ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights that an understanding of blue space as a potentially ‘enabling’ environment for human wellbeing needs to be situated both within the embodied and sensory particularities of therapeutic place-engagements, and at the same time respond to broader discourses that frame personal health and wellbeing. Significant insights have been gained into the human-water relationship more broadly, for instance in regard to the rich and evolving meanings of seascapes, as well as the growing literature on the health-enabling potential of being in or near water. Throughout history water and its use have reflected various experiences, values and interpretations about well-being, health and illness. The application of seawater in medical circumstances was elaborated by a number of physicians across Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. As medical science progressed however, belief in the effectiveness of the various water cures began to wane, as early as towards the end of the 19th century.
