HE RELIEF rar contact with nature is somehow good or beneficial for people isan
oldandwidespreadnotion. Thegardensoftheancient Egyptian nobility, thc wallcd gardens of
Persian settlements in Mesopotamia, and the gardens of merchants in mcdieval Chincse
cities indicate that early urban peoples went to considerable lengths to maintain contact with
nature (Shepard 1967; Hongxun 1982). During the last two centuries, in scveral countrics,
thc idea that cxposure to naturc fosters psychological wellbcing, reduces the stresses of�…