For Week 4, there are two required readings: a brief report on the health and financial benefits of access to nature in urban environments across the lifecourse and
a discussion of the role nature can play in encouraging the types of pro-environmental beliefs and behaviours that are critically important in responding to the threat of climate change. Expanding on this second reading, this week’s lecture will explore the impact of nature on individual beliefs and behaviours related to environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation.

Both of these readings will be included as part of this Thursday’s reading quiz. Based on the input you have provided through the blog and during seminar, here is a list of potential questions that may appear on the quiz. Seminar will also include a guest presentation and a brief overview of academic writing.

Now that the quiz is over, if you’d like to learn more about the fishing game used to test an individual’s level of cooperation, take a look at “Cooperation is in our nature”; to explore the concepts described in the lecture by Paul Piff in greater detail, consult “An occasion for unselfing”.

Week Three’s Lecture delved into the scientific theory and evidence linking nature to health benefits. One issue that arose during lecture was whether the potential benefits ascribed to natural space exposure might be in part due to the placebo effect. Can you think of a way you might go about answering this question through a scientific study?

In seminar, we discussed the results of the group site analysis we carried out last week, delved into this week’s required reading, and carried out the mental mapping exercise that is one component of Assignment 1.

Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of this field, the required reading – Chapter 9 from the textbook Environmental Psychology: An Introduction – expands upon the role of theory in creating healthy environments by focusing on applicable theories from the field of architecture and building design. If you’re interested in learning more about how early human history informs modern-day reactions, take a look at the article by Ohman and Mineka on the evolutionary development of our fear of snakes.

Once again, we’re asking for your own questions in response to this reading, and anything you submit may appear on next week’s reading quiz. Submitted questions can range from the simple (“Name one important difference between social design and biophilic design.”) to the more complex or applied (“As individuals who primarily focus on outdoor environments, what ways can urban foresters inform the use of biophilic design for built environments?”); additional questions related to the reading appear at the end of the chapter.

In Week Two, the lecture session focused on the global burden of disease. In seminar, you began working on Assignment One by exploring the topic of site analysis and conducting a mini site analysis of your own.

The sole required reading for this week is the World Health Organization’s 2016 overview of the evidence on urban greenspaces and health. Additional readings that might interest you include the brief report in Nature on the effect of urban environments on social stress processing, which includes some fascinating functional MRI images.

As we begin to delve more deeply into the concept of population health, how do you see your role in improving your own health and that of the people around you?

And as you begin to conduct your own site analysis efforts, what different approaches may be needed to address the elements of site analysis we brainstormed together? Are there any questions you’d like to answer but face obstacles in doing so? 

In Week One, the lecture session introduced the concept of healthy planet, healthy people, while seminar provided an introduction to urban greenspaces and an overview of the first assignment.

Readings comprised the core content in Outside Our Doors and the recommended reading in GEO-6 Assessment for the pan-European region.

Your feedback on any or all of these components of the first week of the course is welcome below!