Where did it all begin?
In 1999 Parks Victoria, in Australia, developed a positioning strategy encapsulated in a positioning statement or slogan called “Healthy Parks Healthy People”. The rationale at the time was to encourage more Victorians to visit their parks by communicating a range of benefits - improved physical health, mental health and societal harmony. It was also to establish, in the minds of Victorians, that this potential to improve their health was inextricably linked to a healthy parks system.
The desired outcome of the positioning was that community understanding and acceptance of this proposition would mean that Victorians in the state would value the parks more highly, support improving parks and play a positive role in their conservation, preservation and improvement.
Strategic alliances were established with the health sector and a marketing campaign was launched to promote this concept to all Victorians and. At the same time Parks Victoria entered into an agreement with Deakin University to research the health benefits that derive from contact with nature.
Parks Victoria has since been armed with research backing the strong linkage between contact with nature and health and owns a brand that is now well recognised and in demand across the parks and conservation industry.
Forums and conferences across, and increasingly outside, the parks industry worldwide and in Australia are now seeking to feature Healthy Parks Healthy People on their agendas.
Read the research paper
The health benefits of contact with nature in a park context: A review of relevant literature. Download>
2nd edition March 2008 School of Health and Social Development Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences, Deakin University Burwood, Melbourne
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