Interview with Ulrika Stigsdotter (CS8)

Who are you and for what partner organisation do you work?
I am a Swede working as a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. For almost 10 years I have been the head of an interdisciplinary research group called ‘Nature, Health and Design’, and I am responsible for a full-scale outdoor laboratory consisting of three projects, Nacadia® therapy garden, Octovia® health forest and Move Green (planned to 2024-25) a health promoting and accessible nature trail for all.

What is your expertise related to nature-based therapy?
I have been conducting a wide range of research on nature and human health since 1999 (25th anniversary this year!). As landscape architects, we take on great responsibility when we claim that our designs should have positive impact on health or support nature-based therapies. Therefore, I have spent many years developing a process model for evidence-based health design landscape architecture (EBHDL), which aim to guide the landscape architect through the entire design process, from collection of evidence, until the post-occupancy evaluation. Despite my many years at the university, I have had the opportunity to be the landscape architect on several health design projects, where I was able to develop and test the EBHDL process model, in close collaboration with colleagues developing e.g. the nature-based therapy programmes.

Can you describe the Case Study (CS) you lead in a couple of sentences?
Despite the many possible health benefits of nature exposure, not all population groups have equal access to them. People with mobility disabilities visit green spaces much less frequently and have poorer health than the able-bodied population. One may, therefore, assume that the potential health benefits of contact with natural environments could be an important health resource for this population group. However, nature is often, by nature, inaccessible, which reduces the target group’s opportunities to develop a positive relationship with nature. There is a potential for increasing the nature connection and to improve mental health for people with mobility disabilities by heightening the quality of the nature experience.

The quality of the nature experience consists of both the quality of the physical environment and the individual experience of nature. The quality of the experience can be enhanced by supporting the experience in nature through engagement interventions, as engagement has shown to affect nature connection positively. Present moment awareness and nature-stories focusing on human-nature interdependencies can be seen as types of engagement that can direct attention to experiences in the natural environment in an open, accepting, and non-judgmental way supporting development of nature connection. The aim of CS8 is to test if digital engagement instructions (APP-based) in a restorative and accessible natural environment can enhance nature connection and provide restorative experiences and/or increased vitality and thereby improve resilience for individuals with mobility disabilities.

What excites you most about the RESONATE project?
I am incredibly excited to enter into collaboration with some of the world’s leading researchers on nature and health. The setup of how we collaborate in RESONATE with work packages and other case studies feels challenging but above all exciting and rewarding.

As a landscape architect, and not least as someone who teaches future landscape architects, it is incredibly inspiring to have the possibility in RESONATE to focus on a target group that is often overlooked. The project gives us the possibility to challenge the view of the ‘ideal man’ (e.g. the Vitruvian man and Le Modular) and delve into the fact that all nature visitors are all different, and we all change throughout our lives – and some of us may not have had the possibility to develop a relationship with nature. I am also exited over the possibility to develop, use, and test our APP and to bring eye-tracking technology out into nature. This calls for collaboration and I am really excited to be working closely with my colleagues Patrik Karlson Nyed (ecologist), Stine Bekke-Hansen (clinical psychologist) and Sus Sola Corazon (pedagocial psychologist).

What is your own favourite way to engage with nature for your health and wellbeing?
My favourite way to engage with nature is quite ordinary and effortless, and I experience it four times a day. It is simply when I take my dogs, Dennis and Doris, for walks on the beach. I really appreciate the feeling when I take the leashes off and let them run and play freely (which is allowed several months of the year). The connection I have with my dogs while they are running free in nature is very precious to me.