ABSTRACT
Evidence of blue spaces’ well-being value is growing, as is understanding of how they enhance health. F. Houghton and S. Houghton identify them as alternative therapeutic spaces: ‘environments which would usually be “written-off” as negative and harmful’. Perceptions of waterways as unsafe suggest deterrents to using them therapeutically, or that some consider them disabling. This may be associated with a prevalent public discourse around risk reduction which prioritises water safety. The research found hydrophobia constrains behaviour and informs perceptions of waterways as potentially disabling. While not explaining all barriers, it usefully characterises those most significant by the prevalence and strength of effect. Parents liked children to be able to run around in large bounded spaces, so they find narrow towpaths constraining. Waterway hydrophobia has several interrelated dimensions which repel some from blue spaces; hydrophiles may perceive similar risks but find them less influential than perceived benefits.
