBA’s Architecture and Urban Design Faculty.


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Getting our cities right: from critical urbanities to sustainable foodscapes

Urban Design , Urban Foodscapes , Urban Healthscapes

On 14th June 2022 SLU Urban Futures brought together international researchers and practitioners to explore critical urban research and research on sustainable foodscapes. Here you can read the summaries from all the presentations.


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How de we get our cities right? June 2022

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Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Foodscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Four keynote speakers at the conference 'Getting our Cities Right' in Uppsala 2022, answer the question: From your perspective and background, what would be the three key ways to get our cities right?

Ur STAD #36: Från hemmet

Governance , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Article in Swedish from Tidskriften STAD #36. Henrietta Palmer, architect and researcher at the University of Gothenburg, as well as senior advisor at SLU, writes about urban change processes.


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Food waste in Addis Ababa

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Foodscapes , Urban Healthscapes

A little seed funding goes a long way! This project, led by Associate Professor Assem Abu Hatab at SLU, started with an application to SLU Urban Futures seed funding and resulted in a collaboration project in Addis Ababa…


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Biodiverse: Urban Biodiversity

Nature-Based Solutions , Urban Biodiversity , Urban Healthscapes

(In Swedish) Tidningen Biodiverse ges ut av SLU Centrum för biologisk mångfald med fyra nummer per år. Nr 4 2021 handlade om urban biodiversitet - om urbana träd, gröna tak, dagvattenhantering, om framtidsvisioner och djuren runt knuten.


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Rural areas and immigrant-dense urban areas – Two perspectives on inequality

Urban Childhoods , Urban Healthscapes

(Report in Swedish) Trots ökad sysselsättning minskar levnadsstandarden i invandrartäta områden visar en rapport från Agrifood Economics Centre.


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Governance, Justice and Resistance: On the way to a fossil-free welfare society

Global Urban Sustainability , Governance , Urban Healthscapes

An SLU project aiming to develop an integrated vision for transition governance that is more likely to be socially accepted and effective.


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What drives people’s decision-making regarding climate change? What personal values in the landscape are at risk from the effects of climate change?

Global Urban Sustainability , Governance , Urban Healthscapes

A recently published article entitled "DeveLoP - a rationale and toolbox for Democratic Landscape Planning" presents a rationale and a toolbox for analyzing individuals' decision-making and elicit their values in the landscape.


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Society and Landscape Research School

Governance , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

The research school aims at creating an arena based on the humanities and social science perspectives that can critically engage with interdisciplinary issues pertaining to issues that are central to society.


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Deficient sanitation increases the risk of animal spread diseases in slums

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Healthscapes , Urban Wildlife

A research project led by researchers from SLU is studying how diseases that spread from animals to humans in Salvador, Brazil, can be reduced. The research includes four areas in metropolitan slums with a lack of sanitation, such…


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Children’s encounters with animals in everyday life

Urban Childhoods , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

(Article and report in Swedish) Hur möter barn och ungdomar djur i vardagslivet? Och hur kan vi ta hänsyn till deras behov av att möta och umgås med djur? I en rapport från framtidsplattformen SLU Future One Health…


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Informal Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development: Towards a more inclusive urban agenda

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Design , Urban Healthscapes

In September 2021 international guests were invited to explore the dynamics of rapid urbanization and environmental change in the context of informal settlements in the global south. Find the recorded webinar here.


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New guest professor connects urban and rural through food and culture

Urban Foodscapes , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

(Article in Swedish) Håkan Jönsson, är gästprofessor på Institutionen för människa och samhälle. Med bakgrund som kock och med stor kärlek till mat, landsbygd och landskap hoppas han kunna koppla ihop för människan livsviktiga områden i sin nya…


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Movium Fakta: Urban green spaces

Nature-Based Solutions , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

(Article in Swedish) Vilken roll spelar våra urbana grönområden för vår hälsa? Hur stora måste de vara och hur nära där vi bor? Resultaten presenteras i ett faktablad av Patrik Grahn & Jonathan Stoltz. Kan köpas i Moviums…


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Soundscape Perceptions and Preferences for Different Groups of Users in Urban Recreational Forest Parks

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Although the soundscape in cities is receiving increased attention in urban planning, there is still a lack of knowledge of how personal factors influence the perception of and preference for soundscapes. This study from Xi’an, China, explores the…


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Podcast: Designing environments for the human needs

Urban Design , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Researcher Jonathan Stoltz from SLU shares his current research about how environments can be designed to cater for the human needs. The podcast hopes to inspire city designers to creatively integrate evidence-based design in their planning practices to…


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Nudging or participation for the sustainable every day — whose knowledge counts?

Governance , Method Development , Urban Healthscapes

While technological fixes dominate the sustainability agenda, the radical change that is needed also requires a fundamental remake of our society, including everyday practices.


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Sustainable Leisure Mobilities in Compact Towns: Changing patterns of outdoor recreation in transit-oriented development (TOD)

Governance , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes , Urban Mobility

An SLU research project that contributes to an understanding of the potentials for wellbeing and sustainable leisure mobilities in compact cities, and to green structure development.


