ABSTRACT
Over forty years of research has produced a substantial body of evidence revealing a variety of benefits from having contact with nature in urban settings. Although the evidence base is not complete, the findings of the overwhelming majority of the studies demonstrate that urban inhabitants benefit to a considerable degree, and in a variety of ways, from having everyday contact with nature. It has become clear that everyday exposure to nearby nature is associated with improved psychological health and functioning and increased community health of urban dwellers. Urban nature in large and small doses has been shown to benefit individuals and communities. Large expanses of nature, such as those found in urban parks, produce a variety of benefits for people. But so, too, do relatively small patches of trees, lawns, and other forms of vegetation found along streets, at schools and corporate campuses, on civic landscapes, residential sites, and on hospital and prison grounds. So-called accidental nature-plants growing on neglected urban sites (e.g. abandoned industrial and residential sites, along derelict railroad tracks or in neglected stream corridors)—has also been shown to provide benefits to folks who have frequent contact with it. It is interesting to note that the benefits from having contact with nature are associated with both direct and indirect contact. Direct contact involves activities such as gardening, or walking in a park. Indirect contact includes viewing natural settings through a window or looking at a painting of a landscape. In this chapter, we concentrate on the evidence of the benefits of nature culled from recent studies, specifically those conducted since 1990. These studies were found by initially using online academic databases (e.g. ISI Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, Google Scholar) to search for relevant published papers and review articles. The key studies referenced by the authors of those papers were then examined. Finally, of these collected studies, those that satisfied the criteria presented in Table 33.1 were cited in this review. We begin by categorizing the benefits of having contact with nature in specific settings. Next, we describe the mechanisms that convey these benefits. We end by examining the interrelationships among the benefits and their underlying mechanisms.
