BlueHealth Toolbox

Exposure to blue spaces, such as coastlines, rivers or even built water features in cities, can promote health and wellbeing through multiple mechanisms. Urban water features can also support adaptation to climate change through mitigating the impacts of the heat island effect. The BlueHealth Toolbox, produced in the BlueHealth project,  is a set of six browser-based tools designed for making comparable assessments of urban blue spaces and the impacts of proposed changes:

• Environmental Assessment Tool (BEAT)
• Decision Support tool (DST)
• Behavioural Assessment Tool (BBAT)
• Community Level Survey (BCLS)
• SoftGIS
• International Survey (BIS)

The tools are particularly useful for planners, designers and decision makers responsible for blue spaces. They can be used to assess people's health and well being and to provide information about the quality of the blue environment and how people use blue spaces. The tools can be used separately to provide information on a key set of characteristics, relevant for the site, or used in combination within an integrated assessment framework to provide a more holistic view of the state of blue spaces and human populations affected by it. Full descriptions of all tools included and guidance can be accessed through the project website.