Looking for the role of nature experiences in planning and decision making: a perspective from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area

Public experiences of everyday environments influence well-being and quality of life and effective planning for these environments can promote social sustainability. This article discusses how residents’ values related to urban nature areas are as important as ecological and technical issues and can inform urban nature planning and decision making. We first provide a generic review of residents’ values and meanings regarding urban nature. We then outline practices for obtaining data on these values and meanings and present examples from the Helsinki (Finland) Metropolitan Area. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges that nature experiences bring to planning and decision making and highlights why and how insights generated as a result of residents’ participation should be included in the knowledge base for planning decisions.