Our Outdoors’ is a citizen science project which aims to contribute to public understanding of how shared outdoor spaces can affect our health and wellbeing. The project will also explore whether specific spaces affect people’s health and wellbeing differently and if so, why?
In this project, we need people like you, to get involved and help us learn about a range of local outdoor spaces. From streets and town squares to beaches, public parks and beyond. Any spaces can be included as long as they are outside and freely open to anyone (e.g. not a private garden).
Citizen science is when members of the public like you and your community are involved in conducting scientific research. Most often members of the public (or citizen scientists) work with researchers on a research project.
There are different ways for the public to become involved in citizen science, ranging from:
- Collecting data (e.g. counting birds in your garden and filling out a survey),
- Helping to identify topics for research,
- Analysing the data
- Feeding back the results to your local community and/or community representatives.
The Our Outdoors survey
The survey has been designed to capture how various aspects of outdoor spaces affect our health and wellbeing. It has been designed by both public health researchers at the University of Edinburgh and members of the public through a series of workshops and public engagement activities. The survey draws both on existing evidence available in scientific literature as well as the views and experiences of citizens.
Find out more about the project at Ouroutdoors.org.uk
RESOURCES
Findings from Community Workshops
Our Outdoors at the Edinburgh International Science Festival
