1. Nature in the City:
An “overlooked” factor in urban mental health

2. Brought to you by:
 Andrea Faber Taylor and the Landscape and
Human Health Lab
 Chris Krassa, Jo Miscierewicz, Doreen Tseng
 USDA National Urban and Community Forestry
Advisory Council

4. Central Park, NYC

5. Was Olmsted right?

8. Nature and…
Sadness, clinical depression
Stress, anxiety disorders
Mental fatigue, AD/HD
Aggression, violence
Loneliness, isolation

9. Sadness, depression
Park visits and mood
Near-home greenness and physician
diagnoses of depression

10. Stress, anxiety
Forest bathing and physiological stress
indicators
Near-home greenness and physician
diagnosed anxiety disorders

11. Mental fatigue, AD/HD
Images of nature, “nature walks”
improve cognitive performance
Children with AD/HD
 Field experiment
 National survey

12. Aggression, violence
Video clips and feelings of anger,
aggression
Public housing residents’ aggression
and violence

13. Robert Taylor Homes
without greenspace
Robert Taylor Homes
with greenspace

15. Aggression, violence
Video clips and feelings of anger,
aggression
Public housing residents’ aggression
and violence

16. Loneliness, isolation
Images of nature, indoor plants and
social aspirations
Loneliness, social ties
 Chicago public housing, Los Angeles,
Netherlands

17. What have we learned?
The impacts are large
Even the smallest bit helps
Must be present to win

18. What have we learned?
It appears that greenness promotes
mental health
Even after controlling for income
We’ve reached the “oat bran”
threshold

19. Implications
A new, partial explanation for income-
related mental health disparities
A possible, inexpensive population-
level mental health intervention
Trees as the city’s lungs

24. Thank you!
Frances “Ming” Kuo
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
fekuo@illinois.edu
www.lhhl.illinois.edu