Garden therapy

Urban farms, private, community, allotment, school, university, museum or library gardens are places to connect with nature both for adults and children. They are used as supporting environments for facilitating contact with nature in the city, outdoor schooling, nature education, health promotion, disease prevention, rehabilitation, green care or nature therapy. Gardens contribute to city greening, land based community growing, development of provisioning and cultural ecosystem services, promotion of intangible heritage, biocultural diversity and local knowledge. Gardens and farms are also places for plant foraging, growing local and biodiverse food, physical activity and social integration. Various city gardens are spaces to which individuals get attached, connected to nature spots and engaged into activities with local communities, contributing to sustainable development of community facilities and ecological transition processes.

There is increasing evidence that gardening provides substantial human health benefits. Many studies reported a wide range of beneficial effects on physical, mental and social health. Those health outcomes include higher levels of physical activity, and body mass index, better motor and cognitive functions, healthier nutrition behaviours, reductions in depression, anxiety, mental stress, better mood as well as increases in life satisfaction, experienced achievement, quality of life, and feeling of social cohesion and sense of community.

References

Van den Bosch, M., Bird, W. 2018. Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health: The role of nature in improving the health of a population, Oxford University Press.

Bragg, R., Atkins, G. 2016. A review of nature-based interventions for mental health care. Natural England Commissioned Reports, Number204.

COST Action 866. Green Care in Agriculture

Sempik, J., Hine, R. and Wilcox, D. eds. 2010. Green Care: A Conceptual Framework, A Report of the Working Group on the Health Benefits of Green Care, COST Action 866, Green Care in Agriculture, Loughborough: Centre for Child and Family Research, Loughborough University.

COST Action TU1201, Urban Allotment Gardens in European Cities

Resources

In the following, therapeutic gardens that can be found in Belgium and where NatureMinded has visited, are listed. The list is not exhaustive but it offers a typology of gardens according to their usage. If you know of more gardens in Flemish, French or German speaking sides of Belgium, please get in touch with: Dr Vitalija Povilaityte-Petri, the contact for therapeutic gardens at NatureMinded: Vitalija.Povilaityte-Petri@hotmail.com.