Planning for healthful landscape values

Abstract

This paper focuses on how we may balance the health functions of nature and landscape values in development planning. The concept balance implies discussing measures to mitigate, minimize and compensate for negative impacts. In this context, negative impact is understood as a disturbance by development projects of resources that improve people's health. The resources may be both existing nature and landscape values and potential, as yet undeveloped, landscape qualities. The health functions are defined using scientific studies in environmental medicine and environmental psychology. This paper presents cases that have applied such scientific results to the planning of housing and infrastructure in two development projects in southwestern Sweden, the towns of Lomma and Åkarp. Evaluations of health functions in these projects constitute an important part of the process of designing and analyzing impacts, and the process of negotiating mitigation measures as conditions for permits granted by the municipalities, the county administration and the government of Sweden. In the long run, this research will hopefully lead to a growing awareness among the public, developers and politicians about improving the health aspect as a parameter for sustainable development. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.