Study: Urban Planners Should Include Nature

A recent study indicates people are more likely to feel satisfied with their lives when they feel connected to nature. But urban planners often don’t take that need into account. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:

Transcript

A recent study indicates people are more likely to feel
satisfied with their lives when they feel connected to nature.
But urban planners often don’t take that need into account. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams has more:


You’ve might’ve guessed that crawling along on a crowded highway, or working
all day in a stuffy office can be bad for your mental health. A new study confirms that.


Stephen Kaplan co-authored the study in the American Journal of Public
Health. Kaplan says urban design that limits contact with nature can make
people feel tired and irritable.


“Planners are typically educated in the economic mold, and from that point
of view, people want to achieve as much financial input as possible, they
want to get places in the fastest way as possible. We’ve done studies that
show that people much prefer a route that isn’t the fastest if it gives them
a chance to experience nature along the way.”


Kaplan says if planners are to design livable communities, they need to keep
nature in mind.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Rebecca Williams.