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Access to nature faces social and socioeconomic as well as travel barriers

Nature Cities volume 2, page 676 (2025)Cite this article

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Access to nature by urban residents is key to alleviating global declines in mental health1,2, especially for younger generations3. Biodiverse protected areas exert greater therapeutic effect than urban greenspace4,5. Currently, however, 30% of populations in developed nations — and higher proportions in newly industrialized nations — never visit national parks2,6.

New findings by Xia et al.7 that for over 96% of 9,034 cities worldwide, public protected areas are accessible within 2 h of travel time, at per capita costs of US $0.2–25.9, are thus critical to the implementation of nature therapies in national healthcare systems8.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment & Sciences, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Ralf Buckley

  2. School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Meisha Liddon

  3. Coastrek https://www.coastrek.com.au/

    Diane Westaway

Authors
  1. Ralf Buckley
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  2. Meisha Liddon
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  3. Diane Westaway
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Correspondence to Ralf Buckley.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Cite this article

Buckley, R., Liddon, M. & Westaway, D. Access to nature faces social and socioeconomic as well as travel barriers. Nat Cities 2, 676 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00293-z

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