Trees are a key part of our multi-species, living environment: they bring joy, they are a lens for us to observe nature, they are a part of everyday life and their loss is mourned. This dissertation explores the complex relationships between humans and trees, emphasising the significance of favourite trees in daily life. Utilising a multidisciplinary approach, the study integrates environmental ecology, humanistic environmental research and environmental psychology to investigate how arboreal relationships are formed and expressed through activities, memories and meanings. My study focused on three main areas: the characteristics of trees and human individuals in shaping these relationships, the opportunities that trees provide for interaction and the role of human-tree relationships in identity formation.
The study is grounded in the research traditions of functional ecology, the biophilia hypothesis and post-humanistic thought, and employs sensory methodology. An interspecies perspective enables a deeper understanding of arboreal interactions, framed through affordance theory, to assess the impacts of favourite trees on human experiences.
The analysis revealed three predominant types of tree relationships: admiring/empowering, nurturing and nostalgic. While the functional traits of trees, such as size and age, influence the admiring and nurturing relationships, nostalgia is more closely tied to personal memories and significance. Five connection types — material, sensory-based, transcendental, symbolic and informational — illustrate the varied orientations of human-tree relationships, including both human-centric and nature-centric perspectives.
The findings underscore the cultural, symbolic and emotional dimensions of arboreal relationships, and reflect their multifaceted nature. This understanding is crucial to develop environments that enhance human well-being, as not all trees evoke the same significance among individuals.