The Human-Nature Relationship in Germany: Nature Connections and Disconnections in Urban and Rural Areas

Abstract

This study investigates modes of nature connection and disconnection with the help of a comparative case study approach of an urban and rural area in Germany. 24 qualitative interviews with residents were conducted as well as 10 interviews with practitioners from both case study locations. The study found little difference between urban and rural respondents’ relationship with nature. Findings demonstrate that respondents from both case study areas were emotionally connected with nature. Urban as well as rural respondents demonstrated (high) level of mindfulness and affiliation with nature, which indicates that where people live is less definitive for people’s nature connection than scholars assume. Cities are therefore not necessarily places in which the human-nature relationship atrophies. Findings show that the increase in people’s health and wellbeing intensified people’s appreciation and strengthened their bond with nature, which became even more relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. This highlights that feeling emotionally connected with nature is also fundamental for people’s emotional and physical wellbeing. Findings demonstrate that people’s lack of knowledge and awareness were reasons for people’s careless behaviour and unsustainable consumption. Nature connection did not increase ecological wellbeing nor increase pro-environmental behaviour beyond recycling or reducing plastic use. The high number of respondents, who tried to reduce their ecological footprint, however, demonstrates a growing environmental awareness and concern in both case study areas. This study emphasises that people’s inability to care and look after nature was not only a personal choice but also a structural/societal problem that reduces nature and nature conservation from a necessity into a ‘hobby’. In order to achieve better conservation practises and biodiversity, this study argues that we cannot only rely on individuals’ nature connection but must incorporate political changes, to reverse the societal disconnection that reproduces and reinforces disconnection from nature.