Environmental Context in Preventative Archaeology: the Alna River Project, Oslo, Norway

‘Landscapes of change: socio-environmental interactions in developing areas’ is the result of a session organized by the Developing Areas Research Group of the RGS-IBG at the Institute of British Geographers’ 2002 Annual Conference in Belfast. At a broad level these papers demonstrate how ‘hybrid’ (cf. Batterbury et al. 1997) approaches to analysing human–environment interactions are becoming central within geographical discourse. All the papers reflect dynamic people–environment interactions as people shape their environment through activities such as urbanization, industrialization or agriculture, and as the environment shapes people's lives in defining livelihood opportunities. This issue of The Geographical Journal contains a selection of the papers presented at this conference session. One other was included in a previous issue of The Geographical Journal focussing on ‘Sustainable development in drylands’ (Binns and Nel 2002). Several common themes emerged from the conference session, and are illustrated in the selection of papers presented here. The role of history in shaping human–environment interactions is illustrated well by two papers: Porter et al., focussing on irrigated vegetable production on the Jos Plateau in Nigeria, and Hurst, discussing forestry in Tanzania. In Nigeria, tin mining created a landscape of fresh water ponds which, now abandoned by the mining companies, provide fresh water for exploitation in irrigated vegetable production. Tin mining also attracted immigrants to the region, including those from areas where the techniques of irrigated vegetable production were well known. The combination of fresh water, and people seeking new livelihoods, has led to the development of irrigated vegetable production on such a large scale that it supplies not only local markets, but also national and regional markets in West Africa. In Tanzania, Hurst demonstrates that the history of land use and natural resource management choices in post-colonial Tanzania can be better understood through a more nuanced focus on historical–geographical interpretations. He also emphasizes that such an approach gives utility in describing and explaining land use politics in post-colonial developing contexts. The State has also played a role in creating landscapes and this emerged as another key theme within the session. Hurst demonstrates this well through his discussion of forest policy in Tanzania. However, the State is also responsible for the development of landscapes through its inactivity: Bakker discusses the role of the collapse of the State in creating the conditions in which water provision in ‘megacities’ has been privatized. Furthermore, Hill and Woodland discuss the role of decentralized environmental management in creating community autonomy in the development of rainwater harvesting techniques. Several papers focus on the commodification of natural resources. Bakker focuses on the commodification of water, and the change of perception of water from being a public good to a tradeable good, from entitlement to commodity. Binns and Nel (2002) also considered the commodification of natural resources as they studied environmental management and social change in South Africa, presented in the same session. They discuss how people can manipulate their environment in response to market forces and the need to secure livelihoods. Overall, each paper shows an example of adaptive management of the environment in response to external as well as internal stimuli, such as the role (or not) of the State, legacies of history, market forces and urbanization. These stimuli act as drivers of change, and act alongside the need to secure livelihoods and to secure the environments on which these are based at the local level. The papers also show how people respond to the challenges presented by their environments, and their resilience and ingenuity when faced with uncertain and changing social, political, economic and environmental contexts.

During the long history of human occupation in Australia and New Guinea, any interaction between people and their environment has been played out against changing sociocultural and environmental contexts. Although archaeologists have used palaeoenvironmental data to better characterize the relationships between humans and their environment, and palaeoecologists and geomorphologists have likewise used archaeological and historical information to augment their interpretations, it is our contention that few Australian and New Guinean studies have truly integrated these perspectives. Often archaeologists and palaeoenvironmentalists use each other's information in a one-dimensional manner, tendencies that have yielded simplistic interpretations of the past that overemphasize intentional or unintentional human causation on the one hand, and climatic and environmental causation on the other. We discuss three issues relevant to a more integrated understanding of the past: conceptualizing human—environment interactions, issues of scale and perspective, and multidisciplinary research integration in Australia and New Guinea.

Dendrochronology, the study of tree-ring growth patterns, is a powerful tool for reconstructing past human–environment interactions. This review examines its role within archaeology, focusing on how tree-ring studies contribute to dating wooden artifacts, reconstructing past climates, and understanding timber use in historical buildings and cultural heritage. To explore these applications, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of studies indexed in Web of Science. Our results reveal a marked increase in dendrochronological research over the past 15 years, alongside a broadening of its impact across related fields such as anthropology and environmental sciences. We classify the literature into major thematic areas, including methodological developments, historical and environmental disruptions, art and architecture, mining history, and the ancient timber trade. By highlighting both the advantages and limitations of dendrochronology—such as issues of reference coverage, the need for non-destructive sampling, and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration—we show how this approach extends beyond archaeology to illuminate wider cultural and environmental contexts. Ultimately, our findings demonstrate the significance of dendrochronology not only for understanding ancient civilizations and cultural heritage, but also for tracing the complex interactions between humans and natural resources across time.

