Arts-based approaches in environmental physiotherapy and planetary health
Environmental physiotherapy, planetary health, sustainability and transformative change require new ways of looking at the world, new ways of thinking and new ways of doing. Arts-based approaches are well-known drivers for such approaches but remain relatively marginal in planetary health and environmental physiotherapy to date. With this page, we hope to make a difference by sharing examples, literature, and other materials that can inspire the use of arts-based approaches in environmental physiotherapy research, education, and practice.
Youtube videos
Seeing as caring / a three-part blog series
Seeing as Caring part one: Witness
Seeing as Caring part two: Deliberate
Seeing as Caring part three: Reconcile
Projects
The Posthuman Walking Project is a transdisciplinary collaboration that brings together walker partners and arts and physiotherapy researchers to investigate the relationship between persistent pain, landscapes and walking.
The Posthuman Walking Project / blogpost
Relevant publications
Chubb, S. & Hebron, C. (2025) Art as a Deterritorialising Vehicle for a Nomadic Physiotherapy. In: Thille, P., Hebron, C., Galvaan, R., Synne Groven, K. eds. Inviting Movements in Physiotherapy: An Anthology of Critical Scholarship. University of Manitoba. https://escholarship.umanitoba.ca/projects/imip
Hunter, V. & Chubb, S. (2025). Encountering Environments Through the Arts: Interdisciplinary Embodiments, Politics and Imaginaries. Routledge.
Blogposts
Potential Benefits and Challenges of Art–Science Integration in Planetary Health and Environmental Physiotherapy
Explorations at the Intersection of Art and Planetary Health
The environment as a tool for patient-centred care: a bridge between physiotherapy and Dance Movement Therapy
Erasure and forgetting: re-engaging the human in environmental well-being
Header image by Roger Starnes Sr on Unsplash