Dr Helen Hoyle

School of Architecture and Landscape

Lecturer in Healthy Urban Landscapes

h.e.hoyle@sheffield.ac.uk

Arts Tower

Full contact details

Dr Helen Hoyle
School of Architecture and Landscape
Arts Tower
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN

Profile

I am a Lecturer in Healthy Urban Landscapes in the School of Architecture and Landscape at the University of Sheffield and a NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR) Transdisciplinary Research Fellow in the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research.

My research lies at the intersection of nature and human wellbeing, informing policy and practice to prioritise biodiversity and wellbeing in the context of a changing climate. I believe passionately in collaborating closely with those who juggle these priorities on the ground; policymakers, practitioners, and communities.

My background in landscape architecture has equipped me with the tools to understand how people benefit from green infrastructure/ environments and to design green infrastructure interventions in ways that maximise the benefits to health, climate resilience and biodiversity. My transdisciplinary fellowship provides the opportunity to apply these tools within a public health context, developing and delivering ambitious place-based public health interventions to reduce health inequalities at the population scale whilst delivering environmental co-benefits.

I am a member of the Adaptation Committee of the Irish Climate Change Advisory Council where I share expertise in nature-based solutions, biodiversity and health.

Qualifications

Master of Public Health (Distinction) University of Sheffield.
Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PCAP) University of the West of England.
PhD: Human happiness v urban biodiversity? Public perception of designed urban planting in a warming climate. Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield with Professor James Hitchmough and Dr Anna Jorgensen.
MA Landscape Architecture (Distinction) University of Sheffield.
BA Geography Oxford University (St Edmund Hall).

Research interests

Aesthetics, colour and human reactions to urban green infrastructure (UGI)
Futureproofing places for climate resilience, biodiversity and human health and wellbeing
Co-creating nature-based solutions (NBS) in deprived diverse places
Connecting children with nature through co-creating NBS
Green social prescribing: Opportunities, challenges, and environmental co-benefits

I use integrative transdisciplinary approaches drawn from environmental psychology, urban ecology, sociology and public health. As a landscape architect I believe strongly in the importance of design for diverse urban publics rather than for professional elites, and aim to reconcile human aesthetic preferences, well-being and ecological objectives.

Current project:

I am currently part of a large multidisciplinary partnership led by Luton Borough Council, awarded a £1M grant by the highly competitive Natural England Nature Towns and Cities Heritage Lottery Fund. The project ‘Roots to healthy places: nature connections in Luton’ focuses on improving health, access and connections to nature across communities, with a particular focus on communities already identified as facing barriers to access.

Here I am working closely with primary schools across Luton to explore children’s perceptions, preferences and values towards optimising the public health benefits of nearby nature-based interventions (NBS) whilst maximising the co-benefits for biodiversity and climate resilience.

https://sheffield.ac.uk/smph/news/roots-healthy-places-sheffield-researcher-heart-nature-based-public-health-project

https://sphr.nihr.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/roots-to-healthy-places-sphr-researcher-at-heart-of-nature-based-public-health-project/

