152 Elmendorf: Importance of Trees and Nature in Community Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 2008. 34(3):152–156. The Importance of Trees and Nature in Community: A Review of the Relative Literature William Elmendorf Abstract. A growing body of literature and experience revolves around the beneficial and connected relationships among nature, social settings, and social processes like interaction. This literature argues that the natural environment is a critical component of personal and community pride and well-being and a stimulus for collaborative action. Furthermore, it argues that empowering people to become involved in the process of landscape and park creation and maintenance increases social interaction, builds community capacity, and supports both development of community and community. Tree plantings and other civic environmental projects can be used to promote both healthy environments and healthy social structure even in the most deteriorated neighbor- hoods. As such, participatory environmental projects are strong tools of community development, and the work of arborists and urban foresters can play an important part in the process of community. Key Words. Civic environmentalism; community; community capacity; community development; empowerment; interaction; shared and structured symbols; tree planting. Arborists and urban foresters often become involved in tree plantings, Arbor Day celebrations, and other civic environmental projects. They know that these projects are important, fun, and rewarding, but the deeper impacts that this type of work has on community is often overlooked or simply not known. From a personal and professional standpoint, it is important that ar- borists and urban foresters understand the concepts of commu- nity capacity, development of community, and community and the positive impact that their work with trees and people can have on these processes. This article concentrates on the social benefits of trees and nature. It discusses the concept of community and the idea of using tree planting and other civic environmental projects to build and maintain community. A BRIEF REVIEW OF COMMUNITY Community is a favorite word of politicians and bureaucrats and the notion of community is a fundamental idea to most people. There are many definitions surrounding this concept of a fabric of local life. Family, supporting institutions (school, church, health care, local government, financial institutions), shared ter- ritory, social interaction, a common life, collective action, and a healthy environment are elements found in the definitions of community (Hillery 1955; Wilkinson 1991). Community has been conceptualized as having coincidence of service area, psy- chological identification with locality, supporting organizations, local autonomy in decision-making, and strength in the interac- tion among residents and between residents and institutions (Warren 1972). Wilkinson (1991) described three essential prop- erties of community: 1) as a local ecology or an organization of social life that meets daily needs and allows for adaptation to change; 2) as a comprehensive interactional structure, or social whole, that expresses a full round of human interests and needs; and 3) as a bond of local solidarity represented in people acting together to solve common problems. Nisbet (1953) illuminated the definition of community in these words: ©2008 International Society of Arboriculture Community is founded on people conceived in their whole rather than in one or another role, taken separately, that they may hold in the social order. It draws its psychologi- cal strength from levels of motivation deeper than those of mere volition of interest. Community is a fusion of feeling and thought, of tradition and commitment, of membership and volition. Its archetype, both historically and symboli- cally, is the family, and in almost every type of genuine community the nomenclature of family is prominent (p. 77). The foundation of community is social interaction; individuals and groups working together and pursuing commonly held goals (Luloff and Swanson 1995). From an interactionist’s perspec- tive, social interaction is what creates the fabric of community; it encourages and allows the emergence and development of community (Hillery 1955). Community has been defined as an aggregate of people sharing a common interest in a particular locality, and Bender (1978) described community as having an interactional quality that allowed it to be defined as experience reinforced by space. Thus, community is just not a place; it is a place-oriented process. In this process, the physical characteris- tics and qualities of place, or environment, are recognized as playing important roles in the health, interaction, and capacity of community. A BRIEF REVIEW OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT In community development, the quality of social interaction, or the comprehensive network of collaboration and actions among people, institutions, and the physical and natural environments, is important. Those interested in the development of community are interested in the quality of relationships among residents, institutions, and environments of a locality. Development of community requires attention to cohesive and integrated eco- nomic, social, and environmental structures (Kaufman 1959; Wilkinson 1991). Modern theories of sustainable community
May 2008
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