Aesthetic and Spiritual Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Sacred Sites

Lacy, P. De; Shackleton, Charlie M.

doi:10.3390/su9091628

Cited by 58 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…These provide public health professionals with further opportunities to provide advice and interventions for improving the health of vulnerable communities. Interestingly, De Lacy and Shackleton (2017) reported that greenspace associated with urban sacred sites enhanced the spiritual experience of visitors. Nature is deeply embedded into a number of religions, therefore spending time in nature enhances a sense of belonging and the spiritual experience (Lindgren et al 2018).…”

Section: Aesthetic Appreciation and Spiritual Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change: Implications for Public Health

Cook

Howarth

Wheater

2019

Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

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A biodiverse natural environment is a health-promoting resource. A given habitat can simultaneously provide multiple ecosystem (and therefore health) benefits, both directly through, for example, flood risk mitigation and cooling, and indirectly as a resource for cultural and physical activities. The single biggest priority for public health is to work across governments and countries to protect biodiverse natural resources and introduce measures to stem climate change. At a more local level, public health professionals are responsible for devising strategies to promote sustainable lifestyles and facilitate access to natural environments. Modern public health emphasises the reduction of avoidable differences in ill health between the most and least well-off in society. Such strategies therefore need to target those from socioeconomically deprived areas, who are most at risk of ill health. Schemes such as nature-based social prescribing or community referral give local commissioners of health services the opportunity to bring people into contact with nature. Those with responsibility for the provision of nature-based schemes should be encouraged to use interventions that bring people into active, rather than passive, contact with nature. Further, targeting such interventions towards exposure to environments with the greatest biodiversity is likely to offer the greatest benefits for human health.

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Section: Aesthetic Appreciation and Spiritual Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change: Implications for Public Health

Cook

Howarth

Wheater

2019

Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

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“…They also have economic values such as being sources of food, nutrition supplement, fuelwood and animal fodder (Agbelade et al, 2017). Another important value of African urban trees and forests pertains to spirituality and cultural attachments (La Rosa, Spyra, & Inostroza, 2016;Peter & Shackleton, 2017;Sheona et al, 2015). Some trees are attached to spirits or serve as shrines for worships (Babalola et al, 2013;Oyebade, Popo-ola, & Itam, 2013) and therefore serve as connections between urban dwellers and various divinities.…”

Section: Values Of Urban Trees and Forests In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress and Methodological Approaches in Urban Trees and Forests Research in Africa

2019

JEES

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The numerous benefits of urban trees and forests are being increasingly recognised globally but grossly under studied in the developing world. This paper reviewed the methodological approaches to urban trees and forests assessments in Africa in relation to the growing number of publications in the field between 2012 and 2017. It adopted a comprehensive search of online publications related to urban trees and forests in the Google Scholar, Springer, Science Direct, Scopus, IEEE, Tailor and Francis and African Journals databases. Number of publications increased steadily from 2 in 2012 to a cumulative total of 44 in 2017, most of which were however, from South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana with little contributions from Kenya and Rwanda. Although remote sensing may facilitate detailed studies of urban trees, most researchers used the traditional and time-consuming field surveys and to some extent, interview and questionnaire surveys. African cities are highly diverse in both native and exotic tree species but the exotic species dominate in many areas. Urban trees in Africa provide both tangible and intangible benefits which include provision of income, fruits, medicines, fuelwood and recreation opportunities. Others are micro-climate modification, erosion and desertification control, pollutants removal, spirituality and aesthetics. Advances in urban tree assessments such as the use of i-Tree Eco and i-Tree Streets, high resolution remote sensing images and LiDAR should be explored. Governmental and private organizations need to be more committed to urban trees research and management through enhanced funding.

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“…Other environmental aestheticians, such as Hepburn [36], believed that the full-body immersion of viewer marks a substantial difference between the experiences of appreciating nature and appreciating art. Unlike the detached mode of appreciation in viewing art, in natural settings, people are absorbed extensively and therefore more easily evoke metaphysical imagination [15,[36][37][38][39][40]. In fact, an innate connectedness to nature is the state of mind that one can develop when interacting with nature [41,42].…”

Section: Nature As a Source Of Aesthetic Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Aesthetic Experience as an Essential Factor to Trigger Positive Environmental Consciousness

Wang

2018

Sustainability

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The current environmental attitude models are primarily composed of environmental knowledge, value, and intention. However, environmental aestheticians have maintained that aesthetic experience triggered by nature is the cornerstone of promoting environmental ethics. To verify this belief, this study proposes a new framework, which integrates the rational and emotional approaches, to describe the environmental attitudes of the public. Questionnaires are used to collect data from college students in Taiwan, and a total of 275 valid responses are received. The collected data are analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results support the proposed hypotheses. In addition to reconfirming the importance of environmental knowledge in the traditional models, this study confirms that aesthetic experience is also a determining dimension. The findings show that rational cognition and aesthetic perception complement and interact with each other and can strengthen environmental ethics, thereby enhancing the intention of pro-environmental behavior. The results of this study can serve as a reference for environmental protection or environmental education practice.

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Aesthetic and Spiritual Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Sacred Sites

Cited by 58 publications

References 54 publications

Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change: Implications for Public Health

Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change: Implications for Public Health

Progress and Methodological Approaches in Urban Trees and Forests Research in Africa

Aesthetic Experience as an Essential Factor to Trigger Positive Environmental Consciousness

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