Once upon a time there was a place called Northern Ireland (NI for short). Not too big or too small, it was just right as a test bed for exploring the power of stories for communicating climate science. NI needs better stories about the future urgently, as although there has so far been no local climate legislation, just like (hydrogen) buses there is now two climate bills going through the motions at the same time. Like a sleeping giant, NI desperately needs to start putting some stones in place to build a causeway - a vision - to a resilient future and to reduce the risks of the climate crisis. The right stories and storytelling, developed with people who know their place the best, can provide narratives which could shift behaviour. If researchers can find a way to inspire action through the understanding of the climate risks and adaptation options, they could build connections to other decision makers, researchers and storytellers elsewhere in the land and all live happily (or at least happier) ever after... Storytelling can connect with people on a deep level and can move seamlessly from facts and emotions, through to values and positive examples of previous action. This connection using narrative, particularly to examples of previous action, is important for providing people with a sense of agency - an ability to enact change. "The stories that we tell ourselves about what climate change means, who is responsible for responding to it, and what this response should look like are just as important as the technologies, laws and policies that will usher in a more sustainable world" (Corner & Clarke, 2017, pp. 5). In Once upon a time in a heatwave, story will be explored in three ways: - The use of visual storytelling (through interactive figures, infographics and a local climate impacts checker) - Narratives based on climate adaptation options (using novel results from the OpenCLIM project that expand upon the UK SSPs, shared through the medium of ArcGIS StoryMaps) - Storyline climate analysis to communicate uncertainties in extreme summer heat events, such as the 2018 heatwave and drought (again using novel analysis from OpenCLIM and shared as ArcGIS StoryMaps) Evaluation of the storytelling methods is vital and will be ongoing throughout the project. Stories will be evaluated with a range of audiences, including decision makers, stakeholders and wider priority audiences (expected to be agricultural/rural communities). Evaluation will take the form of surveys on users' preference and perceived ease of use and understanding, as well as a quantified assessment of whether the conclusions drawn by the users are factually accurate. Through ongoing evaluation and a series of co-production workshops (D4), the final stories (D1, D2 and D3) will be produced iteratively. The stories will be maintained by Climate NI beyond the duration of the project where it is hoped they will influence public and policy opinion in a crucial year for climate action in NI. Although best practices in visual storytelling and the benefits of storyline approaches have been addressed before in the climate and science communication literature, populations vary spatially and temporally. This project will provide recommendations for Northern Ireland, specifically tailored to its unique situation. These recommendations on best practice from the evaluation will be incorporated into Climate NI's communication strategy (D6) and will be submitted to a peer reviewed journal at the end of the project (D7).

There is strong evidence that natural environments within urban areas, such as parks, woodlands, lakes and beaches, have positive impacts on health. These urban green and blue spaces (UGBS) could be huge assets for protecting and equalising health if they were available, accessible, valued and well-used, particularly by less advantaged groups. The problem is that they are not. This is largely because the many policies, organisations and communities involved in designing, creating, managing, promoting, maintaining and using UGBS are disconnected. Also, the voices of less advantaged communities that UGBS could be helping most are either not heard or not persuasive. Perhaps as a consequence, those communities are much less likely to benefit from these spaces. We know that the UGBS we have are not the UGBS we need to make the best possible contribution to better and more equal health. GroundsWell aims to change that. We propose a new partnership - researchers working together with communities and those who currently create and control UGBS, to plan, design and manage it better so that it benefits everyone, especially those who need it most. The main research will take place in three cities - Belfast, Edinburgh and Liverpool. These have sufficient similarities (such as large and diverse low-income communities) but also distinct features (such as geography and culture) making them, collectively, an ideal laboratory. Each city already has policies and programmes in place to improve UGBS, but there is much room for improvement. GroundsWell will take a systems approach. This means understanding the multiple and interconnecting components of policy-making, practice, perception and people which together affect the presence, location, character and use of UGBS. It also means working to transform the system so that the components function together. To do this, GroundsWell will mix co-development of new theoretical frameworks, novel data science including simulation, health economics and policy analysis, but at its heart will be community engagement and partnership. We will develop and use meaningful community engagement, co-production and citizen science to understand the system, identify how and where it is broken, and co-create solutions. We anticipate interventions aimed at how the UGBS system operates, and small-scale interventions around actual spaces and their use. Data play an important part in understanding systems. GroundsWell will develop an accessible, trustworthy and policy-relevant system to collate, collect, house and share data on UGBS across the three cities. These data will be used to help the whole Consortium understand the UGBS there, identify possible interventions, and then assess whether they work, for whom and why, creating feedback loops to help us continually monitor, learn and adapt what we do. Novel simulation approaches will also be used to suggest interventions, and in particular what could be effective beyond the three cities. Health economics will suggest what would be best value for money. An important part of putting actions and solutions in place is understanding if they work (or not). Evaluation of our actions and the Consortium as a whole will be undertaken in partnership with our communities, drawing on the new data system we establish, and enabling them to directly see whether and how the process has benefited them. In particular, we will assess and share our impacts on health inequalities. We are realistic about the likely scale of our impacts. Small actions within existing UGBS and local communities are unlikely to affect population level health and inequalities within our funded period. That is why we are going to focus on improving the UGBS system as a whole, laying foundations for long-term benefits. We know that the use and enjoyment of UGBS is something that adults pass on to their children. If GroundsWell can improve and equalise the role of UGBS, it will achieve a lasting impact.