Urban densification, contact with nature, and psychological restoration:
Issues of conflict and compensation

Urban densification can serve ecological aims, but it also entails trade-offs among land uses, and these trade-offs can arouse conflict. A common source of conflict involves the loss of visual and physical access to parks and green spaces. When such a loss occurs, it may trigger compensatory action, such as increased leisure time mobility, which works against ecological goals served by densification. 

In this presentation Professor Hartig will discuss these issues of conflict and compensation. He will consider how contact with urban nature can promote resident health by shielding residents from aversive exposures and by supporting physical activity, contacts with neighbours, and forms of psychological restoration. He will also consider some of the ways in which urban residents may compensate for a lack of access to nearby nature, with a particular focus on second home ownership in Sweden. 

About Terry Hartig
Terry Hartig has studied health resource values of natural environments since the early 1980s, with a particular focus on the role of psychological restoration in mediating short- and long-term benefits for individual and public health. He completed graduate training in environmental psychology and social ecology at the University of California, Irvine, and postdoctoral training in social epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley. He currently works as Professor of Environmental Psychology with the Institute for Housing and Urban Research and the Department of Psychology at Uppsala University. He has published widely on the experience of nature and health, and he has presented his work to audiences of scientists, environmental professionals and laypersons in more than 30 countries.