2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Human interactions with the natural environment have been shown to impact health, well-being, and mental function in a range of ways. Researching and then practically integrating the benefits of the natural experience for individuals and societies connects a number of fields that often include urban planning, environmental and natural resource economics, resource management, landscape design, and psychology. As urbanization continues, many of the frequent and everyday connections between humans and nature will increasingly occur in domains where consumer horticulture practitioners and educators play a key (and often leading) role. From urban parks, greenways, and greenspaces, to public gardens and arboreta, consumer horticulture practitioners guide or influence many of the most common human interactions with the soil, water, and plant elements of nature. This presentation will focus on opportunities and facilitated discussions around developing and strengthening research and outreach collaborations with those in natural resources and environmental psychology as well as urban planning.