Database

The articles in the database below represent a curated selection from our NHA (full) members and Executive Committee. Rather than being a comprehensive database, like what you would find on a mainstream database, this is a limited and curated list of articles gathered by our member. To be included, these peer-reviewed articles and resources must meet specific criteria, ensuring a foundation of quality. Articles included cover a diverse array of study types—experiments, qualitative research, and meta-analyses—all exploring the intricate relationship between nature and well-being. Priority is accorded to works addressing DEIJ matters or fostering consensus on vital topics. If you would like to submit an article to be featured in the database, please email manager@naturehealthalliance.org

List Display

Report

Outside our Doors: the benefits of cities where people and nature thrive

Authors: Erin House, Caitlyn Bay O'Connor, Kathleen L. Wolf, Jessie Israel and Tashina Reynolds |

We are pleased and honored to introduce this milestone report from The Nature Conservancy. The authors have worked carefully to present a comprehensive analysis of current evidence on how our human communities need nature in and around them to thrive. This report presents a panoramic view of how our cities and towns benefit from nature—on the streets, next to schools and hospitals, outside our windows; everywhere people are, we can benefit from nature.

Report

Sites To Systems: Nearby Nature for Human Health

Authors: Kathleen L. Wolf and Weston Brinkley |

Nearly forty years of research confirms that contact with nearby nature is profoundly important for human health and wellness. 

Report

The Benefits of Nearby Nature in Cities for Older Adults

Authors: Kathleen L. Wolf and Elizabeth Housley |

How can we promote improved health and wellness for elders? For older adults, generally defined here as people who are 60 or older, the health benefits of being near urban green spaces can play a meaningful role in wellness and quality of life.

Report

The Sacred and Nearby Nature in Cities

Authors: Kathleen L. Wolf and Elizabeth Housley |

This report is designed to introduce vocabulary, understanding, and research evidence that supports the idea of small ‘s’, or civic sacred in communities.

Research Article

Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation

Authors:Gregory N. Bratman, J. Paul Hamilton, Gretchen C. Daily and James J. Gross | | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) | Volume 112, Number 28: 8567-8572

Urbanization has many benefits, but it also is associated with increased levels of mental illness, including depression. It has been suggested that decreased nature experience may help to explain the link between urbanization and mental illness.

Research Article

The benefits of nature experience: Improved affect and cognition

Authors:Gregory N. Bratman, Gretchen C. Daily, Benjamin Levy and James J. Gross | | Landscape and Urban Planning | Volume 138: 41-50

This study investigated the impact of nature experience on affect and cognition. We randomly assigned sixty participants to a 50-min walk in either a natural or an urban environment in and around Stanford, California. Before and after their walk, participants completed a series of psychological assessments of affective and cognitive functioning.

Research Article

Metro Nature, Environmental Health, and Economic Value

Authors:Kathleen L. Wolf and Alicia S. T. Robbins | | Environmental Health Perspectives | Volume 123, Issue 5: 390-398

Nearly 40 years of research provides an extensive body of evidence about human health, well-being, and improved function benefits associated with experiences of nearby nature in cities.

Report

Environmental equality: Providing nearby nature for everyone

Authors: Kathleen L. Wolf and Elizabeth Housley |

Every person, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, or age, is entitled to live in a home, neighborhood, and city that supports wellness and good health.

Report

The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations

Author: Dorceta Taylor |

Environmental institutions have been working on diversity efforts for the better part of five decades. This report discusses the findings of a study of three types of environmental institutions: 191 conservation and preservation organizations, 74 government environmental agencies, and 28 environmental grantmaking foundations.

Report

Reflect & restore: Urban green space for mental wellness

Authors: Kathleen L. Wolf and Elizabeth Housley |

A holistic, optimistic approach to health supports productive individuals, and livable communities where people can thrive.

Report

Feeling stressed? Take a time out in nature

Authors: Kathleen L. Wolf and Elizabeth Housley |

Stress has become a constant for many city residents. Tragic or traumatic situations and events may disrupt people’s lives, but are no longer the most common sources of stress.

Research Article

The impacts of nature experience on human cognitive function and mental health

Authors:Gregory N. Bratman, J. Paul Hamilton and Gretchen C. Daily | | Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences | Volume 1249, Issue 1: 118-136

Scholars spanning a variety of disciplines have studied the ways in which contact with natural environments may impact human well-being. We review the effects of such nature experience on human cognitive function and mental health, synthesizing work from environmental psychology, urban planning, the medical literature, and landscape aesthetics.