Nine teenage participants and two adult guides were followed throughout a 10 day white water canoe trip to investigate the relationship between their impressions of connection with nature and the canoe trip experience, and their interactions with nature and the canoe trip experience. Themes providing a description of these relationships were identified and three major findings emerged. The first was that multiple themes mediating participants’ connectedness with nature did so both towards connection and disconnection. The second was that participants’ state of comfort was related to an impression of connection with nature while their state of discomfort was related to an impression of disconnection from nature. The third was that the relationship between participants’ connectedness and interactions with nature differed depending on the context (e.g., nature versus civilization). Possible directions for future research include investigating changes in participants’ conception of nature and the relationship between comfort and connection with nature.

Nature aesthetics is examined as an approach to environmental ethics. The characteristics of proper nature appreciation show that every landscape can be appreciated impartially in light of the dynamic processes of nature. However, it is often claimed that natural beauty decreases if humans interfere into nature. This claim leads to the separation of human culture and nature, and limits the number of landscapes which can be protected in terms of aesthetic value. As a solution to this separation, a non-dualistic Japanese aesthetics is examined as a basis for the achievement of the coexistence of culture and nature. Ecological interrelationships between human culture and nature are possible by means of an aesthetic consciousness in terms of non-hierarchical attitudes.

Strong sustainability requires enhanced knowledge and understanding of complex social-ecological interactions, but it also implies a ‘novel’ conceptualization of the relationship between humans and nature, one in which individuals perceive themselves as embedded members of the Biosphere. The aim of this Licentiate thesis is to investigate the validity of a strategy that is centered on designing the urban green infrastructure to nurture such human-nature relationship in children’s attitudes. The research is framed by spatial cognition, conservation psychology, and social-ecological sustainability and it focuses on the validity of this strategy. Hence, the Licentiate analyzes how reoccurring experiences of nature that are situated in the everyday habitat (i.e. nature routines) affect personal human-nature attitudes and how these can be implemented as leverage points to change social-ecological systems using sustainable urbanism. Paper 1 tests the assumed link between the nature routines in Stockholm and preschool children’s development of cognitive and emotional affinity to nature. The results show that nature-rich routines over a period of four years are significantly correlated with the strength of preschooler’s affinity with nature. Paper 2 uses a mixed methods approach to evaluate changes in Connection To Nature (CTN) in 10 years olds who partake in a project of nature conservation. The results of Paper 2 show that there is an evaluative gap between theory and practice in connecting children with nature that impedes the evaluation of how children’s CTN changes over short periods of time and that impedes the creation of an evaluative framework for nature experiences. Paper 3 considers these empirical results in theorizing an approach to sustainable urban design based on social-ecological sustainability that includes CTN. In order to overcome existing limitations Paper 3 presents the concept of cognitive affordances as a theoretical tool to embed cognitive and emotional attitudes towards nature into the design of urban spaces. All combined these papers provide valid evidence that nature routines in cities, especially for children, can be a significant leverage point to enable future sustainable civilizations.

Urban nature provides local ecosystem services such as absorption of air pollutants, reduction of noise, and provision of places for recreation, and is therefore crucial to urban sustainable development. Nature conservation in cities is also part of the global effort to halt biodiversity decline. Urban landscapes, however, display     distinguishing social and ecological characteristics and therefore the implementation of nature conservation frameworks into cities, requires reconsideration of what nature to preserve, for whom and where. The aim of this thesis was to examine the current urban nature conservation with special focus on formally protected areas, and discuss their future role in the urban landscape. A social-ecological systems approach was used as framework and both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied. The studies were performed at local to regional scales in the southern part of Sweden. Four key questions were addressed: i) What are the characteristics of nature conservation in urban landscapes? ii) How does establishment of nature conservation areas affect the surrounding urban landscape? iii) In what ways are spatial and temporal scales recognized in practical management of nature conservation areas? and iv) How can the dichotomy of built up and nature conservation areas be overcome in urban planning? Nature reserves in urban, compared to rural landscapes were in general fewer, but larger and included a higher diversity of land covers. They were also based on a higher number and different kinds of objectives than rural nature reserves. Urbanisation adjacent to nature reserves followed the general urbanisation patterns in the cities and no additional increase in urban settlements could be detected. In general, there was a lack of social and ecological linkages between the nature conservation areas and the urban landscape and practical management showed a limited recognition of cross-scale interactions and meso-scales. Such conceptual and physical isolation risks decreasing the public support for nature conservation, cause biodiversity decline, and hence impact the generation of ecosystem services. A major future challenge is therefore to transform current conservation strategies to become a tool where urban nature is perceived, planned and managed as valuable and integrated parts of the city. To enable social-ecological synergies, future urban planning should address proactive approaches together with key components like active enhancement of multifunctional landscapes, cross-scale strategies and border zone management. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 5: Manuscript.</p>

