Nature and Health: Perspectives and Pathways

As many scholars have noted, research and publications on the benefits of nature experience have grown substantially over recent years. Progress has been made on empirical fronts based on perspectives from psychology, epidemiology, sociology, exposure science, urban design, and other disciplines. Studies have revealed ways in which health outcomes differ by population characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status), individual differences (e.g., states of baseline mental health), and interactions with different types of nature (e.g., street trees vs. large parks vs. deserts) (Barnes et al., 2019; Mitchell & Popham, 2008; Mitchell, Richardson, & Shortt, 2015; Olvera-Alvarez, Browning, Neophytou, & Bratman, 2021; Tester-Jones et al., 2020; Wheeler et al., 2015; Yin, Bratman, Browning, Spengler, & Olvera-Alvarez, 2022). Together, the evidence also illustrates the importance of accounting for different ways of “operationalizing nature” (e.g., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [NDVI]), and methods of measuring exposure (e.g., subjective vs. objective), as well as the granularity in assessments of frequency and duration (Ekkel & de Vries, 2017; Shanahan et al., 2016).