Florence Williams, author of ‘The Nature Fix’

Next Generation of Parks

Presenter: Florence Williams

“Walk into a forest and within five minutes your body and brain start to change,” says Florence Williams, journalist and author of The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. Williams is the opening night speaker in the Minneapolis Parks Foundation’s 2018-2019 Next Generation of Parks™ Event Series, which focuses on how parks contribute to our emotional, physical, social, and cultural health.

Williams, who is also a podcaster and public speaker, spent two years researching and writing The Nature Fix. Her talk will delve into what she learned during her investigations: how scientists in Japan quantified the benefits of forest bathing, where school bullies are sent on the “happy train” for nature-based rehabilitation, and what “dose of nature” is most effective (hint: five hours a month is good; more is better).

When the Minneapolis Park System was founded in the late 1800s, parks were thought of as an antidote to ailments associated with rapid industrialization, like low mood and a lack of physical activity. Fast-forward to today, and we’re surrounded by a digital environment, as well as a concrete one. “In Theodore Wirth’s time, only about 30% of Minnesota’s population lived in Minneapolis and St. Paul. By 2040, six in 10 Minnesotans will live in the Twin Cities,” says Tom Evers, executive director of the Minneapolis Parks Foundation. “It’s more important than ever that we protect and expand access to nature, because parks are the places that connect us, heal us, and make us whole.”

Who Should Attend
Nature lovers, big-thinkers, urban dwellers, parents, concerned citizens, placemakers, environmentalists. Ultimately, Williams challenges us to ask, “How can cities make places of awe and restoration?”

Register here.

About the speaker
Florence Williams is the author of The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier and More Creative (W.W. Norton, 2017), which the The New York Times calls “fascinating” and JP Morgan named a top summer read of 2017. The Wall St. Journal calls her writing “exceptional…droll and crisp,” which makes her feel like a pastry. She is a contributing editor at Outside Magazine and a freelance writer for the New York Times, National Geographic, and numerous other publications. In September, her new 6-part podcast based on The Nature Fix, called The Three Day Effect, launched on Audible.com. She lives with her children in Washington, D.C.