This study seeks to demonstrate that nature provided Frost an objective background against which he could measure the validity of human experience and gain a fuller understanding of it. The experiences examined with reference to the poetry include loneliness, anxiety, sorrow, and hope. Attention is given to the influence of Frost's philosophical skepticism upon his poetry. The study reveals that Frost discovered correspondences between nature and human experience which clarified his perspective of existence. The experiences of loneliness, anxiety, and sorrow were found to relate to Frost's feeling of separation from nature and from the source of existence. The experience of hope was found to relate to Frost's vision of the wholeness and unity of life, a vision which derives from humanity's common source with nature.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

L'ambition qui préside à l'élaboration de ce travail est double : d'abord confronter une lecture précise de Kropotkine (1842-1921) à ce qu'en dit le post-anarchisme, lequel se fait fort de renouveler la compréhension de l'anarchisme à l'aide des outils légués par les auteurs post-modernes français ; ensuite reprendre le dossier de l'antinaturalisme dans la critique sociale. Nous soutenons dans cette thèse que loin de manifester une impasse pour tout discours qui voudrait dessiner les voies d'un changement radical de société, la notion de «  nature humaine  » telle que l'emploie Kropotkine offre de nombreux outils pour œuvrer dans cette direction. À la fois géographe et évolutionniste, Kropotkine ouvre la nature humaine en direction de la nature globale, et plus précisément du legs coopératif de l'évolution des espèces, à l'inverse de toute crispation essentialiste. C'est sur ce legs sans cesse retravaillé en fonction des contextes dans lesquels l'humain est conduit à vivre qu'il convient de s'appuyer pour contrer les effets de réductionnismes ruineux tels que le darwinisme social ou la sociobiologie. Conformément à la dimension fondationnaliste de la pensée de Kropotkine, la thèse s'organise de manière systématique autour de la notion de «  nature humaine  ». Après avoir posé les bases scientifiques de l'anarchie (I) nous travaillons les thèmes darwiniens de l'œuvre kropotkinienne (II). Le socle théorique est alors consistant afin d'établir des conséquences pratiques, du côté de la politique, de l'économie et de l'urbanisme (III). À l'intérieur du contexte ainsi défini, c'est aux réalisations supérieures de la morale et de l'art que nous finissons par nous intéresser (IV). / This work deals with two main issues  : first, it focuses on the way post-anarchism, which claims renewing the understanding of anarchism through the use of french post-modernists' concepts, depicts P. Kropotkin's thought  ; second, it addresses the anti-naturalistic trend within the frame of social criticism. We argue that far from standing as a hindrance to supporting radical social change, Kropotkin's view of human nature yields many tools in order to fuel such a change. Both a geographer and an evolutionist, Kropotkin includes human nature within the overall frame of nature itself, specifically within the evolution of species' cooperative legacy. This legacy has been continuously shaped within the different living contexts built by human being throughout his history. So there's nothing static about human nature, and the ever-evolving cooperative legacy provides tools to criticize reductionist ways of thinking such as social darwinism or sociobiology. According to Kropotkin's foundationalist bias, the thesis is systematically organized around the notion of «  human nature  ». First, we lay the scientific basis of anarchy (Part I), then we focus on darwinian themes (Part II). Once firmly grounded, Kropotkin's thought unfolds more accurately its practical consequences, addressing politics, economy and city planning (Part III). These three domains give shape to the contexts within which ethics and art should bring out the best in human nature (Part IV).

