Abstract
Urbanization is increasingly compromising residents’ connection to natural habitats and landscapes. With established relationships between human–nature connection (HNC) and pro-environmental behaviour and human well being, there are calls for effective interventions to strengthen HNC in urban settings. However, much of this research has operationalised HNC in narrow psychological terms. Based on an embodied framework of urban human–food connection (HFC) as a specific dimension of HNC, this article explores the role of active urban gardening in promoting different types of internal and external HFC and their link with pro-environmental food behaviour (PEFB). Based on a quantitative survey in Germany addressing vegetable gardeners in Munich (N = 254), a principal component analysis extracted four components of HFC comprising external body-related HFC (i.e. immediate urban garden-body activities: food harvesting and experiential food interaction) and internal mind-related HFC (i.e. immediate urban garden-mind activities including food discovery as well as food consciousness). These were found to be statistically related to one another. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that food consciousness through concerns on food consumption and environmental impacts as well as food as part of life attitude as an internal HFC is the sole predictor of PEFB. The study suggests an embodied HFC model emphasizing the need for local body- and mind-based nature connections for fostering earth stewardship. Future research should explore the relationship between inner dimensions of nature connectedness and external behavioural change to enable transformations towards sustainability.
Highlights
In our rapidly urbanising world, people are increasingly detached from nature (Hartig and Kahn 2016)
Our findings suggest that immediate human–food connection (HFC) is related to a broader sphere of HFC that in turn is translated into pro-environmental food behaviour (PEFB)
Since food consciousness as mind-based HFC is in our study a key predictor for PEFB, we suggest that future research should further elaborate on how to assess and record internal human–nature connection (HNC)
Summary
In our rapidly urbanising world, people are increasingly detached from nature (Hartig and Kahn 2016). Urbanisation decreases access to green space and nature experience (Cox et al 2018; Lin et al 2015), which is crucial for mental and physical health of city residents suffering from stressful urban environments (Bratman et al 2012; Engemann et al 2019). Another field of research has shown the value of nature connectedness in terms of the clear link between human–nature connection (HNC) and pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) (Braito et al 2017; Frantz and Mayer 2014; Whitburn et al 2018). In the face of pressing environmental challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss, understanding human behaviour and attitudes is key to foster sustainable development (Martin et al. Vol.:(0123456789)
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