Urban green spaces (UGS) as essential elements of the urban environment provide multiple ecosystem services including benefits for physical and mental health. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions have influenced human relationships with nature. Based on empirical research, this article explores the pathways and implications of human-nature interactions during and after COVID-19 and how human health and well-being could be supported by contact with nature. The article discusses the reasons that attract people to visit UGS (value of UGS, their perceptions, ways of contact with urban nature, etc.). It also analyses the effects of social isolation on the usage and perception of UGS during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The research revealed current needs for UGS and their role in adaptation of urban development and greening strategy. For this purpose, an online questionnaire survey among residents of Moscow was conducted in April–July of 2020 when restrictive measures were imposed in the city in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, non-participatory observations and photo documentation were used to supplement the data on UGS visitation and use. The GIS mapping method was applied to analyze the UGS provision (availability and accessibility of UGS). Moreover, expert interviews were conducted aiming to explore the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the urban fabric and life of the citizens. The aim was to reveal the main tendencies that can be used in the adaptation of urban development plans, especially regarding UGS and human-nature interactions. The results show that citizens (both survey respondents and experts) highly value urban nature as a tool for coping with COVID-19 challenges. They underlined a need for accessible UGS, most notably for breathing fresh air, reducing stress, relaxing, and observing and enjoying nature. The survey also revealed the particular health effects resulting from the reduction of UGS visitations due to COVID-19 restrictions. Several changes in human-nature interactions were also observed: many respondents especially missed spending time outdoors and meeting other people. That highlights the fact that while UGS normally provides places for social integration and socializing, during the COVID-19 isolation UGS were especially valued in regard to physical health and well-being (self-recovery). Both respondents and experts expressed their opinions regarding the future development of UGS network and how the UGS’s structure and design should be adapted to the current challenges. The claimed interests/preferences included the need for providing all residents equal access to UGS in a time of pandemics and post pandemics. A set of limitations and directions for future research of UGS was suggested.

Urban ecological recreational space (UERS), as essential provider of ecosystem services, play a crucial role in enhancing human well-being. Nevertheless, limited research has investigated how various types of human–nature interaction influence well-being. This study takes the Hankou waterfront as the research area, using a questionnaire survey of 318 recreationists. A five-dimension well-being scale and interaction type classification were developed. Mean analysis, one-way ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression were conducted to assess well-being and influencing factors. Results show that mental health had the highest score, while survival security scored the lowest. NDVI positively influenced all well-being dimensions, while fitness facilities and higher education levels showed negative effects. Recreationists engaged in outdoor work-oriented activities experienced higher levels of physical, mental, and self-actualization well-being than sightseeing- or socially oriented users. These findings expand the theoretical understanding of UERS by incorporating human–nature interaction patterns and offer practical guidance for sustainable urban planning.

This study investigates the manufacturing processes of stone tools excavated from Neolithic sites on the southern coast of Korea, with a particular focus on the environmental and social contexts that influenced technological choices. Special attention is given to differences in the selection and use of raw materials based on the locational types of the sites. The aim is to elucidate the technological strategies adopted through human-environment interactions. To achieve this, Neolithic sites in the region were categorized into three types based on their geographical setting: offshore island, coastal mainland, and estuarine. For each type, the raw materials and production techniques of the excavated stone tools were analyzed. The results reveal that stone tool technology in this region developed primarily around the use of tabular raw materials, with significant variation in material utilization depending on site location. Offshore island sites predominantly used pebble cores and flakes, whereas coastal mainland and estuarine sites showed a higher proportion of tools made from tabular materials. These differences appear to be rooted in environmental factors, particularly the accessibility of raw material resources. Additionally, variations in subsistence strategies across site types also played a critical role in shaping stone tool production. Offshore and coastal island sites likely relied heavily on marine resource gathering and fishing, while estuarine and coastal mainland sites may have developed more complex subsistence systems by exploiting a broader spectrum of available resources. Taken together, the findings suggest that changes in stone tool assemblages were not solely driven by chronological developments, but were closely linked to the natural environment of each site. This highlights how stone tool production and usage in the Neolithic period were shaped by ecological conditions and adaptive resource strategies.