En partant de la volonté revendiquée dans le Manifeste du surréalisme de prolonger le supernaturalisme nervalien, on se propose d’examiner l’aventure d’une idée, depuis le congé qui lui est donné avec la liquidation d’une partie du romantisme français, jusqu’à sa réhabilitation à partir du milieu des années trente, en inventoriant les valeurs et les représentations que sa transformation induit dans l’évolution des discours et des productions artistiques du surréalisme, afin de montrer comment la conception de l’inconscient finit par rendre progressivement l’exploration de l’inconnu extérieur aussi nécessaire que celle de l’inconnu intérieur — l’enjeu étant d’arracher le surréalisme aux fictions qu’il a lui-même forgées pour les repenser dans un vaste panorama apte à saisir les contradictions du mouvement. Une enquête lexicale permet d’inventorier les modes de relation du sujet à la nature et de les relier ensuite aux contraintes de la poétique surréaliste. Les schèmes du métadiscours faisant apparaître une spatialisation de l’intériorité, on constate que les topiques exploratoires se recoupent dans un système de représentation qui emprunte aux sciences de la nature et donne lieu, par la pratique d’une morphologie comparée, à une anthropologie matérielle. L’étude des paysages réintroduit l’épreuve de la nature et permet en dernier lieu d’envisager de quelle manière, latente dans l’esthétique, elle devient manifeste dans la réflexion épistémologique et éthique du mouvement. / Not only could Giorgio de Chirico’s deserted squares and faceless dummies have fossilized surrealism into a metaphysics of dreams—as dalinian deserts did— but a part of the history and reception of Surrealism as well, so much so that nature has turned into a blind spot. This study aims to tear Surrealism away from the fictions it first created so as to rethink them into a comprehensive overview that could reveal the contradictions of a movement which might not have given up the nervalian supernaturalism whose spirit it meant to extend. The main issue of this work is to examine the adventure of a rejected notion through to its restoration to favour, by surveying the values and the representations that its changes lead to, in order to show to what extent the conception of the unconscious could paradoxically make the exploration of the outer unknown as essential as that of the inner unknown. After a lexical inquiry, we try to observe the different modes of relationship the subject entertains with nature, before linking them to the constraints of surrealist poetics. Studying the schemas of the metadiscourse makes it easier to perceive the spatialization of interiority and the way the topics of exploration can match in a combination of representations, which derives from natural sciences and gives rise to a material anthropology linked with comparative morphology. The review of surrealist landscapes allows to experience nature from a phenomenological standpoint and to ponder the way such a latent idea in surrealist aesthetic could become manifest in its ethical and epistemological thought.

Lʼanthropologie, et plus spécialement les développements quʼelle a connus en contexte francophone, possède une affinité toute particulière avec lʼinvestigation philosophique sur la notion de nature : toutes deux interrogent en effet la valeur de ce terme classique du répertoire conceptuel occidental, et plus encore le sens que lʼon peut encore donner au partage entre le naturel et le social, ou le culturel. Ce faisant, elles se heurtent à des tensions analogues, lʼanthropologie bénéficiant toutefois du privilège de la méthode comparative, quilui donne accès à des cosmologies manifestant un arrangement des êtres et des personnes différents du nôtre. Ce sont ces liens que cette thèse se propose dʼexplorer, et cela à travers lʼexamen historique et critique de quelques théories anthropologiques clés. Parmi elles notamment, lʼécole durkheimienne, lʼanthropologie structurale de Claude Lévi-Strauss et de ses successeurs, et le courant dʼanthropologie de la nature, où ces questions trouvent aujourdʼhui leur épanouissement. Lʼhypothèse centrale de ce travail est que lʼanthropologie sociale est liée à la prise de conscience du rôle que lʼidée de nature a joué et joue encore dans notre trajectoire historique, c'est-à-dire de ce que lʼon a pris lʼhabitude dʼappeler la modernité, et de ce qui la sépare dʼautres expériences collectives. Cette investigation débouche sur un examen des concepts centraux de la pensée écologique, qui donne à ces enjeux un élan nouveau : une pensée environnementale est-elle une sortie du naturalisme moderne, et si oui, à quelles conditions est-elle possible et légitime ? / Anthropology and philosophy share a common interest in the idea of nature. Both of themaddress the value of this fundamental element of the Western conceptual framework and thegeneral signification of the alleged great divide between nature and society, or culture. Overthis common interrogation they are also facing the same issues and paradoxes.Nevertheless anthropology benefits from its comparative approach, which brings toknowledge different cosmological patterns, some of them dealing without the very idea ofnature. This thesis is an historical and critical exploration of some key classicalanthropological theories of the collective relationships with natural environment. Namely, theDurkheimian school of social sciences, the structural anthropology of Claude Lévi-Straussand his followers, and the present day anthropology of nature, which constitutes the main lineof French social anthropology. The core hypothesis of this work is that social anthropology isintimately linked to the theoretical acknowledgment of the role played by the idea of nature inour historical dynamics. What we usually call modernity, and in what sense it differs fromother social formations, are major anthropological concerns. These questions lead to acritical examination of the ecological thought from an anthropological point of view. Ifenvironmental philosophy is in a sense a way out of modern naturalism, which terms andconditions are required to make it possible and legitimate ?

