Some psychological benefits of urban nature: Mental vitality from time spent in nearby nature.

Abstract

A one-time era of vast energy and natural resources allowed an industrial civilization to emerge and flourish. This gift of resources allowed for the building of modern society’s infrastructure and the flood of goods and services. Those resources, however, were never limitless. The coming decline in resource availability and quality will significantly alter individual and community life patterns, and initiate a drawn-out transition to a new normal. These changes in the biophysical basis of everyday life will tax our social, emotional and attentional capacities. Individuals will struggle to remain clearheaded and effective while coping with immutable biophysical limits. It is here that psychology will play a major role since what is being faced is not a technological or political challenge but an existential one. Psychological research posits that time spent in nature restores our mental effectiveness, emotional outlook and subjective well-being. Furthermore, the full psychological benefits of nature may not require exceptional natural environments such as scenic parks, exquisite gardens or immense green spaces. Everyday nature, even that judged to be mundane, may suffice. This is an important notion since nature in small-scale neighborhood settings is inexpensive to maintain and widely accessible to the vast majority of people. This chapter explores this idea, first by developing the theoretical basis for using ordinary nature to restore mental and social effectiveness and second by presenting a study of two designed residential neighborhoods that differ dramatically on the quality and amount of nearby nature. Results of the study are consistent with theory and prior research in indicating that residents who committed to spending time outdoors in their neighborhood showed greater mental clarity and effectiveness, regardless of the quality of the surrounding natural settings. Considered together, the theory and results support the suggestion that exposure to nearby nature significantly benefits mental functioning even in the absence of superlative design features. Time spent in everyday nature, which is available to most people, is as effective as experiencing the breathtaking beauty of extraordinary natural settings. The chapter presents these findings as having important implications for citizens who must maintain their mental clarity and emotional stability while responding to trying environmental circumstances. Even under a business-as-usual resource scenario, budget constraints and existing land use patterns make it difficult to create new natural areas. A scenario that includes a reduction of net energy surplus and a descent in natural resource availability makes these findings all the more useful.