The role of urban nature experiences in sustainable consumption: a transboundary urban ecosystem service

摘要

Abstract Urban nature is widely recognized to be vital for sustainable urban development due to its wide range of benefits to urban residents. One of these benefits is urban nature’s contribution to promoting pro-environmental behaviour. This behaviour can reduce individual consumption, thereby decreasing the overall ecological footprint of urban areas. However, there is limited empirical evidence for a link between urban nature and pro-environmental behaviour. To test this link, we apply the value-belief-norm theory by examining the relationship between learning in urban nature and environmental values among Singaporean residents (n?=?1,500). Our findings showed that learning in urban nature affected biospheric values and personal norms of the public. In turn, these values and norms promoted the public’s support for certified timber products, organic products, and boycotts of non-sustainable products. Relational values also supported these impacts. These benefits indicate an urban ecosystem service transcending city boundaries as urban nature in one region can support reducing an ecological footprint in other regions. These study findings may contribute to finding a contribution of urban nature as a nature-based approach to encouraging sustainable consumption, and a role of relational values in promoting pro-environmental behaviour.