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Research shows that the human-nature relationship positively impacts human well-being. Forest School (FS) practice offers young children a structured program of nature connection through activities, aiming to enhance their selfesteem and social skills. FS is now adapted in countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand where a unique cultural interface occurs between European settlers and Indigenous peoples. Responding to socio-cultural diversities, geographical contexts, and the traditional ecological knowledges, FS needs to go beyond play pedagogy and incorporate theoretical perspectives that promote human-nature relationship in local context-specific environments. We argue that the synergies between Western perspectives on affordances perceived in person-environment relationship and Indigenous place-based relationality perspective provide a more suitable approach for developing reciprocal relationships between FS participants and land/place/nature. We propose that the synergies between affordances perceived in FS and place-based relationality cultivated in participants will enhance social and emotional well-being. We call for specific research investigating such synergies supporting participant wellbeing. Future research on FS practice should be directed toward initiating and exploring co-designed studies by Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers incorporating methodologies that study participant experience as well as evaluating the impact of FS programs embedding affordances and place-based relationality perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-nature interactions have been presented as important for promoting and sustaining wellbeing and health benefits. Research has shown that pictures of nature, interacting with nature, physical activity in nature, immersion in nature and even feeling connected to nature can improve health. While considerable research supports this notion that nature can have positive health impact, theoretical and conceptual frameworks that help explain how the natural environment provides benefits to human health and wellbeing have proved limited. In extreme cases, theoretical approaches reinforce a problematic notion where nature is viewed as a separate entity, as a treatment to be taken as prescribed to remediate health problems that arise. Such approaches are limited as they fail to address how beneficial person-nature relations may be captured in interventions. There is a need for a deeper understanding of the processes underlying the observed benefits of the person-nature link in order to design effective research and interventions. It is especially important to consider the implications of research on person-nature relations for people living in urban contexts. In this paper, we present an ecological perspective building on James Gibson's conceptualization of human behavior. Specifically, we outline a framework that emphasizes the person-environment system as the most appropriate scale of analysis. We present three relevant concepts from the ecological approach: form of life, affordances and niche construction, as helpful for appreciating how acting in natural environments might benefit human health and wellbeing. This approach urges policy makers and urban designers to rethink environmental designs to provide and support a landscape of affordances that makes use of the richness of natural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional definitions for adventure tourism have focused on the adventure tourism activity or the adventure tourism environment. In these cases the activity is most often associated with risk and the environment associated with unfamiliarity and natural terrains. Critiques of these definitions have pointed out that this traditional perspective is limited. The risk focus is paradoxical as clients purchase adventure experiences involving risk and uncertainty, whereas tour operators must minimize the risk and emphasize safety. Additionally, adventure tourism can also take place in urban or man-made environments. Furthermore, the traditional definitions mostly ignore the lived experience of the adventure consumer. Individuals undertake adventure for a variety of reasons, including risk and thrills, health and well-being, connection to others and nature, recreational mastery, and personal development. We propose a nuanced conceptual understanding of adventure tourism within an ecological dynamics perspective that considers the relationship between the person, the adventure activity and the surrounding environment, and the recognition of affordances that support well-being. This theoretical approach provides a useful framework for operators and researchers that encourages a more personalized and meaningful experience for the tourist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how best to accrue benefits from designing physical activity and exercise programmes is needed to tackle global health problems related to physical inactivity and poor mental health. Some studies have implicated an important role for green exercise and physical activity, but there is a lack of clarity in current research. Therefore, more work is needed to understand how to design green physical activity and exercise environments that afford (invite) physical and psychological benefits to individuals. We examined whether exercising while viewing a dynamic or static image of a scene from nature would offer different affordances (invitations for behaviours to emerge), compared to the common conditions of self-selected entertainment. For this purpose, 30 participants (18 males and 12 females; age 27.5 ± 9 yrs; mass 67.6 ± 11.1 kg; stature 173.7 ± 8.2 cm) exercised in three experimental conditions in a counterbalanced design while: (i) viewing a video of a green environment, (ii) viewing a single static image of the green environment; and (iii), when using typical self-selected entertainment without viewing images of nature. A twenty-minute treadmill run was undertaken at the participants’ own self-selected speed in a laboratory while energy expenditure and psychological states (using PANAS) were assessed. Results showed no differences in energy expenditure ( p > .05) or negative affect ( p > .05) between conditions. However, data revealed significant differences in positive affect when participants ran with a static image and their own entertainment compared to running with a dynamic image. Results revealed how differences in affordances designed into physical activity environments can shape psychological states that emerge during exercise. Further research is needed on affordance design in physical activity and exercise by engineers, designers, planners and psychologists to explore effects of a range of simulated environments, with different target groups, such as fit and unfit individuals, elderly and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]