A Theoretical Framework for Bolstering Human-Nature Connections and Urban Resilience via Green Infrastructure

Abstract

Demand for resources and changing structures of human settlements arising from population growth are impacting via the twin crises of anthropogenic climate change and declining human health. Informed by documentary research, this article explores how Urban Resilience Theory (URT) and Human-Nature Connection Theory (HNCT) can inform urban development that leverages urban green infrastructure (UGI) to mitigate and meditate these two crises. The findings of this article are that UGI can be the foundation for action to reduce the severity and impact of those crises and progress inclusive and sustainable community planning and urban development. In summary, the URT promotes improvement in policy and planning frameworks, risk reduction techniques, adaptation strategies, disaster recovery mechanisms, environmentally sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel energy, the building of social capital, and integration of ecologically sustainable UGI. Further, the HNCT advocates pro-environmental behaviors to increase the amount and accessibility of quality remnant and restored UGI to realize the human health benefits provided by nature, while simultaneously enhancing the ecological diversity and health of indigenous ecosystems. The synthesis of this article postulates that realizing the combined potential of URT and HNCT is essential to deliver healthy urban settlements that accommodate projected urban population growth towards the end of the 21st-century.

Keywords

• climate change
• green infrastructure
• human health, human-nature connection theory
• urbanization
• urban resilience theory