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Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

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Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#111

Post by nicbou »

ahartmetz wrote: post #15
throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

I live in Berlin, which contains many trees and parks. One of the nicest quarters of Berlin is Gartenstadt (garden city) Frohnau, which feels like houses in the forest - at decent density. So it doesn't have to be either city or nature. But I'm afraid that current cost structures and short-term thinking make another Gartenstadt very unlikely. Well. It may be that this kind of place only really works as a suburb. It d…

Berlin has large parks in the city, and even larger ones at the edges. It doesn't only work as a suburb - people in any central Kiez are within walking distance of a park.

I love that city for that. Milan felt claustrophobic without all the parks.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#112

Post by blenderdt »

radu_floricica wrote: post #52

Funny thing is, making cities more green isn't even _that_ difficult. I see above conversations on living closer to nature, or mountains vs parks - but the vast majority of time spent is walking and driving in the cities. So it seems a no-brainer that before everything else, before thinking about taking a 2 hour drive to hike, or making the time for a weekly visit to the park, we should first make sure the places peo…

This is why I like the work of †Christopher Alexander so much. He doesn't only point out that our cities are bad for us but also gives solutions.

For example moving parking space and roads to the back of the shops and create a green walking area in the front of the shops.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#113

Post by imw »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #94
yongjik wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels weird to argue against suburbs while I'm living there, but... Most pro-density/pro-mass-transit people aren't arguing against rural lifestyle. They're against suburban, car-dominated lifestyle. I'll conjecture that, for many people, the potential benefit of living "close to nature" is more than negated by driving everywhere. Commuting in a subway in a mega-city easily racks up thirty minutes of brisk walking…

I hear a lot of them argue about how rural people waste space and how they’re sick of subsidizing rural infrastructure and we should impose policies which further incentivize people to migrate from rural to urban areas. The thrust of the issue seems to be directed at suburbs (if only because many of these folks are only marginally aware of the world beyond the suburbs), but rural life is still wholly incompatible wit…

Fascinating. I've spent a fair amount of time in/around pro-livability discussions, and I've never really come across what you're describing. In my experience a solid portion of the folks advocating for more human-friendly cities are urban dwellers who spend significant time in nature and/or wilderness.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#114

Post by ogig »

radu_floricica wrote: post #52

Funny thing is, making cities more green isn't even _that_ difficult. I see above conversations on living closer to nature, or mountains vs parks - but the vast majority of time spent is walking and driving in the cities. So it seems a no-brainer that before everything else, before thinking about taking a 2 hour drive to hike, or making the time for a weekly visit to the park, we should first make sure the places peo…

I've been involved in the design of a green neighborhood in my city [1][2]. We spent quite some time taking in account as much considerations for sustainability and integration with the environment. It wasn't easy, at all. The hardest part, still fully unsolved, is operating with current legislation and outdated city planning rules. Those normatives revolve around high density and cheap development. Nature takes space and efficient buildings are expensive so housing constructors will have a hard time buying into the green zone.

Efficient city planning is not easy, and requires well intended coordination on many fronts.

On the other side I'm personally convinced closeness to nature is a life saver on many aspects so renewing those policies is a battle worth having.

[1] https://arquitectura-sostenible.es/el-barrio-multiecologico-... [2] http://concellodelugo.gal/es/actuaciones/proyecto-lugobiodin...

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#115

Post by throwaway2037 »

Grimburger wrote: post #78
tjr225 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re presenting a false dichotomy. There are plenty of dense places with incredible nature within just an hours drive. In the USA, Maybe not so much outside of the West Coast of the USA however. Personally, living in a city close to nature(seattle area) has been the best thing for me so far in my life; I have spent a stupid amount of money making it happen but wouldn’t trade it for anything. On the flip side it’s n…

> within just an hours drive Wow that's depressing, I live in a very high density area by western standards and there's 50,000 acres of pristine rainforest literally on my doorstep while the mall is 5 minutes drive away and the city centre is 15 mins. During covid even the rare and endangered gibbons would come out hang out in the street. Everytime I go back to Australia it seems like a suburban dystopia with 8 lane…

You wrote: >

Woah. Where do you live? This sounds "impossible". Singapore or Kuala Lumpur?

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#116

Post by woeh »

vishnugupta wrote: post #84
radu_floricica wrote: post #52

Funny thing is, making cities more green isn't even _that_ difficult. I see above conversations on living closer to nature, or mountains vs parks - but the vast majority of time spent is walking and driving in the cities. So it seems a no-brainer that before everything else, before thinking about taking a 2 hour drive to hike, or making the time for a weekly visit to the park, we should first make sure the places peo…

> making cities more green isn't even _that_ difficult. On the contrary it takes quite a bit of effort to keep the nature at bay. Neglect a corner of your house and next thing you notices small ecosystem developing full with small grass, mold, insects and what not. When Indian cities were locked down for a few months all sorts of birds and animals started appearing in the neighborhood.

Where I live, the city encourages citizens to make tiny gardens against the facades off their building. If you request them, the municipality will pop out some tiles from the sidewalk and supply the soil.

The idea is that citizens themselves are then responsible for the gardening, and as you say "keeping nature at bay". The city has become prettier because of it.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#118

Post by mjburgess »

koboll wrote: post #95

I wonder if this title isn't a bit backwards. We are creatures that emerged from nature; being in nature is baseline to us. A better way to phrase this might be "being constantly trapped in a world made of concrete and drywall causes enormous emotional and cognitive detriments to people".

They're only artificial caves, where we spent much of our time anyway.

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#119

Post by yodelshady »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #6

This is the sort of thing I think about when the pro-urban/pro-density/anti-car people talk about their vision for the world. I live in a city now, and the lack of substantial nature is suffocating to the extent that I plan to move. The idea that we should all live this way to conserve space—a resource which is only scarce in these urban places—seems excessive to put it mildly. EDIT: A lot of urban folks are rebuttin…

> I’m sure they’ve grown, but it’s still a big world out there people. I

No, it just isn't. Humans have transformed seventy per cent of the land on Earth[1]. Including the deserts. Suburbs are the second most land intensive thing we do, after farming, and for almost every other developed-world country, this problem is more acute than in the US. Get some perspective.

That is a "wind turbines cause global warming" level of bad take. More succinctly, so close to a lie I no longer have the patience to differentiate them.

[1] https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/

Re: Nature has enormous emotional and cognitive benefits on people

#120

Post by skinpop »

TedShiller wrote: post #41
alephnan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like Tokyo or pretty much anywhere in Japan?

Exactly, just like Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world

It's very easy to find affordable living in Tokyo or any other big city in Japan.
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