Edinburgh Urban Nature Map

All The Therapeutic Benefits Of Nature (In The City!)

During the pandemic there have been many discussions about the positive impact of fresh air and natural light on health and wellbeing.

However, if you live in an urban setting, you may think that you need to get out of the city to benefit from nature. To highlight how you can still take full advantage of the therapeutic benefits of nature even when you live in the city, we supported Urban Good to produce urban nature map of Edinburgh.

A little bit about the map by Urban Good

The Edinburgh Urban Map aims to help us see the city differently: to think more deeply about the city as a place, and our place in it. It’s a resource to encourage more awareness and more action for people and nature…to help put nearby nature in everyday lives.

It shows Edinburgh as a city of nature, bringing its green and blue spaces to the fore – its parks, woodlands, playing fields, nature reserves, rivers, and coastline. It incorporates symbols marking places to walk and cycle, take in views, and geodiversity sites. It shows open space rather than roads and buildings.

On the reverse is an atlas of information, graphics, and ideas. How is Edinburgh’s 55% of open space used? How many bee species have been spotted at the Botanic Gardens? Where does an Innertube cycle route take you? What does its geology look like: in plan, section, and timeline? How might you bring ‘five ways to wellbeing’ into your work? What can you do for nature in your garden, on your street, or on your windowsill?

The map is available from the Urban Good website: Edinburgh Urban Nature Map

And if you want to download some of the free resources, visit Urban Good’s Edinburgh Urban Nature map resource page where you will find an invitation to explore, The Five Ways to wellbeing explained (Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, Give) a breakdown of the open space of the cities, focus on trees and the blue spaces of the cities – their habitat and species.

The Edinburgh and Glasgow Urban maps were produced by Urban Good with support from key funders such as Paths for All ‘Smarter Choices, Smarter Places’, Scottish Forestry, Glasgow City Council, NHS Lothian Charity and Edinburgh Geological Society.

Header image credit: Charlie Peel and Rob Bushby, www.urbangood.org.