Urgent Biophilia

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns triggered significant physical and mental health stress for millions of people around the world. How did people cope with this stress when many other common coping mechanisms, such as socialising and travel, were restricted? Inspired by the concept of urgent biophilia, which describes the conscious desire of humans to seek interactions with nature during periods of stress, this research investigates if nature was used as a coping mechanism during the COVID-19 lockdowns. 

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A combination of surveys and pedestrian and cyclist counters in popular green spaces in Wellington, New Zealand, were used to determine changes in the frequency of and reasons for visiting green spaces during lockdowns. The results showed that there was an increase in green space visits during the lockdowns, with the majority of people selecting mental well-being as their primary reason for visiting. This exemplifies the principles of urgent biophilia and demonstrates the importance of urban green spaces as a public health resource.

 

The full article can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.3390/land11060793 

 

Reference

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MacKinnon, M., MacKinnon, R., Pedersen Zari, M., Glensor, K., & Park, T. (2022). Urgent Biophilia: Green Space Visits in Wellington, New Zealand, during the COVID-19 Lockdowns. Land (Basel), 11(6), 793–. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11060793