Le Mozambique est un ‘donor darling’ depuis l’indépendance en 1975, et plus particulièrement depuis les Accords de paix en 1992. En matière de conservation de la nature, des bailleurs de fonds internationaux prennent une part active à l’action publique, depuis la conception de la réglementation jusqu’à la gestion quotidienne de parcs nationaux. L’action publique est de fait transnationale : elle est sous-tendue par des narrations, des financements et des acteurs exogènes. Ce travail étudie ce phénomène au sommet de l’Etat, c’est à dire à l’échelle des élites administratives du ministère du tourisme (en charge des questions de conservation) et de deux parcs nationaux (Gorongosa et Limpopo). Grâce à une lecture sociologique de l’action publique, nous montrons combien les élites mozambicaines se situent dans une zone grise : elles s’attachent à mettre en œuvre les feuilles de route de bailleurs qui les rémunèrent (telle la Banque mondiale), mais elles affichent dans le même temps une loyauté vis à vis du parti-Etat Frelimo, au pouvoir depuis l’indépendance. Ainsi, leur maîtrise voire leur partage des visions du monde des bailleurs en matière de conservation va de pair avec leur inscription nationale : la mise en œuvre d’agendas pour partie exogènes n’est pas incompatible avec l’affirmation d’un périmètre des compétences de l’Etat. En d’autres termes, notre hypothèse consiste à penser l’action de ces élites comme participant certes de la transnationalisation de l’action publique, mais également de l’affirmation de l’Etat qui reste au centre du jeu, malgré ses faibles capacités. De manière a priori contre-intuitive, le processus de domination étatique peut se poursuivre sous un régime d’aide, lequel peut même donner lieu à un (re)déploiement de la souveraineté de l’Etat. / Mozambique is a donor darling since independence in 1975, and more particularly since the Peace Agreement in 1992. As far as nature conservation is concerned, international donors take part to policymaking, including law making and daily management of national parks. Policymaking is thus transnational: narrations, funding and exogenous actors underline it. This work analyses this phenomenon at the top of the state, that is taking specifically into consideration administrative elites working in the tourism ministry (which is in charge of conservation matters) and in two national parks (Gorongosa and Limpopo). Thanks to a sociological study of policymaking, we show how Mozambican elites are located in a grey zone: they respond to donors (such as the World Bank), which pay them, but they are at the same time bound to the party-state Frelimo, at the head of the country ever since independence. Their mastery of donors’ worldviews goes together with the affirmation of a state’s perimeter of competences. In other words, our hypothesis considers these elites as taking part to the transnationalisation of policymaking, but simultaneously as asserting the state as a central actor, in spite of its weak capacities. In a counter-intuitive way, the state domination process can take place in an aid regime, which can even give birth to a (re)deployment of state sovereignty.