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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>During the London 2012 Olympics people flocked to photograph the colourful annual meadows around the stadium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \u2018Socio-cultural\u2019 is a term used in research at the intersection of people and \u2018nature\u2019 to describe both socio-demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, and whether people have a background of migration from another country, and cultural factors including people\u2019s deep underlying or held \u2018values\u2019 including \u2018nature-connection\u2019. There is strong evidence that peoples\u2019 perceptions and preferences as expressed on a single day are strongly related to these underlying values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My own research has generated some interesting learning in relation to gender differences in perceptions. Findings from 1400 participants who walked through woodlands, shrubs and herbaceous planting of different degrees of naturalness, indicate that women found the planting more mentally restorative than men1<\/sup> and perceived higher levels of \u2018naturalness\u20192<\/sup> regardless of the style of planting they walked through. In our work on urban meadow introduction with local authority land managers in Bedfordshire3<\/sup>, we found that there was a preference for meadow style planting over traditional herbaceous and formal bedding styles, but the effect was stronger for women, concurring with earlier research conducted in the Netherlands showing that women were more appreciative of gardens than men, particularly wild and romantic ones, and that men were more likely to own a \u2018manicured\u2019 garden. Landscape, environmental and horticultural professionals also demonstrate contrasting perceptions and preferences to those of non-professionals. My own research has consistently shown that professionals find spending time in green spaces less restorative than other people, maybe because this is their usual \u2018work\u2019 environment. Professionals usually prefer a wilder more naturalistic style than other research participants, so need to be mindful of this when planning and designing green spaces for other people.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers and practitioners supporting the \u2018Biophilia hypothesis\u2019 advocate that humans are hard-wired to bond closely with the natural world. Yet we all know people, particularly those living in urban areas, to which this does not apply. For some first-generation migrants with BAME backgrounds, \u2018nature\u2019 may appear too wild, dirty and inhospitable. This applies within some communities in Luton, Bedfordshire, where the I am now working with a local primary school to introduce an arboretum-meadow. My own research has shown that people who are more \u2018nature-connected\u2019 both appreciate the aesthetic qualities of different green spaces and feel more mentally restored than the less nature-connected. This raises important questions. Should we \u2018educate\u2019 urban communities to know more about nature, thereby making them more nature-connected, so they can experience heightened wellbeing benefits from \u2018nature\u2019? An alternative view is that \u2018contact, emotion, compassion, meaning and beauty are pathways to nature-connection.\u20194<\/sup> I strongly support this view that \u2018nature connection\u2019 \/ \u2019nature orientation\u2019 \/ \u2018ecocentricity\u2019 is developed through individual or community experiences over the life-course, often with roots in childhood experiences of nature within urban woodlands and greenspaces. During my own research, participants expressing appreciation for woodlands in Fairlands Valley Park Stevenage, Hertfordshire, recounted visits to Monks Wood 50 years ago as children, or more recent visits with grandchildren to create imaginary woodland characters and stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Stevenage residents demonstrated strong place attachment to Monk’s Wood, often forged through childhood play or visits with their own grandchildren<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n During the COVID-19 pandemic more people have done physical activity and sought mental restoration in parks and greenspaces than ever before. In the months to come, as lockdown eases further, it will be interesting to see if people continue to use and value these spaces, and whether this impacts on their nature-connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1<\/sup>Hoyle et al. (2017). All about the \u2018wow factor\u2019? The relationships between aesthetics, restorative effect and perceived biodiversity in designed urban planting. Landscape and Urban Planning, <\/em>164, 109-123<\/p>\n\n\n\n