Growing up healthy in the city: Pathways to child health and development benefits from nature

Abstract

Parks are an important health setting for children living in cities, providing opportunities for play and exposure to nature. While there is growing evidence of associations between nature and physical, social, emotional and cognitive health and development outcomes for young children, few studies have specifically examined how young urban dwelling children interact with different types of nature and how these experiences may contribute to child health and development. The aim of this thesis is to investigate associations between healthy child development and exposure to, and interaction with, specific elements of nature while considering family and community contexts.