'The Dutch Urban Coast as a Therapeutic Landscape' by Floor Dieleman

Scientific evidence indicates that nature is good for people’s health. Therefore, the relation between nature and health in urban settings has been increasingly investigated. This research aims to gain more knowledge on the field of coastal experiences in relation to health, by inhabitants. This research is an explorative research with a cross sectional design.
This research indicates that the coast is not intrinsically therapeutic. There was no indication found that the experiences at the coast were influenced directly by the buildings. However, during the interviews the coast appeared to be indeed more than only water and sand to the participants. Participants identified a lot of features which helped them feeling better. A lot of experiences, at the Dutch urban coast, indicated that the coast is a therapeutic landscape that influences people’s wellbeing and is protecting people’s health were found. This indicates that there are prerequisites for people to make use of the coast as a therapeutic landscape, instead of the coast as a therapeutic landscape in itself. Therefore, the coast can be seen therapeutic to a certain extent, depending on where participants were at the coastline and changing circumstances such as more tourism.