News | December 12, 2019
‘Blue’ space: Access to water features can boost city dwellers’ mental health
Officials are increasingly recognizing that integrating nature into cities is an effective public health strategy to improve mental health. Doctors around the world now administer “green prescriptions” – where patients are encouraged to spend time in local nature spaces – based on hundreds of studies showing that time in nature can benefit people’s psychological well-being and increase…
News | June 7, 2016
Access To Nature In Urban Areas Is Key To Healthier Living
Mental illnesses and mood disorders are more prevalent in urban areas partly due to reduced access to nature, according to a new study. Researchers probed the rising tension between the critical role of urban areas and these cities’ debilitating aspects that disconnect people from nature – and even raise mental illnesses. “There’s an enormous amount…
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Ariel Rokem
Visit scholar websiteCourse | ESRM 431 / ENVIR 431 / PSYCH 431
Ecopsychology
Explores psychology of the human relationship with nature. Critically examines how ecopsychology can impact urban sustainability, human health, environmental education, and the design of new technologies. Specific topics include evolutionary psychology; human-animal interaction; biophillia; children and nature; indigenous cultures; and ecotherapy.Scholar
Eliot Brenowitz
Visit scholar websiteNews | April 7, 2022
How happy are Seattle, and WA as a whole, compared to other cities and states?
By some accounts, Seattle is among the most stressed and sleep-deprived metros in the nation, but let’s forget about that for a moment. New reports find Seattle, and Washington as a whole, rate high on the happiness scale. In fact, Seattle is the seventh-happiest city in the nation, according to WalletHub’s 2022’s Happiest Cities in America report. The personal finance website…
News | August 1, 2019
How to consider nature’s impact on mental health in city plans
Almost one in five adults in the U.S. lives with a mental illness. That statistic is similar worldwide, with an estimated 450 million people currently dealing with a mental or neurological disorder. Of those, only about a third seek treatment. Interacting with nature is starting to be recognized as one way to improve mental health. A number of scientific…
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Lillian J. Ratliff
Visit scholar websiteNews | July 3, 2016
Looking ahead to July, Recapping June
Looking forward into July – Unlikely Allies is coming to Seattle right after July 4th weekend. Impact Hub Seattle is hosting the Unlikely Allies: Future of Cities Festival in partnership with the Impact Hub Company – the organization that coordinates the network’s 89 locations worldwide. More than 200 delegates from 70 cities will be joining…
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Mary Larimer
Visit scholar websiteNews | May 28, 2020
Pandemic lays bare the everyday stressors, inequities of marginalized communities
On March 14, two weeks after the first U.S. coronavirus death was announced here in King County and as an onslaught of social distancing policies descended on our communities, we began a research study to understand how 500 King County residents were coping with all of it. Every evening, study participants have been generously sharing with us…
News | January 16, 2020
Regularly immersing yourself in nature can help health and wellbeing
How long does it take to get a dose of nature high enough to make people say they feel healthy and have a strong sense of well-being? Precisely 120 minutes. In a study of 20,000 people, a team led by Mathew White of the European Centre for Environment & Human Health at University of Exeter,…
News | February 1, 2024
Should social media pay for addicting kids? Seattle schools lawsuit gains steam
Reported by KUOW Written by Sami West A year into Seattle Public Schools’ lawsuit against social media companies, the case is gaining traction. More than 50 school districts in Washington state — and dozens more across the country — have joined Seattle’s lawsuit. Seattle became the first district to sue social media platforms last January,…
News | July 21, 2016
Study: Perceived threats from police officers, black men predict support for policing reforms
At a time of intense national attention on law enforcement and race, a new University of Washington study suggests that racially based fear plays a role in public support for policing reforms. The research, conducted by UW postdoctoral researcher Allison Skinner and published online July 12 in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology, used a…
Scholar
Susan E. Collins
Visit scholar websiteNews | April 3, 2024
Urban@UW announces second cycle of Research to Action Collaboratory projects
Urban@UW is excited to announce the project teams selected for the second Research to Action Collaboratory (RAC) cohort. Throughout the next 18 months, Urban@UW will work with these teams to provide seed funds, dedicate time to building team cohesion and collaboration skills, and foster opportunities for peer support, shared resources, and learning. These two project…
News | December 20, 2016
UW professor: Seattle exposed to most ‘chronically high noise levels’ of any city in US
How Seattle’s development is impacting your health and, more specifically, your ears is not something being taken into account by city leaders, according to a University of Washington professor. And changing an ordinance that mutes construction’s noise pollution to match other cities from around the country might be a potent elixir, he says. Eliot Brenowitz,…
News | November 19, 2017
What counts as nature? It all depends
The environment we grow up with informs how we define “nature,” UW psychology professor Peter Kahn says. Encounters with truly wild places inspire people to preserve them.Think, for a moment, about the last time you were out in nature. Were you in a city park? At a campground? On the beach? In the mountains? Now…
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