In 1984, Roger Ulrich pioneered an elegant study which found that patients with a view of a natural scene recovered more quickly from surgery than those facing a brick wall. Since then, 35 years of research has shown that exposure to natural environments are associated with a wide range of beneficial physical and mental health outcomes.

Yet, the quantity and quality of our experiences with nature has declined enormously as the world’s population become increasingly urbanised. This could be driven either by a physical decline in the quantity or quality of nature in cities, or a change in human behaviour inclined towards a more busy, sedentary and indoor modern lifestyle.

PhD student Rachel Oh has just returned from Singapore, having completed some data collection. As part of her PhD thesis, Rachel aims to collect evidence to assess longitudinal changes in individuals’ level of direct experiences of nature over 22 years. To date, she has collected responses for 300 household surveys and has completed some bird surveys in Clementi, Singapore. The household surveys will provide some data on if/how experiences of nature has changed across time, while the bird surveys and spatial analyses will hopefully share some insights on if/how opportunities for nature in cities has changed with increasing urbanisation.