Access to nature reduces depression and obesity, finds European study | Society | The Guardian

Access to nature reduces depression and obesity, finds European study | Society | The Guardian

“The evidence is strong and growing that people and communities can only thrive when they have access to nature,” said Robbie Blake, a nature campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, which commissioned the analysis......“We all need nature in our lives, it gives us freedom and helps us live healthily; yet deprived communities are routinely cut off from nature in their surroundings and it is suffocating for their well-being.”

In Chicago and Philadelphia, the Difference a Park Makes - The New York Times

In Chicago and Philadelphia, the Difference a Park Makes - The New York Times

“Urban policy often focuses too much just on housing,” Mr. Emanuel told me, grateful to focus on what has become a central plank of his administration and not talk policing or murder rates. “Housing alone doesn’t make a neighborhood.”

City of Denver focusing on making natural playgrounds

City of Denver focusing on making natural playgrounds

“The most important part of this is we just want kids to connect to nature in a way that I remember when I was a kid, but we know is missing from most of their lives now,” Bienenstock said. “It turns out that playgrounds, where their parents will take them, are one of the few places where they can have this experience.”
...... Emily Patterson, parks for people program manager for the Trust for Public Land, believes the appeal in natural playgrounds is connecting youth to the outdoors in ways that let their imagination take over and open doors to exploring more of the terrain. She noted numerous barriers that prevent some youth from experiencing the outdoors.