ABSTRACT
This chapter explores children's experiences and connection to nature. It examines different ways to approach and analyses the nature relationship, different ways of experiencing nature and of supporting and enhancing nature in the city. Our particular focuses on the relationship children have with nature and natural places in the city. The myriad forms this relationship takes are highly contested; the relationship changes over time and space and is culturally determined, and there can be a sizeable gap between stated and practiced beliefs around nature. For children, the romantic notion of natural childhoods as the norm or standard against which childhood should be measured is pervasive in much of western literature and in the various forms of the 'back-to-nature' movement. The challenge is to enable children to move along the continuum, to develop meaningful interactions with the nature that is available no matter how limited and to provide more natural experiences at the greener end of the spectrum.
