Understanding Conceptions of ‘Nature’ for Environmental Sustainability: A Case Study in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Fehnker, Lissy; Pearson, Diane; Howland, Peter J.

doi:10.3390/earth2030021

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…From the minimal work, the main themes identify nature is separate from or untouched by humans (Fehnker et al, 2021;Vining et al, 2008) and "out there" away from civilization (Haluza-Delay, 2001;Wilson, 2019). This suggests that the context of an urban environment may reduce a person's perception of nature within it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, in Figure 2, animals, flowers, and trees have a high frequency of being highlighted as nature in both groups. Other research shows that people define nature as undisturbed by humans and separate from civilization (Fehnker et al, 2021;Haluza-DeLay, 2001;Pointon, 2014;Vining et al, 2008). In this phase, I explored if nature related individuals perceive a broader range of features as nature in an urban setting.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…I chose to select the prototypical natural elements to include in the a priori boxes (i.e., the natural elements mentioned above). In these decisions, I did not consider the sky and clouds as natural elements for the images in the studies, but they could be defined as features of nature (Fehnker et al, 2021;Shaw, 2018). Additionally, when creating the a priori boxes, it was sometimes difficult to distinguish between the urban and natural areas in the images because natural elements often have irregular shapes.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Even in the Middle of the City, I Notice Nature Around Me”: Is Nature Relatedness Associated with Noticing More Nature in Urban Environments?

Desrochers

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Nature relatedness is an individual difference characteristic defined as an interconnected feeling between the self and nature (Nisbet et al., 2009). Previous meta-analytic research suggests that nature related individuals are happier (Capaldi et al., 2014;Pritchard et al., 2020). The literature suggests nature related individuals may be happier because they are more likely to go out into nature, which promotes well-being. However, it could also be partly because nature-related individuals may be noticing more nature around them at any given moment, which has not been previously tested. In this dissertation, I examined the possibility that highly nature related individuals notice more nature in urban scene images. Items of the Nature Relatedness scale (Nisbet et al., 2009) propose noticing nature behaviours that fit in the self-concept of a person high on the trait. Still, no research has explored behavioural measures of momentary noticing nature in this association. In this dissertation, noticing was explored through two distinct processes, perception and attention, with the research split into two phases. Perception (Phase 1) is characterized as what an individual interprets as nature in an urban scene. Attention (Phase 2) is operationalized in two ways: the first objects seen in an image (first attention) and voluntary attention paid to pleasant objects in the images. I hypothesized that nature related individuals would perceive more nature, notice nature first, and focus more on the nature in the images than individuals lower on nature relatedness. Contrary to the hypothesis, there was no association between perception of nature and nature relatedness in Phase 1. However, there was an association between attention being paid towards nature and nature relatedness in Phase 2, where nature related individuals had their attention drawn to nature first and chose to focus their attention on it. There is also some preliminary support that nature related people's ability to notice nature may be a reason they are happier in general. This study is the first to utilize iii behavioural tasks to explore if nature related individuals do, in fact, notice more nature in urban environments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Even in the Middle of the City, I Notice Nature Around Me”: Is Nature Relatedness Associated with Noticing More Nature in Urban Environments?

Desrochers

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Understanding Conceptions of ‘Nature’ for Environmental Sustainability: A Case Study in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Fehnker

Pearson

Howland

2021

Earth

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Empirical research that inductively investigates lay conceptions of ‘nature’ is scarce, despite global environmental narratives around sustainability calling for humans to have harmonious relationships with ‘nature’. This paper presents inductive research that attends to the empirical knowledge gap by exploring how respondents self-reportedly conceive ‘nature’ using Auckland, New Zealand as a case study. Results suggested that conceptions of ‘nature’ within the respondent group are diverse and range across 17 themes. Most commonly, respondents conceived ‘nature’ as being something that neither humans nor human influence or activities are a part of. This finding is consistent with what has been found by previous deductive research approaches to understanding conceptions of ‘nature’. However, this research provides a deeper understanding by identifying that respondents form associations with over 60 ‘aspects’ of ‘nature’. By highlighting the complexity of ‘nature’ from a human perspective and being able to identify significant components of ‘nature’ that people associate with, this study not only provides valuable insight for environmental management in the New Zealand study site, but also has potential to support improved management of human–nature interactions that can have a more targeted impact towards achieving sustainability goals at the global scale.

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Informing Future Land Systems Using Self-Reported Pathways and Barriers to Connections to Nature: A Case Study in Auckland, New Zealand

Fehnker

Pearson

Howland

2022

Land

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Empirical research exploring what increases an individual’s connection to nature is growing, however research seeking respondents to self-report what they feel acts as a barrier or pathway to their connection to nature is scarce. Previous empirical literature suggests a link between connections to nature and pro-nature actions. Therefore, understanding what acts as a barrier or pathway to people’s connection to nature can provide insight as to what may promote, or hinder, pro-nature actions. From a land systems perspective, the research is crucial, given that human disconnection from nature is argued to be the reason behind large scale ecological crises and species extinction which threaten the land systems in which we live. Consequently, a cross-sectional qualitative study was undertaken in 2019 with 976 respondents from Auckland, New Zealand to explore self-reported perceptions of what acts as a barrier or pathway towards their connections to nature. The findings suggest that respondents perceive modern society modalities such as ‘life takes over’, ‘urban life’, etc., as being barriers to their connections to nature. Being exposed to nature, was perceived as a pathway to prompting, and/or sustaining their connections to nature. These learnings highlight the benefit of exploring the perceived influences on connections to nature and the findings can be applied to improve the human–nature connection and therefore potentially increase pro-nature actions. We also use the findings to provide practical actions for environmental managers in the Auckland region by advising as to how the human–nature connection can be supported through future urban planning and better designed urban land systems.

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Understanding Conceptions of ‘Nature’ for Environmental Sustainability: A Case Study in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Cited by 3 publications

References 44 publications

“Even in the Middle of the City, I Notice Nature Around Me”: Is Nature Relatedness Associated with Noticing More Nature in Urban Environments?

“Even in the Middle of the City, I Notice Nature Around Me”: Is Nature Relatedness Associated with Noticing More Nature in Urban Environments?

Understanding Conceptions of ‘Nature’ for Environmental Sustainability: A Case Study in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Informing Future Land Systems Using Self-Reported Pathways and Barriers to Connections to Nature: A Case Study in Auckland, New Zealand

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