In many parts of the world, rivers, lakes, hot and mineral springs and seas are valued for their healing or therapeutic qualities. Seen as shared natural resources, these places can improve people’s physical and mental wellbeing. But not everyone is able to use or gain from these sites equally. We are exploring why this might be the case, in the past and now. In other words, the project considers how the conversion of blue-scapes into therapeutic ‘resources’ (re-)makes inequality in these three different contexts.

Exploring mineral springs and their sanatoria in Mongolia, hot springs and medicinal plant harvesting in Sikkim (India), and outdoor swimming in Devon (England), this project will generate new ways of understanding the complexities of social exclusion in the contemporary world.