Benefits of nature

The Some Hidden Benefits of the Urban Forest paper is an article that my advisor Stephen Kaplan has said provide good overviews of the issues and findings surrounding directed attention, mental fatigue, and Attention Restoration Theory and that he often directs reporters and other people to.

Aggression and violence in the inner city: Impacts of environment via mental fatigue

In that paper is where I found the references for the studies that found a link between a view of a few trees and a patch of grass and less domestic violence.

Kuo FE & Sullivan WC (2001a) Aggression and violence in the inner city: Impacts of environment via mental fatigue. Environment and Behavior 33(4):53-571.

http://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2011/HEN597/um/Readings_Env_Psy/Kuo__F.E.__Sullivan__W.C.__2001_.pdf

Excerpt: A third contribution of this work concerns the density and extent of nature necessary to convey benefits. It might seem implausible that a few trees and grass in relatively small areas outside public housing apartment buildings could have any clear effects on residents’ levels of aggression. Yet this low dose of vegetation has been shown to have far-reaching and positive effects on a number of other important outcomes, including residents’ management of major life issues (Kuo, 2001) and neighborhood social ties (Kuo et al., 1998; Kweon et al., 1998).

A quick synopsis of this paper from: http://lhhl.illinois.edu/violence.htm

Trees Linked with Less Domestic Violence in the Inner City

In a study conducted in a Chicago public housing development, women who lived in apartment buildings with trees and greenery immediately outside reported committing fewer aggressive and violent acts against their partners in the preceding year than those living in barren but otherwise identical buildings. In addition, the women in greener surroundings reported using a smaller range of aggressive tactics during their lifetime against their partner.

How can we explain this link between vegetation and less aggression? The women who reported a larger range of aggressive behaviors over their lifetime also had worse scores on a test of concentration, and living in an apartment with barren surroundings was linked to having worse scores on that same test. Low scores on tests of concentration can be caused by high levels of mental fatigue and this study demonstrated that those living in barren housing were both more fatigued and more aggressive. But exposure to green surroundings reduces mental fatigue and the feelings of irritability that come with it. The ability to concentrate is refreshed by green views, along with the ability and willingness to deal with problems thoughtfully and less aggressively. And, in this study, even small amounts of greenery—a few trees and a patch of grass—helped inner city residents have safer, less violent domestic environments.

Environment and crime in the inner city: Does vegetation reduce crime?

Kuo FE & Sullivan WC (2001b) Environment and crime in the inner city: Does vegetation reduce crime? Environment and Behavior 33(3):343-367.

Here's a link to this paper: http://willsull.net/resources/Sullivan-papers/KuoSullivan2001crime.pdf

Context for the papers

Excerpt from the Some Hidden Benefits paper

Effectiveness at managing life issues. Residents of public housing face enormous challenges in dealing with poverty, discrimination and inadequate education. While it might be difficult to imagine how trees could help in this difficult context, once again ingenious research yields some striking findings. Kuo (2001) found that residents who have the benefit of nearby nature were less likely to procrastinate in dealing with the major issues of their lives. Further, such residents felt more hopeful and less helpless about the issues facing them. Once again, this effect of nature was found to be due to greater attentional capacity (or, in other words, to lower mental fatigue).

The following paragraph is from earlier in the Some Hidden Benefits paper and provides the context for all of the 2001 studies

Overcoming economic and social disadvantage

A notoriously dismal public housing facility in Chicago is the setting for a remarkable series of studies carried out by Frances Kuo, William Sullivan and their students. Two features of this setting make it particularly interesting as a context for research. First, it is a situation where finding ways to improve the life quality and life prospects of these individuals is exceedingly difficult. Second, from an experimental standpoint, it provided a control that is difficult to achieve in a real world context: the residents are essentially randomly assigned to the apartment they live in and cannot afford to refuse their housing when it becomes available. ... In a series of studies these researchers examined the impact of access to the natural environment, with a particular emphasis on trees.

Kuo (2001) is mentioned in 2 of the excerpts that I've included in this email, so I thought I'd provide you with the reference:

Kuo FE (2001) Coping with poverty: Impacts of environment and attention in the inner city. Environment and Behavior 33(1):5-34.