A Theoretical Framework for Bolstering Human-Nature Connections and Urban Resilience via Green Infrastructure

Abstract

Demand for resources and changing structures of human settlements arising from population growth are impacting via the twin crises of anthropogenic climate change and declining human health. Informed by documentary research, this article explores how Urban Resilience Theory (URT) and Human-Nature Connection Theory (HNCT) can inform urban development that leverages urban green infrastructure (UGI) to mitigate and meditate these two crises. The findings of this article are that UGI can be the foundation for action to reduce the severity and impact of those crises and progress inclusive and sustainable community planning and urban development. In summary, the URT promotes improvement in policy and planning frameworks, risk reduction techniques, adaptation strategies, disaster recovery mechanisms, environmentally sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel energy, the building of social capital, and integration of ecologically sustainable UGI. Further, the HNCT advocates pro-environmental behaviors to increase the amount and accessibility of quality remnant and restored UGI to realize the human health benefits provided by nature, while simultaneously enhancing the ecological diversity and health of indigenous ecosystems. The synthesis of this article postulates that realizing the combined potential of URT and HNCT is essential to deliver healthy urban settlements that accommodate projected urban population growth towards the end of the 21st-century.

Nature-Based Solutions Forming Urban Intervention Approaches to Anthropogenic Climate Change: A Quantitative Literature Review

“…Based on the upwards trajectory of the research effort of NBS in response to climate change, and the increasing pressure and threat climate change exerts upon urban communities, it is expected that this trend will continue for some time yet. While some research may suggest that NBS is not sufficient as a standalone measure against mediating and mitigating climate change, there is general consensus that it does, and will continue to, play a vital role [54].…”

Ecosystem Service Use and the Motivations for Use in Central Parks in Three European Cities

“…This leads to the fact that in their daily lives, citizens experience nature frequently in the form of urban nature, which is often anthropogenically modified, contributing to an estrangement from "real" nature [2,3]. Urban nature comprising urban green space (UGS) elements such parks, gardens, brownfields or forests, provides biodiversity and important ecosystem services (ES) contributing to human health, well-being and the quality of urban life [4][5][6][7][8]. Recent studies demonstrate the broad range of UGS development in European cities [9], some of them suggesting that per capita UGS availability and nature-based recreation opportunities are expected to decrease in many cities until 2050 [10][11][12].…”

Analyzing the resilience of urban settlements using multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) models (case study: Malayer city)

“…In this study, we analyzed the environmental resilience in Malayer city to estimate any essential variations in the natural, accessibility, privacy, and social factors on urban settlements. We can group the environmental resilience factors based on physical and human factors (Parker & Simpson, 2020;Therrien et al, 2020). Based on physical factors, use can reduce the granularity of urban parts, the number of floors, age of buildings, building density, building quality, building material quality, climate change, geological structure, ecological factors, water sources, etc., by considering city separately (Admiraal & Cornaro, 2020;Himeur, 2020).…”