It is known that forests have a positive impact on human health and well-being. The aim of this study was to examine human relationships with forest environments on a different level. Specifically, how people in western Sweden relate to a particular place in a forest.
Data were collected using a questionnaire placed on a tree located in a specific forest setting over the course of a year. The results were examined from a phenomenological (the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness) life-world perspective that highlights the intersubjectivity and historicity of people's connections to a forest environment.
The results reveal that the experience of ‘being’ or ‘doing’ in a forest produces a larger, more nuanced, response than the simple experience itself. This complex response includes an individual's previous experiences, childhood memories, history and connections to cultural representations.
Examining and understanding more deeply the relationships that humans have with forests is important for those that aim to engage people with forests and the botanical world.