A Methodological Approach for Creating Urban Commons of Wellness in Public Open Spaces in the City of Chania

Abstract

To investigate the wellbeing factor within the urban context, the authors developed a methodological process for understanding and recreating the term “wellness” focusing on the public open spaces of the city. Using as case study the city of Chania, this research firstly proposes the assessment of four well-being indicators in specific areas of the city linking their effect on people's disposition and then uses the generated data for the redesign of public open spaces in terms of strengthening urban prosperity, with a comprehensive six-step methodology that combines participatory processes and methods based on GIS technologies. This chapter is structured into three main sections as follows: the first section elaborates on the research questions and justification of methods used, the second proceeds with the analysis of the proposed methodology while the third section highlights its overall assessment. Finally, some concluding remarks are expressed for further research.