In his pamphlet on air pollution in London (Fumifugium, 1661), diarist and gardener John Evelyn proposed gardens, nurseries and fragrant planting to provide health, profit and beauty for the city. By the late 18th century, William Pitt the Elder is believed to have first described parks, even then at risk of development, as ‘the lungs

Last week, I was privileged to be on the closing panel of the Improving wellbeing through urban nature (IWUN) ‘research  into practice’ event, convened by Sheffield’s renowned Landscape Architecture Department.  We are not short of evidence that access to nature is good for our health, but IWUN offers a much needed set of principles for