Methods Protocol. Types and characteristics of urban green & blue spaces having an impact on human mental health and wellbeing. Knowledge assessment and synthesis.

EKLIPSE – Protocol Urban green & blue spaces impact on human mental Health 3 of 13 Summary Based on a request made by the French Ministry in charge of the Environment (MTES), an EKLIPSE Expert Working Group (EKLIPSE EWG) was formed to answer the following question: “Which types of urban and suburban blue and green spaces and which characteristics (components) of such spaces have a significant impact on human mental health and wellbeing?”. The answer will be provided by examining the scientific literature. Financial support from the World Health Organization (WHO), adding to that initially provided by EKLIPSE, will allow the EWG to conduct two separate systematic reviews (one for blue spaces and one for green spaces). Previous reviews have been focused on the local amount and availability of, or access to, green (and to a much lesser extent) blue space. The current systematic reviews will be unique in that they focus on the mental health benefits of the type of green (and blue) space and of its distinct characteristics (components). Each systematic reviews will follow six consecutive stages: 1) eligibility criteria for the articles will be formulated, 2) a systematic search strategy will be employed to yield relevant articles, 3) meta-data will be extracted and coded for each eligible study, 4) each study will be critically appraised, 5) a narrative and descriptive synthesis will be performed, and 6) outcomes of the synthesis will be discussed.