Understanding the timing and nature of human influence on coastal and island ecosystems is becoming a central concern in archaeological research, particularly when investigated within a historical ecology framework. Unfortunately, the coast and islands of eastern Africa have not figured significantly within this growing body of literature, but are important given their historically contingent environmental, social, and political contexts, as well as the considerable threats now posed to marine ecosystems. Here, we begin developing a longer-term understanding of past marine resource use in the Mafia Archipelago (eastern Africa), an area of high ecological importance containing the Mafia Island Marine Park. Focusing on the comparatively less researched marine invertebrates provides a means for initiating discussion on potential past marine ecosystem structure, human foraging and environmental shifts, and the implications for contemporary marine resource management. The available evidence suggests that human-environment interactions over the last 2000 years were complex and dynamic; however, these data raise more questions than answers regarding the specific drivers of changes observed in the archaeomalacological record. This is encouraging as a baseline investigation and emphasizes the need for further engagement with historical ecology by a range of cognate disciplines to enhance our understanding of these complex issues.

Urbanisation and biodiversity loss in urban sprawling areas diminish human-nature interactions, which could hinder nature conservation initiatives (Soga & Gaston, 2026). To evaluate whether a more biodiverse urban greenspace promotes human-nature interactions, we developed a survey to explore attitudes towards urban lawns and meadows among residents of the Helsinki metropolitan area.About 70% of survey respondents were willing to participate in transforming a lawn into a meadow. Consequently, six lawns were transformed into meadows via voluntary participation (Trémeau et al. 2024). Biodiversity parameters, greenhouse gas dynamics and soil physicochemical properties between control lawns and transformed meadows were compared over three consecutive years, starting the year prior to the transformation. Since transformations, vegetation richness and diversity increased over time in transformed meadows, unlike in lawns, yet evenness decreased. Transformed meadows provided resources for 35 species of bees. Neither total ecosystem respiration rates nor nitrous oxide and methane fluxes differed between the two greenspace types. Similarly, none of the soil physicochemical properties differed between meadow and lawn soils. Neither meadow soil microbial communities nor bacterial or fungal biomasses significantly differed from those found in lawn soils, suggesting that any possible change in soil aspects takes a longer time to respond to changes in aboveground plant communities and management.In parallel, we measured respondents’ environmental identity (EID), environmental concern (EC) and experiences of nature (EoN). We developed a pool of 26 EoN items and scaled them within six dimensions: observing/interacting, consumptive/appreciative, self-directed/other-directed, separate/integrated, solitary/shared and positive/negative (Clayton et al. 2017). We analysed EoN dimensionality via structural equation modelling and determined the best model to contain all except a consumptive/appreciative dimension. There were significant correlations between EoN and respondents’ EID and EC, yet correlations suggest EoN is a distinct construct from EID and EC.This study combines social and environmental sciences to explore nature experiences and attitudes, illustrating a case of the potential that easy citizen-based transformations have on enhancing urban biodiversity and human-nature interactions. ReferencesClayton et al. 2017. Transformation of experience: toward a new relationship with nature. Consev Lett 10(5): 645–651.Soga & Gaston. 2016. Extinction of experience: the loss of human–nature interactions. Front Ecol Environ 14(2): 94–101.Trémeau et al. 2024. Lawns and meadows in urban green space – a comparison from perspectives of greenhouse gases, drought resilience and plant functional types. Biogeosciences 21: 949–972.

Urban open spaces of local natural environments can promote the health and well-being of both ecosystems and humans, and the management of the urban spaces can benefit from knowledge of individuals’/citizens’ perceptions of such environments. However, such knowledge is scarce and contemporary inquiries are often limited to cognitive observations and focused on built environmental elements rather than encouraged to recognize and communicate comprehensive perceptions. This paper investigates whether arts-based methods can facilitate recognition and understanding perceptions of urban open spaces. Two arts-based methods were used to capture perceptions: drifting, which is a walking method, and theatrical images, which is a still image method and three reflective methods to recognize and communicate the perceptions. The results show related sensations and perceptions enabled by arts-based methods comparing them to a sticker map method. The main findings were perceptions, which included information about human–environment interaction, about relations to other people and about ‘sense of place’ in urban open spaces. The hitherto unidentified perceptions about urban open space were associations, metaphors and memories. The methods used offer initial practical implications for future use.

Human–environment interactions in urban green spaces — A systematic review of contemporary issues and prospects for future research

The paper interrogates the nature of rapid transitions of urban space in a country like India using a case study of a dumping ground located at Kanjurmarg in Mumbai. The land in question was a dense mangrove wetland which was speculatively reclaimed for a landfill. It looks at the protests and contestations around the site to raise questions on the nature of transitions of urban green spaces and explores how human–nature interactions are shaped by politics of development. Inequalities resulting from differential distribution and partial access of urban landscape/resources involving various actors, particularly the state and from micro political processes are explored. It draws from responses of actors and gaps in governance to understand the larger debate around urban social and environmental justice.