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Lab Stories – Alnarp Rehabilitation Garden

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Living Labs , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Alnarp Rehabilitation Garden is one of SLU's living labs and an arena that invites to multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary research and collaboration. SLU Urban Futures met Anna María Pálsdóttir and Vanessa Mårtensson to learn more about this kind…

Source-sorting toilets and sewers – an important issue for sustainable urban development

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Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Circularity , Urban Healthscapes

(Video in Swedish) Ett väl fungerande system för hantering av toalettavfall är grundläggande för både hälsa och miljö. Det finns dock de som menar att dagens vattenbaserade system har spelat ut sin roll, och att det är dags…

Barnen och den urbana normen

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Governance , Urban Childhoods , Urban Healthscapes

(Videos in Swedish) Den täta staden är idag ett mycket starkt stadsplaneideal som man kan kalla den urbana normen. Vad får detta för konsekvenser för våra barn och de miljöer de vistas i?

‘Barn Plats Lek Stad’ – strategies for child-friendly urban planning

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Urban Childhoods , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

(Video and book in Swedish) Tankesmedjan Movium vid SLU har släppt en ny bok med titeln Barn Plats Lek Stad – strategier för barnvänlig stadsplanering. – Ska vi lyckas skapa ett hållbart samhälle måste barns och ungas perspektiv…

Each major city has its own typical microbial flora according to a new global study

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Healthscapes , Urban Mobility

An international consortium has reported the largest study ever of the microbes found on surfaces and in air in metropolitan environments around the world. (Article in Swedish.)


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Urban Sustainability in the Global South

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Foodscapes , Urban Healthscapes

This transdisciplinary collaboration contributes to the development of research themes at SLU that capture synergies across SLU’s priority areas for global development and the global goals for sustainable development, using urban sustainability as an entry point.


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Staden och barnen

Urban Childhoods , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Regeringen har gett Tankesmedjan Movium i uppgift att samordna och sprida kunskap om barns och ungas samspel med sin utemiljö. Därför vinnlägger sig Movium särskilt om att anlägga ett barn- och ungdomsperspektiv på frågor som rör stadsutveckling.


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How big should a schoolyard or preschoolyard be?

Urban Childhoods , Urban Design , Urban Healthscapes

(Article in Swedish.) Hur stor ska en skolgård eller förskolegård vara? Konkurrensen om mark i bebyggd miljö har ofta resulterat i för små ytor för att kunna främja barns hälsosamma utevistelse. Fördjupad kunskap om dessa utemiljöers storlekar presenteras…


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Urban running tracks

Urban Design , Urban Healthscapes , Urban Mobility

The lack of everyday exercise is a growing societal problem. The physical planning of our cities plays a central role in this context: more environments are needed that facilitate, and inspire, exercise. (Article in Swedish.)


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City trees save money for society

Nature-Based Solutions , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

(Article in Swedish.) Can society make money on city trees? Yes, and not a little either. In Stockholm, the trees jointly capture air compounds that can be equated with SEK 99 million in socio-economic value, according to the…


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Anthology: The eco-city Augustenborg – Experiences and lessons learned

Living Labs , Nature-Based Solutions , Urban Healthscapes

Augustenborg is a unique and successful example of socio-economic transformation in combination with ecological rehabilitation. The lessons and experience from Augustenborg can provide valuable insights on local implementation of SDG11.


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The Welfare Landscape Reassembled: Policies for sustainable outdoor recreation in times of urban densification

Governance , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

The project studies the heritage of the welfare state, the welfare landscape, and how its values can be secured in densification projects.


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Meet your wild neighbours

Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes , Urban Wildlife

Wildlife populations in Sweden have increased while cities have expanded into natural areas. Furthermore, many Swedish cities have a green infrastructure of forests and parks that allows wildlife to move into the city. As a consequence, there seems…


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Sustainable Smart Parks

Method Development , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

Hur kan vi bli bättre på att fördela våra resurser och skapa smartare system för skötsel av våra parker och grönytor? Vilket resultat når vi med ny teknik som möjliggör övergång från frekvens- till behovsstyrda insatser? Hur utformar…


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Stad #31 – The urban norm

Urban Design , Urban Forestscapes , Urban Healthscapes

“Must city and country be opposites?” so asks STAD Magazine, echoing a commitment to think urban and rural together, in many arenas at SLU. The material highlighted here was selected to display perspectives, interlinkages and questions that spanning…


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Striving for Inclusion—A Systematic Review of Long-Term Participation in Strategic Management of Urban Green Spaces

Governance , Urban Design , Urban Healthscapes

User participation in urban green spaces is encouraged in international conventions. However, a social inclusion perspective is largely absent in the growing body of European scientific literature on urban green spaces.


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Norra Sorgenfri Planned, Populated and Problematised: The role of social sustainability in urban renewal

Urban Design , Urban Healthscapes , Urban Mobility

An analysis of the role of social sustainability in the transformation of an urban industrial area in the city of Malmö, Sweden.


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Greening Urban Lifestyles through Nudging and Participation (NAP)

Governance , Method Development , Urban Healthscapes

NAP studies how city planning can advance sustainable urban lifestyles. Focus is on two governance strategies, namely nudging and participatory processes.


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The Sustainability of Urban Food Systems in Developing Countries

Global Urban Sustainability , Urban Foodscapes , Urban Healthscapes

By 2050, the global food system must feed nine billion people, out of which around eight billions would be in developing countries. This implies the need for a major transformation in food systems- particularly in developing countries, if…


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Co-creation!

Do you miss something here? Would you like to contribute? Please let us know: urbanfutures@slu.se