Get your Kids into Nature

Li and Sullivan determined that when “Perceived childhood nature exposure was calculated as a cumulative score based on the perceived nature in residential surroundings from up to three childhood home locations weighted by duration of residence. . . . [that] Children who had lower levels of nature exposure grow up to exhibit a high tendency to miss subtle sensory stimuli (low registration), and this sensory processing pattern in turn is associated with lower levels of affinity to nature and creativity. . . . These findings offer implications for designing child- friendly cities that facilitate sensory explorations and cognitive development.”

Dongying Li and William Sullivan. 2022. “Contact with Nature in Childhood and Sensory Characteristics in Adulthood.”  In Anjali Joseph, Lindsay McCunn, and Sharmin Kader (eds.) Health In All Design: Promoting Health, Equity, Sustainability and Resilience Through Environmental Design; Conference Proceedings 53rd Annual Conference of The Environmental Design Research Association).   Environmental Design Research Association; Washington, DC, https://www.edra.org/page/publications, p. 327.