Neighborhoods and Environmental Determinants of Infectious Diseases

As more people live in cities, there is growing concern about the decline in human–nature interactions, which negatively affect health and engagement with conservation efforts. Experiencing nature in urban green spaces could counteract this trend. However, access to these spaces is often limited due to a decreasing positive orientation of people towards nature and for people in challenging life circumstances—an important aspect of environmental justice. This study examines seven programmes promoted by the Berlin Nature Conservation Foundation to foster interactions between people and nature in Berlin, Germany, while highlighting the importance of urban biodiversity. We identify the targeted groups, the types of green spaces used, participation in the programmes, and the challenges and enablers of their implementation. The programmes target diverse groups, ranging from the general public (Long Day of Urban Nature, Environmental Calendar, Wild Berlin) to green space visitors (Urban Nature Rangers) primary school children (Nemo), children in deprived neighbourhoods (Nature Experience Areas) to people in challenging life circumstances (Nature Companions). The programmes provide access to a wide range of urban nature, from natural remnants to designed green spaces to novel urban ecosystems. Most programmes provide direct access to urban nature, except for the Wild Berlin video clips and the Environmental Calendar as a multiplicator of nature‐related activities. In 2023, the number of participants in outdoor programmes ranged from 1400 to 42,000, while website traffic for digital programmes was approximately 10 times higher. Since 2007, 324,000 people have participated in the Long Day of Urban Nature. Policy implications. Biodiversity conservation depends on support from current and future generations, yet this is challenged by the increasing disconnect between citizens and nature, a key environmental justice issue. This study demonstrates that programmes promoting human–nature interactions, run by a public foundation in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, can complement established environmental education by engaging diverse groups, including those facing challenging life circumstances. The multi‐stakeholder governance of the Berlin Nature Conservation Foundation, involving representatives from the legislature, executive and environmental organizations, facilitated the co‐creation and implementation of these programmes with public institutions and civil society actors. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Urban green spaces face increasing pressure to reconcile ecological conservation with rising public demand as urbanization accelerates. Yet the spatial coupling of human needs and natural provisioning in the urban–rural fringe remains insufficiently understood. Focusing on the country park cluster in Beijing’s Huitian region, this study develops an integrated assessment framework—combining ecological importance, ecological connectivity potential, construction suitability, and recreational demand—to evaluate nature suitability and pinpoint spatial mismatches in human–nature interactions. Ecological importance is quantified through ecological sensitivity analysis and InVEST-based habitat-quality modeling, while ecological connectivity potential is estimated via normalized least-cost corridor analysis. Construction suitability is derived from the proportion of artificial surfaces and road network density, and recreational demand is measured by population concentration, facility density, and transport accessibility. These metrics are synthesized to map nature-suitability patterns and reveal divergences between human demand and ecological provisioning. The results show a pronounced north–south gradient in ecological importance, with Dongxiaokou Ditch and Dongxiaokou Forest Park emerging as ecological hotspots. Nineteen ecological source patches are identified, with the strongest connectivity in the southern sector of Dongxiaokou Forest Park. Areas of high construction suitability coincide with well-developed infrastructure, whereas recreational demand clusters around Tiantongyuan and Beiqing Road. Natural and artificial elements intertwine to form an ecological core of 870.74 hm2, yet 13.29% of the study area exhibits mismatches—particularly residential zones lacking green-space access. Over-development within Dongxiaokou Urban Recreation Park likewise falls short of ecological expectations. The study offers targeted recommendations—ecological protection, facility optimization, green-space enhancement, and the integration of multifunctional green infrastructure—and provides a transferable framework for coordinating human and natural systems in other urban–rural fringe contexts.

Introduction: The global rise of urbanization has much triggered scientific interest in how nature impacts on human health. Natural environments, such as alpine landscapes, forests, or urban green spaces, are potential high-impact health resources. While there is a growing body of evidence to reveal a positive influence of these natural environments on human health and well-being, further investigations guided by rigorous evidence-based medical research are very much needed. Objective: The present study protocol aims at testing research methodologies in the context of a prospective clinical trial on nature-based interventions. This shall improve the standards of medical research in human–nature interactions. Methods: The ANKER Study investigates the influence of two novel types of nature-based therapy—mountain hiking and forest therapy—on physiological, psychological, and immunological parameters of couples with a sedentary lifestyle. Two intervention groups were formed and spent a seven-day holiday in Algund, Italy. The “forest therapy group” participated in daily guided low-power nature connection activities. The “hiking group”, by contrast, joined in a daily moderate hiking program. Health-related quality of life and relationship quality are defined as primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes include nature connection, balance, cardio-respiratory fitness, fractional exhaled nitric oxide, body composition and skin hydration. Furthermore, a new approach to measure health-related quality of life is validated. The so-called “intercultural quality of life” comic assesses the health-related quality of life with a digitally animated comic-based tool.