Reduced access to nature a cause of mental illness in cities
A research says that reduced access to nature may be one of reason why mental illnesses and mood disorders are more common in cities than in rural areas. City dwellers in increasingly dense urban areas may have little or no contact with the natural world in their daily lives.
Peter Kahn of the University of Washington says, ‘There is an enormous amount of disease largely tied to our removal from the natural environment.’
The article published in the journal Science, discusses the growing tension between the role urban areas play in society and the debilitating aspects of cities that disconnect humans from the natural world.
The research also demonstrates the emotional and mental strain cities can have on people.
Packing people into cities can then have serious consequences for future generations. ‘I am willing to say there is a naturalness we can achieve in cities, but not at the scale we are building or at the scale we are headed with many cities,’ said Kahn.
Researchers have suggested steps that cities can take to introduce nature into the urban core, including apartments to have windows that open to allow in fresh air and natural light, incorporating more rooftop gardens and urban agriculture, and creating spaces within and around buildings to touch, see and smell native plants.
‘But these remedies first require an appreciation for nature in urban centres, as well as the space, resources and collective will to make these changes. People must be able to interact with these elements using more of their senses in order to experience physical and psychological benefits of nature, as well as to shift the collective baseline toward better understanding and appreciation of the natural world,’ said Kahn.
For example, looking at an office plant on the windowsill might be soothing, but having a place to sit in the grass on a lunch break and perhaps even sink one’s feet into the soil are sensory experiences that can deepen a person’s engagement with nature, Kahn added.
