03/08/2026
Today marks the completion of a truly special project at The Eco Therapy Garden CIC. A celebration of creativity, connection, and the power of nature in the heart of the city.
In collaboration with the University of Liverpool the research project explored climate change through creative poetry, Dr Shielda Smith and poet facilitator Susan Comer worked alongside garden participants to co-create an extraordinary ethnographic anthology.
The collection features 27 individual poems and six collaborative works, many written by people who had never written poetry before.
Today, on a beautiful summer day, we enjoyed readings, reflection, and shared experience, the event captured something deeply meaningful: how creative expression, grounded in place, can help us understand and respond to environmental change.
The research draws on key ideas from ecopsychology, highlighting the profound relationship between people, place, and wellbeing.
Our book highlights "Against the intensity of the city, the garden emerges as a place of relief: not only from heat exposure, but from noise, overcrowding, and the weight of everyday urban life.
Moments of herbs, shared tea, conversation, and even the struggle with a hosepipe become poetic images, grounding the value of this space in lived experience"
This project reminds us of several critical truths:
🌿 The importance of local voices in environmental research
🌿 The growing urgency of “melting metropolis” challenges — heat, health, and urban living
🌿 The role of green spaces in supporting mental and physical wellbeing
🌿 The power of creativity to connect people with climate realities
Most importantly, it reinforces why we must protect and sustain urban green spaces like the Eco Therapy Garden — not as luxuries, but as essential infrastructure for wellbeing, resilience, and community.
A powerful example of what happens when research, creativity, and community come together.
