Examining connection to nature at multiple scales provides insights for urban conservation

Abstract

With the rapid increase in urbanization, local governments and organizations are searching for opportunities to improve the social resilience, health, and wellbeing of urban residents by increasing their connection to nature. However, these urban communities are highly heterogenous, and tailored nature engagement and conservation programs will be necessary for building nature connection across diverse segments of the population. Here, we surveyed Melbourne community members (n = 1585) to understand their connection to nature and other aspects of their relationship with nature to aid in designing and prioritizing new conservation programs across the city. We determined demographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors associated with an individual's connection to nature, characterized unique segments of the population, and identified neighborhoods with greater concentrations of residents with high and low connection to nature. Overall, we found that community members have relatively high connection to nature, are concerned about environmental issues, and frequently participate in nature-related activities. New and older Melbourne residents tend to be more connected to nature, though there is important variation within these populations. Of the six distinct types of community members we identified, students that have lived in Melbourne for most of their lives exhibited the lowest connection to nature of all other typologies. Furthermore, residents in neighborhoods south of the Yarra River are the least connected to nature. We discuss the importance of such multifaceted approaches for understanding nature connection in urban populations and outline important strategies and priorities based on individual, community, and geographic targets for conservation programming across the Greater Melbourne area.