Publications

Journal articles

Hoyle HE (2025) ‘I'm a better version of me!’ Increasing health equity through active green interventions: parkrun participants' motivators, preferences and well-being benefits. People and Nature. View this article in WRRO
Süle G, Báldi A, Kleijn D, Steffan‐Dewenter I, Venn S, Goulson D, Dietzel S, Muratet A, Cole LJ, Öckinger E , Tzortzakaki O et al (2025) Pollinator‐promoting interventions in European urban habitats—a synthesis. Ecology Letters, 28(8). View this article in WRRO
Yuille A, Davies J, Green M, Hardman C, Knight J, Marshall R, Armitt H, Bane M, Bush A, Carr V , Clark R et al (2024) Moving from features to functions: bridging disciplinary understandings of urban environments to support healthy people and ecosystems. Health & Place, 90. View this article in WRRO
Farris S, Zhang L, Dempsey N, McEwan K, Hoyle H & Cameron R (2024) ‘The Elephant in the Room’ – does actual or perceived biodiversity elicit restorative responses in a virtual park?. Cities & Health. View this article in WRRO
Farris S, Dempsey N, McEwan K, Hoyle H & Cameron R (2024) Does increasing biodiversity in an urban woodland setting promote positive emotional responses in humans? A stress recovery experiment using 360-degree videos of an urban woodland. PLOS ONE, 19(2). View this article in WRRO
Hoyle H & Cottrill W (2023) Beyond the ‘usual suspects’? Engaging children in diverse communities in co-producing an arboretum-meadow: professional partner perspectives. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 81.
Hoyle H (2022) Perceptions of colour, form and amenity in green spaces.. Urban Design Journal, 162, 28-30. View this article in WRRO
Hoyle HE (2021) Climate-adapted, traditional or cottage-garden planting? Public perceptions, values and socio-cultural drivers in a designed garden setting. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 65.
Hoyle HE & Sant’Anna CG (2020) Rethinking ‘future nature’ through a transatlantic research collaboration: climate-adapted urban green infrastructure for human wellbeing and biodiversity. Landscape Research, 48(4), 460-476. View this article in WRRO
Norton BA, Bending GD, Clark R, Corstanje R, Dunnett N, Evans KL, Grafius DR, Gravestock E, Grice SM, Harris JA , Hilton S et al (2019) Urban meadows as an alternative to short mown grassland : effects of composition and height on biodiversity. Ecological Applications, 29(6). View this article in WRRO
Hoyle H, Jorgensen A & Hitchmough JD (2019) What determines how we see nature? Perceptions of naturalness in designed urban green spaces. People and Nature, 1(2), 167-180. View this article in WRRO
Hoyle H, Norton B, Dunnett N, Richards JP, Russell JM & Warren P (2018) Plant species or flower colour diversity? Identifying the drivers of public and invertebrate response to designed annual meadows. Landscape and Urban Planning, 180, 103-113. View this article in WRRO
Southon GE, Jorgensen A, Dunnett N, Hoyle H & Evans KL (2018) Perceived species-richness in urban green spaces: Cues, accuracy and well-being impacts. Landscape and Urban Planning, 172, 1-10. View this article in WRRO
Hoyle H, Hitchmough JD & Jorgensen A (2017) Attractive, climate-adapted and sustainable? Public perception of non-native planting in the designed urban landscape. Landscape and Urban Planning, 164, 49-63. View this article in WRRO
Hoyle H, Hitchmough J & Jorgensen A (2017) All about the ‘wow factor’? The relationships between aesthetics, restorative effect and perceived biodiversity in designed urban planting. Landscape and Urban Planning, 164, 109-123. View this article in WRRO
Hoyle H, Jorgensen A, Warren P, Dunnett N & Evans K (2017) “Not in their front yard” The opportunities and challenges of introducing perennial urban meadows: A local authority stakeholder perspective. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 25, 139-149. View this article in WRRO
Southon GE, Jorgensen A, Dunnett N, Hoyle H & Evans KL (2017) Biodiverse perennial meadows have aesthetic value and increase residents’ perceptions of site quality in urban green-space. Landscape and Urban Planning, 158, 105-118. View this article in WRRO

Book chapters

Hoyle H (2025) People and naturalistic vegetation: the social and cultural dimensions of design, The Dynamic Landscape (pp. 76-101). Routledge
Hoyle H (2020) What is urban nature and how do we perceive it? In Dempsey N & Dobson J (Ed.), Naturally challenged: contested perceptions and practices in urban green spaces (pp. 9-36). Springer Cham View this article in WRRO

Conference proceedings

Hoyle H & Mell I (2022) Beyond the ‘wow factor’? Climate resilient green infrastructure for people and wildlife. Proceedings of the Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning, Vol. 7(1) (pp 37-37). Budapest, Hungary, 30 June 2022 - 30 June 2022. View this article in WRRO

Reports

Hoyle H (2016) Improving urban grassland for people and wildlife: access to nature is beneficial to human health. How can designed urban meadows help to enhance public well-being and urban biodiversity? View this article in WRRO

Theses

Hoyle HE (2015) Human happiness versus urban biodiversity? Public perception of designed urban planting in a warming climate..

Research group: Nature Cultures
Explores the relationship between nature and culture in urban areas. Through a range of projects, from shaping socially inclusive places, to producing innovative ecologies and technologies for urban greening, we study how people’s health and wellbeing is impacted by aspects of space and landscape.

Grants

2025 Natural England Nature Towns and Cities Heritage Lottery Fund. ‘Roots to healthy places: nature connections in Luton’ Project - £20,000 of £1M project.
2024 NIHR-SPHR 24-month Transdisciplinary Fellowship . Applying place-based expertise from Landscape Architecture to address public health problems - £276,784.
2023 NIHR-SPHR Transdisciplinary Placement for “Sensing Biodiversity: Understanding the relationships between sensory biodiversity traits, human aesthetic response and mental wellbeing in urban green spaces” - £8,000.
2021 Landscape Research Associate Editor honorarium - £2,000 p.a.
2021 UWE (FET) Public Engagement and Outreach Award for “Portishead Community Garden: co-producing health and wellbeing through green and social prescribing - £3,800.
2020 UWE (FET) Vice Chancellor’s Early Career Research Award for “Physical activity in different natural environments: Motivations, perceptions and wellbeing benefits” - £13,000.
2019 UWE (FET) Public Engagement and Outreach Award for “Futureproofing Luton” Co-producing an educational air quality arboretum-meadow - £1,500.
2019 Newton-funded early career researcher workshop place Rethinking the green city Brasilia - £2,000.

Professional activities and memberships: Adaptation Committee of the Irish Climate Change Advisory Council.
Landscape Institute.

PhD Supervision: I currently supervise two PhD students; Zainab Alwardi and Anqi Wen