Our modern lifestyles often cause us to spend more time sitting behind a desk than being active outdoors. At the same time, our general health is deteriorating. The alarming rise in obesity, sedentary lifestyles and mental ill-health across the developed world has resulted in an urgent desire to understand how the environment, in particular the outdoor environment, influences health.

Acknowledgements Foreword William Bird Preface Catharine Ward Thompson, Simon Bell and Peter Aspinall Introduction Catharine Ward Thompson, Simon Bell and Peter Aspinall Part 1: Affordances in the Landscape: a theoretical approach 1. Affordances and the Perception of Landscape: an inquiry into environmental perception and aesthetics Harry Heft 2. Using Behaviour Mapping to Investigate Healthy Outdoor Environments for Children and Families: conceptual framework, procedures, and applications Robin C Moore and Nilda G Cosco Part 2: Evidence on the Relationship between Landscape and Health 3. Nearby Nature and Human Health: looking at mechanisms and their implications Sjerp de Vries 4. Active Landscapes: the methodological challenges in developing the evidence on urban environments and physical activity Fiona Bull, Billie Giles-Corti and Lisa Wood 5. Using Affordances as a Health-Promoting Tool in a Therapeutic Garden Patrik Grahn, Carina Tenngart Ivarsson, Ulrika K. Stigsdotter and Inga-Lena Bengtsson Part 3: Different perspectives on Methodology 6. Opening Space for Project Pursuit: affordance, restoration and chills Brian R Little 7. On Environmental Preference: applying conjoint analysis to visiting parks and buying houses Peter Aspinall Part 4: Applications in Practice: spatial structure, landscape design and landscape use 8. Feeling Good and Feeling Safe in the Landscape: a 'syntactic' approach Ruth Conroy Dalton and Julienne Hanson 9. Landscape Quality and Quality of Life Catharine Ward Thompson Part 5: Conclusions 10. Challenges for Research in Landscape and Heath Simon Bell