Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

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

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

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. White, M. P. et al. Sci. Rep. 11, 8903 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Buckley, R. et al. Nat. Commun. 10, 5005 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Buckley, R. C. & Liddon, M. Lancet Psychiatry 11, 957 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Buckley, R. C. et al. People Nat. 6, 2480–2493 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Rozario, K. et al. People Nat. 6, 180–201 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Buckley, R. C. et al. Biol. Conserv. 284, 110159 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Xia, C. et al. Nat. Cities 2, 532–542 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Buckley, R. C. et al. Lancet Planet. Health 8, e528–e529 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Pearson, A. et al. Nat. Cities 2, 489–495 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Buckley, R. C., Brough, P. & Westaway, D. Front. Public Health 6, 119 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

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
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Meisha Liddon
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Diane Westaway
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ralf Buckley.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

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

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00293-z

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing