Urbanization and the Need to Reconnect with Nature

In this module, we would like to explore, how nature helps against stress and burnout. For this it is first important to understand how the lack of nature is leading to these phenomena.

In 2024, approximately 58% of the world’s population lives in cities, and UN projections estimate this number will reach 68% by 2050. In Hungary, around 73% of the population is urban; in Poland, it is about 60%; and in the Czech Republic, it’s approximately 74%—all showing stable or modest urban growth.

Urbanization affects the natural environment, society, and, “naturally,” the individual. Although living in a city has many advantages, it also comes with challenges, which may manifest themselves in the following ways:

• A lack of mindfulness and a sense of alienation from oneself: It’s common to feel small or lost, or as if you’re watching your own life from the outside. You may feel a lack of meaning in life, and in severe cases, this can lead to depression. In such situations, don’t hesitate to seek professional help.
• A decrease in the sense of community, partly due to the breakdown of traditional family and community models. In urban environments, we often live among strangers, sometimes not even knowing our own neighbors. Family and friends may be far away, sometimes in other cities or even countries. This can lead to loneliness and a turn to the virtual world and even virtual friends, which, paradoxically, can further intensify the feeling of alienation and loneliness.
• Alienation from nature. Our distance from the natural environment makes us feel less like a part of it.

All this contrasts with the extraordinary human need for a meaningful, deep-level connection with themselves, their communities, and their natural environment. Relying on the healing power of nature is the most ancient form of psychotherapy, and many still turn to nature to cope with difficulties.

Living in and being vulnerable to nature has accompanied humanity for almost its entire history. It’s only in the last few decades, or perhaps a century, that a portion of humanity has stepped out of this natural existence, which has left a sharp void. Richard Louv calls this the “nature-deficit disorder”. Nature-deficit disorder is not a medical term; it’s a condition that highlights the costs of alienation from nature, especially for children who now often spend more time in the virtual world than in the natural one. In response, Louv suggests taking in “Vitamin N” (Vitamin Nature), which is a new-old hybrid approach to the nature-virtuality-human relationship. Sounds exciting? We’ll explain it in detail in a later article.

A connection with nature “naturally” develops in a world where children spend a lot of time outdoors, but what can we do in our world? David Abram (1996) emphasizes that direct, sensed reality, in its more-than-human mystery, remains our only anchor today as electronically generated vistas and dreams shape our experiential world. Only regular contact with the tangible earth and sky can help us orient ourselves and navigate the many dimensions of our lives. However, we can also shape our own sensed reality, and in a future article, we will provide ideas on how to compensate for the harshness of urban life in the classroom or at home.

In another work (Becoming an Animal, 2010), Abram argues that to restore our relationship with nature, we must find “a new way of speaking that embodies our ‘being with’ the earth… A style of speech that opens our senses to the sensuousness”. Our language shapes our thoughts and attitudes, and the reverse is also true—our thoughts shape our language. The field of ecolinguistics deals with ecological language use, which we will also cover later.

Richard Louv, on the other hand, recommends taking in Vitamin Nature and creating a nature-digital world hybrid.

All of these topics will be covered in our upcoming articles and videos. So, many exciting topics await us! For now, let’s step away from reading, drink a glass of water, and seek a connection with the nature around us! Our next video will help to change the way we look at it.

Sources:

• Abram, D. (1996). The Spell of the Sensuous. Vintage Books.
• Abram, D. (2011). Becoming Animal. An Earthly Cosmology. Vintage Books.
• Louv, R. (2008). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books.
• Louv R. (2012). The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age. Algonquin Books.
• Suhajda Éva. V., Vastag Zs. (2017). Kapcsolódás a természettel és önmagunkkal (Connecting to Nature and Self). In: Közösségi tudások – Tudásközösségek- Tudásmenedzsment elméleti és módszertani megközelítésben a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Gazdaságtudományi Bizottság Tudásmenedzsment Munkabizottságának III. számú gyűjteményes kötete 2012-2016. Ed. Noszkay E. MTA GB Tudásmenedzsment Munkabizottság. Letölthető: http://www.titoktan.hu/_raktar/_e_vilagi_gondolatok/NoszkayE-Kozossegi-tudasok-Tudaskozossegek.pdf.
• World Population Review: https://worldpopulationreview.com/.