Everyday childhood nature experiences in an era of urbanisation: an analysis of Dutch children’s drawings of their favourite place to play outdoors

Heel, Bernadette F. van; Born, R.J.G. van den; Aarts, Noelle

doi:10.1080/14733285.2022.2071600

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…The consistent representation of animals and plants by preadolescents can be explained by the biophilia hypothesis, which suggests that humans have an inherent inclination to focus on living organisms and life‐like processes (Wilson, 2017). The children's drawings also showed a distinction of viewing humans as separate from or as part of nature, which is consistent with previous studies that indicate various values and attitudes towards nature (Bang et al., 2007; Günindi, 2012; Rios & Menezes, 2017; Van Heel et al., 2023). Children aged 9–12 years generally view humans as passive participants in the natural world, engaging in activities within nature rather than exerting influence over it (Rejeski, 1982).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Multidimensional mental representations of natural environment among Chinese preadolescents via draw‐and‐write mapping

Yue,

Meng,

Chen

2023

People and Nature

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The mental associations that children have with the natural environment can be referred to as their natural representations. These representations encompass a blend of shared consensus and individual differences, playing a pivotal role in shaping human relationships with nature and influencing attitudes and behaviours. However, comprehending children's natural representations, particularly among preadolescents with limited verbal narrative abilities, remains a challenge. To address this challenge, we conducted a study employing a draw‐and‐write task and a questionnaire survey. Our investigation aimed to understand how the level of nature experiences and demographic variables affects the multidimensional representations of nature among preadolescents (aged 9–12) in China. Specifically, we examined the impacts of direct, indirect and vicarious nature experiences on their natural representations. These representations included dimensions such as the level of wildness, cognitive complexity, extent of elaboration, expression of emotion and representation style. These dimensions were based on literature review and supported by empirical data collected from children's drawings. Our findings showed that children's drawings of nature not only share similarities but also display significant variations. Most of their drawings include natural components, such as living and non‐living elements, while a notable proportion of drawings depicts human activities. Interestingly, we observed notable differences in the level of wildness, elaboration and representation style among preadolescents from different regions. Additionally, we found that vicarious nature experiences have a significant positive impact on the cognitive complexity, extent of elaboration and positive emotional expression in children's drawings, while direct nature experiences also have a weaker but still significant positive effect on the elaboration. Moreover, female students exhibit greater proficiency in these three aspects compared to their male counterparts. The study highlights the significance of the surrounding environment and nature experiences, especially vicarious nature experience, in shaping the natural representations of preadolescents. Using draw‐and‐write mapping is recommended as a valuable approach to understanding the children's mental representations of the natural environment. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Multidimensional mental representations of natural environment among Chinese preadolescents via draw‐and‐write mapping

Yue,

Meng,

Chen

2023

People and Nature

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“…Children are asked to produce two drawings (one per sheet): in the first, they are stimulated to represent the street where they live; in the second, to draw their vision of the street in the future. No additional context should be given to ensure that children are not influenced to draw specific elements related to adult expectations [76]. The study of the perceptions and expectations offered by children gives valid indications regarding the quality of public open spaces and the identification of sustainable solutions for children.…”

Section: Intergenerational Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participatory Mapping for Enhancing Flood Risk Resilient and Sustainable Urban Drainage: A Collaborative Approach for the Genoa Case Study

Gnecco,

Pirlone,

Spadaro

et al. 2024

Sustainability

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Planning for resilient cities requires an evidence-based understanding of flood risk and the involvement of stakeholders and local actors. The paper addresses research developed within the URCA!—Urban Resilience to Climate Change: to activate the participatory mapping and decision support tool for enhancing sustainable urban drainage—project. A top-down/bottom-up participatory and flexible methodology for the conception of participatory mapping aimed at the planning and installation of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) on the territory is then developed. The innovative methodology is applied and tested in the case study of the Sampierdarena district in Genoa, northern Italy. This research paper illustrates the development of a participatory map (Pmap) that can support the implementation of SUDS as mitigation/adaptation strategies, integrating technical assessment and containing community visions and expectations. Findings concerning the connections between proposed SUDS locations and their frequencies confirm the relevance of the commercial area and the main traffic lanes along, confirming that all zones characterized by intense vehicular and pedestrian flow are suitable for SUDS as a solution to contribute to urban flood resilience. The georeferenced and intergenerational Pmap may be integrated into a decision support system to be developed as a guidance tool for the public administration.

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“…Current related research has focused on developed Western countries, and related studies have concluded significant geographic variability in children’s nature activities [ 2 , 7 , 27 , 29 ], which confirms the need to expand the study to more regions, especially in developing countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Study on the Characteristics of Children’s Natural Activities in the Neighborhood and Their Influencing Factors: Evidence from Hangzhou, China

Ji¹,

Li²,

Shao

2022

IJERPH

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In the process of urbanization, children are becoming increasingly estranged from nature. The phenomenon has received widespread attention in developed countries because of its many negative effects on children’s health and pro-nature behaviors. However, the existing studies lack the exploration of this issue in developing countries, especially with regard to China. In order to understand the characteristics of neighborhood natural activities and their influencing factors among children in China, we conducted a systematic questionnaire survey of 900 children (10–12 years old from Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, Eastern China) about their natural activities in the neighborhood. Children were asked to provide basic information on their neighborhood natural activities situation (frequency, duration and location), nature connectedness and environmental knowledge. The results showed that the frequency of children’s neighborhood natural activities in rural areas was less than that of children in urban areas, but the naturalness of the neighborhood natural activity sites of rural children was higher than that of urban children. Boys spent more time engaging in neighborhood natural activities than girls. Only children outlasted non-only children in terms of the duration of neighborhood natural activities. Regarding Influencing Factors, children’s nature connectedness and environmental knowledge significantly and positively predicted the frequency and location of children’s natural activities in the neighborhood, which indicates a new approach to the promotion of children’s neighborhood natural activities. Overall, how to encourage children to engage in natural activities in the neighborhood is a complex issue that needs to be studied in more regions and with more samples.

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Everyday childhood nature experiences in an era of urbanisation: an analysis of Dutch children’s drawings of their favourite place to play outdoors

Cited by 12 publications

References 50 publications

Multidimensional mental representations of natural environment among Chinese preadolescents via draw‐and‐write mapping

Multidimensional mental representations of natural environment among Chinese preadolescents via draw‐and‐write mapping

Participatory Mapping for Enhancing Flood Risk Resilient and Sustainable Urban Drainage: A Collaborative Approach for the Genoa Case Study

A Study on the Characteristics of Children’s Natural Activities in the Neighborhood and Their Influencing Factors: Evidence from Hangzhou, China

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