24 ● January–March 2000 10(1) The cost of publishing this paper was defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. Under postal regulations, this paper therefore must be hereby marked advertisement solely to indicate this fact. 1 Department of Plant Production, P.O. Box 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. 2 Researcher. 3 Post doctoral student. A Review of Human Issues in Horticulture in Finland: Urbanization Motivates a Renewed Appreciation for Plants and Nature Aino-Maija Evers, 1 Leena Lindén, 2 and Erja Rappe 3 ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. ecological gardening, environmental education, gardening and elderly, gardening in schools, human responses to nature, nearby nature SUMMARY. Approaches using human issues in horticulture (HIH) offer new possibilities to develop nearby nature in cities, especially during a period of rapid urbanization in Finland. New initiatives have been developed in school gardening, environmental education, gardening in training programs for disabled people, therapeutic environments in hospitals and institutions, and in the University of Helsinki horticultural education and research programs. At the Univer- sity of Helsinki, two contact teaching courses and national seminars were organized in 1996 and 1998. Initial studies in the HIH approach have three main themes: 1) gardening as a tool for better quality of life in homes for the elderly, 2) ecology, native plants and extensive maintenance in parks, and 3) the use of horticulture in environment and science education at the lower level of the comprehensive school. F inland has always been a country of forests, lakes, peatlands and sparse population. Forests, trees, waterways, rocks, fish, and berries are our natural resources, and Finns feel at home, safe and relaxed in these environments. In 1900 the proportion of the urban population was 12.6%, while in 1930, 1960, and 1990 the proportions were 20.6%, 38.4%, and 61.6%, respectively (Statistics Finland, 1996). In 1960 the labor force employed in agriculture numbered 721,000 persons, while in 1990 it was 170,000 persons, respectively (Statistics Finland, 1996). During three decades over 500,000 agricultural workers and their families left their rural, natural surroundings and moved to population centers and cities in southern Finland. Large suburbs with cheap apart- ments, big schools and hospitals were built outside the cities. Landscaping was modest due to lack of financial resources. During the boom of the 1980s, improvements were started, but the severe recession in the 1990s stopped this development.