The Health Benefits of Urban Nature: How Much Do We Need?

Shanahan, Danielle F.; Fuller, Richard A.; Bush, Robert A. Baruch; Lin, Brenda B.; Gaston, Kevin J.

doi:10.1093/biosci/biv032

Cited by 360 publications

(292 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Indeed, all gardeners who mentioned this motivation referred to increased well-being after having started this activity. This result is consistent with the literature, which shows a positive relationship between regular contacts with nature and health: psychological well-being or mental distress (Keniger et al 2013, White et al 2013Hartig et al 2014, Shanahan et al 2015, McCracken et al 2016, general health (Kardan et al 2015) or general mood (Capaldi et al 2014). However, in addition to these direct benefits, we propose including in this category symbolic meanings, mostly based on recollections and memories.…”

Section: Gardeners' First Motivations For Participating In French Comsupporting

confidence: 91%

Specificities of French community gardens as environmental stewardships

Torres¹,

Nadot²,

Prévot³

2017

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Community-based efforts are essential to address urban social-ecological challenges. Here, we focus on French community gardens. Through participant observation and semistructured interviews, this study seeks to provide empirical evidence on: (1) what motivates volunteer gardeners in French community gardens to undertake this activity, (2) what practices take place in the gardens, and (3) which individual and collective processes are associated with gardeners' experiences in the gardens. Through these questions, we aim to understand how these initiatives relate to environmental stewardship. Our results show that environmental, social, and selfmotivations are the drivers behind gardeners' participation in the gardens. It seems that involvement in the gardens provides opportunities to fulfill those needs and/or motives through different interrelated processes between the individual with him/herself, the human collective, and nature such as: contemplating nature and benefiting from sensory experiences, having access to environmental education, experiencing individual and collective organization, renewing social-ecological relationships, and facing local challenges. We note that French community gardens provide arenas for new experiences of nature. In addition, even if gardens' biophysical features and gardening practices allow a series of processes that provide social and ecological benefits and outcomes, these gardens refer to environmental stewardship practices by cultivating relational values. These values provide opportunities for innovative ways of creative conservation, reflecting how care for ourselves extends to care for others, for places, and for nature.

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Section: Gardeners' First Motivations For Participating In French Comsupporting

confidence: 91%

Specificities of French community gardens as environmental stewardships

Torres¹,

Nadot²,

Prévot³

2017

E&S

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“…Many authors have argued for and/or documented a positive relationship between biodiversity and human wellbeing, a connection that is particularly strong in the case of biotic diversity associated with urban greenspaces [13][14][15]48]. Access to information about native biodiversity is essential to maintain this positive attitude.…”

Section: Biodiversity and Human Wellbeingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biocultural Homogenization in Urban Settings: Public Knowledge of Birds in City Parks of Santiago, Chile

et al. 2017

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An understudied consequence of growing urbanization is the rapid and concurrent loss of native biological and cultural diversity. Here, we measured the concordance between avian species richness in public green areas of the city of Santiago, Chile, and the corresponding knowledge of local citizens of this avian diversity. To assess this correspondence, we sampled avian species richness in 10 representative city parks and surveyed the awareness of avian diversity by park visitors as well as their ability to identify bird species. We found no significant relationship between estimated bird diversity from field sampling and their perception by park visitors, suggesting that visitors underestimate avian diversity in city parks because they perceive only a small fraction of the overall diversity, with their awareness especially biased towards the most abundant species. Exotic bird species comprise the majority of the latter group. This result was observed regardless of whether the city park had high or low bird diversity. Public knowledge of birds did not relate to the species richness present at city parks, and was strongly biased towards the most abundant, widely distributed, and primarily exotic species. This result agrees with the biocultural homogenization hypothesis, documenting the role of urban areas in this global process.

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“…How do we get to the point where we understand that 10 min of sitting still in a pleasant natural setting, without other disturbances, can prove vital to our health in the same way as physical exercise, healthy food and mindfulness meditation? Shanahan, Fuller, Bush, Lin, and Gaston (2015) conclude that 'a very rapid improvement in psychological well-being is possible in response to very low durations of nature dose ' (p. 480). In other words, a little goes a long way.…”

Section: Stage 2: Increased Knowledge Of Antidote Measures (Education)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of wilderness therapy for adolescents in the face of global trends of urbanization and technification

Gabrielsen

Harper

2017

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth

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This paper discusses how the increased urbanization and technification trends of our time may partly explain the considerable rise in adolescent maladjustment, typically expressed through symptoms of depression and anxiety. The authors argue that if living life increasingly disconnected from the natural world is part of the cause, then reversing, or at least moderating these trends and resultant pathology, must be part of the solution. Evidencebased wilderness therapy approaches have a long history of enabling optimal growth and personal development with adolescents. This article proposes how specific core elements of these often-complex therapeutic outdoor programs can be put to use on a broad scale throughout our communities. We provide examples supporting a three-stage approach to address the deleterious effects of urbanization and technification in adolescents; (1) changing beliefs, (2) education, and (3) planning. Finally we present some practical examples of possible antidote measures.

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The Health Benefits of Urban Nature: How Much Do We Need?

Cited by 360 publications

References 78 publications

Specificities of French community gardens as environmental stewardships

Specificities of French community gardens as environmental stewardships

Biocultural Homogenization in Urban Settings: Public Knowledge of Birds in City Parks of Santiago, Chile

The role of wilderness therapy for adolescents in the face of global trends of urbanization and technification

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