Bringing our Nature Inside

Over the years, industrialization mostly present within urban areas has caused humans’ interactions with nature to shrink as people spend more of their time indoors. Currently, 54 percent of the world’s population lives in an urban environment, and people generally tend to spend 93 percent of their time indoors. With this change in the lifestyle of the population, researchers have found evidence of benefits caused by human-nature interaction that now people are lacking. People who spend time in nature or just interact with it in different ways end up experiencing improvement in their physical, and mental health along with improvement in behavior, and productivity. As a result of this, those who tend to live in areas where there is more access to nature, are those that tend to have more opportunities to interact with the outdoors and benefit from it. On the contrary, those who don’t have close contact with nature don’t benefit from it, and in fact, are being harmed due to the lack of access to it.

As stated previously, our generations are experiencing what’s known as “nature deficit disorder” which one part of it is due to technology that has been influencing individuals to stay indoors. In the article ¨This Is No Way to Be Human¨, the author Alan Lightman argues that being human is recognizing the larger things around us -- that people recognize nature as a place where they can be fulfilled. He also mentions how our ancestors used to be in constant interaction with the natural world, while current generations are substituting it with technology. Lightman also refers to the comparison made by Ralph Waldo Emerson between human interaction in 1844 and nowadays. Emerson describes the genuine attraction people used to feel towards the outdoor spaces to admire nature, while nowadays it requires a lot of effort for people to leave their homes due to technology (page 3). Here Lightman expresses his perspective of how people have started to lose their humanity because being human means being in nature.

Another aspect that has contributed to the interference between human-nature relationships is the accessibility that people have to the outdoors. An associate professor called Anne Short, whose focus is on earth and the environment explained in an interview that, people’s ideas of nature can vary depending on what people around them believe and based on their own experience. Indoor spaces were first created to become a shelter, but this shelter has become a capsule where people don't get to see and be in contact with nature. With that said, one's neighborhood has a huge impact on defining their natural identity. The current issue with this aspect is that rich neighborhoods tend to be greener, while poor neighborhoods are less green, which also correlates to their health and quality of life.

A study that took place in two neighborhoods in London with different access to green spaces, had the objective of comparing the mood-related prescriptions in each neighborhood’s pharmacy. The results of this study were that residents of low-income neighborhoods with fewer green spaces were prescribed a greater amount of mood-related prescriptions for disorders such as depression and anxiety disorder. This shows that residents of low-income neighborhoods with fewer green spaces are more vulnerable to depression and anxiety. Furthermore, a researcher named Ming Kuo stated that a lack of nature can lead to violent behaviors. In one of her case studies, she discovered that, “ Compared with residents whose building had a view of stands of trees, those whose building was surrounded by barren ground, experienced higher levels of aggression, violence, and reported crime, along with difficulty in managing life issues". This finding informs that isolation from nature causes negative changes to human behavior. 

Moreover, a now professor of architecture as well as a co-founding director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University called Roger Ulrich, reported that surgery patients in rooms that had no windows recovered 8.5 percent slower and took more analgesics than those patients who had windows facing trees. The findings of this research suggest adopting techniques that reinforce nature to improve healing in health facilities.

Along with those consequences caused by nature deficit, there is research that proves the impact nature can have on learning. An example is the finding made in 1999 that before a school improved daylight within its building, students used to score lower on tests. These studies are just some of many that have been done and concluded that the decrease in access to nature is causing consequences that end up affecting the well-being of one's life.

Nowadays, neighborhoods are designed in a way that some receive privileges that others don’t have. For this story-map, I will be focusing on the aspect that rich neighborhoods tend to have more access to green spaces than poor neighborhoods, creating the nature gap. Those with a high income are the most likely to buy their own house with a backyard, space, and privacy that makes it favorable for them to be within and see the outside world. On the other hand, those with low income tend to live in neighborhoods composed of various residential buildings piled up together which leaves them with smaller spaces and fewer outdoor sights. To address these issues, there have been developed community gardens and some parks in low-income neighborhoods. However, the lack of available land within poor neighborhoods is an obstacle to the implementation of this approach.

Due to the technology development and lack of natural exposure, people are missing the natural connection, depriving them of obtaining its benefit in the improvement of physical, and mental health, along with improvement in behavior and work performance. Our present society is already being consumed by the indoor spaces, and experiencing its impacts on their wellbeing and health. In 2050, it’s expected that the number of people living in urban areas will increase to two-thirds of the world population. If this issue is not addressed, with the increase in urban residents people will be with less access to open door spaces, resulting in even more consequences.  For this reason,  I encourage implementing biophilic design into indoor spaces to bring nature to those that lack it in their surroundings. This way, even if located in an urban area, people can still preserve and connect with nature.  With this approach, those who lack natural exposure will experience benefits to their physical, and mental health, along with improvement in behavior and work performance even in interior spaces. 

Neima DePina is a 17 years old Capeverdean (African). She moved to the United States of America at the age of 13, where she began school as an eighth-grader. With that said, she has been 4 years in the United States of America. Back in her home country, from a young age, she was thought to value and appreciate nature and moments. Today she has carried those values as inspiration to build a better future for herself and others. 

She is currently a senior at Margarita Muniz Academy and is looking forward to pursuing a major in interior architecture. However, she is also interested in innovating and creating new things to improve human-nature interactions by building a more sustainable system. This proposal, she presents in this Storymap reflects what she is inspired by and feels passionate about doing as a future architect and/or innovator.

Neima DePina es una caboverdiana (africana) de 17 años. Se mudó a los Estados Unidos de América a la edad de 13 años, donde comenzó la escuela en octavo grado. Dicho esto, lleva 4 años en los Estados Unidos de América. De vuelta en su país de origen, desde muy joven se pensó que valoraba y apreciaba la naturaleza y los momentos. Hoy ha llevado esos valores como inspiración para construir un futuro mejor para ella y para los demás.

Actualmente es estudiante de último año en la Academia Margarita Muniz y está ansiosa por obtener una especialización en arquitectura de interiores. Sin embargo, también está interesada en innovar y crear cosas nuevas para mejorar las interacciones entre humanos y naturaleza mediante la construcción de un sistema más sostenible. Ella esta propuesta que presenta en este Storymap refleja lo que le inspira y le apasiona hacer como futura arquitecta y/o innovadora.