The human–nature relationship across two centuries
Macro factor insights from a machine learning model
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12950407 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M Richardson (0000-0003-3004-1084, University of Derby, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 1295-1310 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sustainability Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1862-4057 • E-ISSN: 1862-4065 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11625-026-01807-x |
| OpenAlex | W7131133570 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 48 |
The human–nature relationship (HNR) has evolved profoundly over the past two centuries, shaped by socio-economic, cultural, and environmental factors. Despite cross-sectional studies identifying key influences, their longitudinal effects remain underexplored. This study models HNR trends from 1810 to 2020 using word frequency data as a proxy for the HNR and seven macro-level factors: natural disasters, scientific advancement, religiosity, industrialisation, humanism, urbanisation, and economic development. These data were analysed using a machine learning approach combining grid search and gradient descent-optimised weighted linear combination model, achieving excellent precision (RMSE = 0.0184). Urbanisation and economics emerged as dominant drivers of a HNR decline of 51.3% since 1850. While industrialisation’s importance diminished over time. The rise of humanism was identified as an increasingly significant influence, whereas science, natural disasters, and religiosity had relatively modest impacts. External validation using a modern dataset of nature connectedness across 52 nations demonstrated robust generalisability and utility across diverse contexts. The cross-validation of temporal consistency suggested utility for exploratory modelling of future scenarios of the HNR to 2050. The on-trend and recovery scenarios and factor weights highlight the importance of nature rich urbanisation and moderating increasingly human-centred values to ensure a closer HNR, thereby informing strategies that target the underlying causes of the environmental crises
Consistency (knowledge bases · Interpretability · Macro · Natural resource · Proxy (statistics · Social connectedness · Sustainable development · Urbanization · Advanced Statistical Modeling Techniques · Language and cultural evolution · Morphological variations and asymmetry
The Challenge of Labour
A Growing Disconnection From Nature Is Evident in Cultural Products
Scientists’ warning on affluence
The Changing Psychology of Culture From 1800 Through 2000
Beyond knowing nature
The Conduct of Inquiry
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture
Connectedness to humanity and connectedness to nature as a leverage point for eco and socio-responsible consumption
The Making of Modern English Society from 1850
Applying the pathways to nature connectedness at a societal scale
The rise and fall of biodiversity in literature
Cross-country variation in people’s connection to nature
Global synthesis reveals heterogeneous changes in connection of humans to nature
Dualism and sustainability
Macro-level determinants of nature connectedness
Country-level factors in a failing relationship with nature
The Talk of the Town
Ecologists by default? How the indigenous movement in Ecuador became protector of nature
Big Data and Ideational Institutionalism. Reconsidering the Possibilities and Limitations of Google Ngram in the Study of Ideas
Common Senses
Changes in Pronoun Use in American Books and the Rise of Individualism, 1960-2008
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |