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The Role of Nature in the Urban Context

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Behavior and the Natural Environment

Part of the book series: Human Behavior and Environment ((HUBE,volume 6))

Abstract

Urban nature. The juxtaposition may strike some as a contradiction. If one thinks of nature as somewhere else, removed from human influence and inaccessible to major segments of the population, then it would make little sense to speak of nature in the urban context. But nature is an elusive concept. It can and does exist even in the city. In fact, in that context, nature not only survives human influence, it often depends on it.

People need contact with trees and plants and water. In some way, which is hard to express, people are able to be more whole in the presence of nature, are able to go deeper into themselves, and are somehow able to draw sustaining energy from the life of plants and trees and water. (Alexander, Ishikawa, & Silverstein, 1977, p. 806)

The author greatly appreciates the support of the Urban Forestry Project through Cooperative Agreement 13-655, U.S. Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Rachel Kaplan

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  1. Rachel Kaplan
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Irwin Altman

  2. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Joachim F. Wohlwill

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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York

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Kaplan, R. (1983). The Role of Nature in the Urban Context. In: Altman, I., Wohlwill, J.F. (eds) Behavior and the Natural Environment. Human Behavior and Environment, vol 6. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3539-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3539-9_5

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