Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to an upcoming Article Collection on "Urban densification, crowding, access to nature and their impact on human well-being and nature connectedness" in Psychology Research and Behavior Management.
One of the most important pathways linking contact with nature to mental well-being may be its relaxing and restorative effect. The need for this type of experience may be higher in high density residential settings, especially if there are also other stressors at play, such as limited indoor space (per person), financial worries, and conflicting lifestyles within the apartment building or neighborhood. At the same time, natural areas and elements that afford relaxing and restorative experiences may be less prevalent in this type of residential environment. This may not only be due to a lower presence of nature, but also due to qualitative issues, such as social safety and privacy, being compromised.
Urbanization continues at a rapid pace world-wide, with existing cities densifying. More people will be living in high-rise apartment buildings without access to a private green space in the form of a domestic garden. The remaining public urban green space will likely have to be shared with more fellow citizens, and urban expansion implies ever increasing distances to peri-urban nature for people living in the older parts of cities. This Article Collection focuses on how this combination of higher population densities and dwindling access to nature will affect the mental well-being of future populations and on how it will it affect citizens’ connectedness to nature, which may be instrumental for successful nature conservation and biodiversity policies, needed for long-term sustainability.
Topics of interest include innovative thinking and/or research on:
• Population density and mental well-being across the lifespan
• Private green space, streetscape greenery and mental well-being
• Crowding in urban parks and well-being effects of visits
• Access to and contact with nature, nature connectedness, and well-being
• Potential pathways underlying associations, e.g., fear of crime, loneliness
• Socioeconomic status and ethnicity as potential moderators of such associations
All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisors for this collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member). Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.
The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 27 October 2023.
Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code LOFPL to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.
Guest Advisors
Sjerp de Vries, Senior researcher, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands
[email protected]
Sjerp de Vries is an environmental psychologist who investigates how people use, appreciate, and are affected by their physical environment, especially the natural elements in that environment. For the last twenty years, his work has focused on the health and well-being effects of (contact with) nearby nature. He is a co-author of several influential articles in this field and has acted as a temporary advisor of the European division of the World Health Organization on the topic of green space and health in an urban context.
Ming Kuo, Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
[email protected]
Ming Kuo is an internationally recognized scientist studying the impacts of natural elements, views, and places in our day-to-day environments on human health and functioning. She was awarded the Heinz Award for the Environment for her work in this area and has spoken at the World Economic Forum on global trends in urbanization and mental health.
