Abstract
Limited exposure to direct nature experiences is a worrying sign of urbanization, particularly for children. Experiencing nature during childhood shapes aspects of a personal relationship with nature, crucial for sustainable decision-making processes in adulthood. Scholars often stress the need to ‘reconnect’ urban dwellers with nature; however, few elaborate on how this can be achieved. Here, we argue that nature reconnection requires urban ecosystems, with a capacity to enable environmental learning in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains, i.e., learning that occurs in the head, heart and hands of individuals. Drawing on environmental psychology, urban ecology, institutional analysis and urban planning, we present a theoretical framework for Human–Nature Connection (HNC), discuss the importance of nurturing HNC for children, elaborate on the role of property-rights and the importance of creating collective action arenas in cities for the promotion of urban resilience building. As values and environmental preconceptions underly environmental behavior, there are limits to achieving HNC in cities, as presumptive sentiments toward nature not always are positive. We end by discussing the role of new digital technologies in relation to HNC, and conclude by summarizing the major points brought forward herein, offering policy recommendations for HNC as a resilience strategy that can be adopted in cities throughout the world.
Highlights
As urbanization endures on a global scale, policy makers, planners and urban designers need to think about how to improve the sustainability of cities to a much greater extent
We present lessons learned about the Human–Nature Connection (HNC)
In addition to presenting an overview and theorizing around HNC, we discuss how collective action arenas in cities can enable a relationship with urban nature with a potential to promote urban resilience building
Summary
As urbanization endures on a global scale, policy makers, planners and urban designers need to think about how to improve the sustainability of cities to a much greater extent. 162) have earlier elaborated on an approach they coined cognitive resilience building, denoting “the mental processes of human perception, memory and reasoning that people acquire from interacting frequently with local ecosystems, shaping peoples’ experiences, world views, and values towards local ecosystems and towards the biosphere”. They wanted to emphasize that resilience building is an external endeavor (e.g., building resilience in ecosystems or social systems), and an exercise for transforming human behavior in the way people think, feel and relate to nature. We conclude by summarizing the major points brought forward offering some policy recommendations concerning the kind of HNC among urban populations, which are vital for resilient processes towards urban sustainability
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