Sensing, feeling, thinking: Relating to nature with the body, heart and mind

[摘要] 1. The cultural ecosystem services (CES) construct has evolved to accommodatemultiple worldviews, knowledge systems and conceptualizations of nature andvalues, including relational and mental health values.2. Cultural ecosystem services research and practice has mostly focused on cognitive ways of constructing and expressing intangible values of, and relationshipswith, nature. But our non-material relationships with nature are not exclusivelycognitive: sensory and affective processes are fundamental to how we build,enact and experience these relationships.3. Building on the core ideas of relational values, embodied experiences and connectedness with nature, we present a simple framework to explore the sensory,affective and cognitive dimensions of human–nature interactions, as well as thesettings and activities that frame them.4. We demonstrate its use in a case study in the Peruvian Andes, where we applied an inductive, exploratory approach to elicit personal imageries and imaginings related to nature, place and recreation. The narratives shared were rich withsymbolism and personal sensory experiences, emotions and memories, which theinterviewees linked with general assertions about people, place and nature.5. We discuss the usefulness of such a perspective for CES research, and for humanwell-being, environmental justice and landscape management.

[学科分类] 护理学

[关键词] cognition;cultural ecosystem services;emotion;environmental psychology;human–nature;sensation