Nowhere is the ‘concrete jungle’ designation more applicable than when describing New York City. Despite being home to one of the world’s most famous public spaces – Central Park –  the borough of Manhattan  has one of the highest population densities in the world.

Globally, for the first time in history, more people are residing in cities than in rural areas, prompting scientists to examine how urban dwelling affects the brain.

Marc Berman, a psychologist at the University of Michigan and lead author of a study that measured the cognitive deficits caused by urban dwelling, found being confined to an inner-city environment can impair basic mental processes. After spending time in a crowded street, the brain loses its ability to retain information and self-control is also reduced, he says.

In his research paper, The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting 
With Nature, Berman found that nature “modestly grabs attention in a bottom-up fashion, allowing top-down directed-attention abilities a chance to replenish. Unlike natural environments, urban environments capture attention dramatically and require directed attention (for example, to avoid being hit by a car), making them less restorative. It’s not an accident that Central Park is in the middle of Manhattan,” says Berman. “They needed to put a park there.”

So, it comes as no surprise that when Whitney Shanks, manager of the Openhouse Gallery in New York, transformed the gallery interior into a lush park during the cold winter months, thousands flocked to enjoy it. The concept started as an experiment to promote the space during the company’s quiet months. “January is gloomy, the weather is really bad and people are feeling down, so the concept was to provide a warm environment that was open to the public and … makes you smile,” she says. “It’s just one of those random New York things that you stumble upon.”

Those who turned up found food carts, movie screenings and yoga lessons within the bounds of 418 square metres of green plastic grass, artificial and real plants, and woodland scenery wallpaper. “People have been meeting friends here to play cards, making out, drinking coffee and eating lunch. It’s a very interesting social experience because people are treating it as an actual park space. The response has been really positive and it has that great surprise factor that’s working in our favour. It’s funny because you never know something like this will work, but everyone walks in and smiles and unwinds.”

Across the Atlantic Ocean, Frenchman Amaury Gallon, famed for his design and mastery of vertical indoor gardens, has exhibited unique pop-up garden concepts throughout Paris.

Titled Ma Bulle, Ma Plante and Moi, and translating to My Bubble, My Plant and Me, Gallon’s designs allow him to advocate for the greening of urban public spaces. “In numerous cities around the world, citizens group together and organise green, guerrilla actions to put plants in urban spaces so that nature is competing with the concrete,” Gallon says. “Through these different social and individual movements, we can declare that we need a return to more natural and living things.”

In conjunction with the Flower Council of Holland, Gallon exhibited four 60-metre-cubed flower-filled installations to create “the right to 15 minutes of full green”, inspired by Andy Warhol’s prediction that everyone will have 15 minutes of fame.

“Plants make life more beautiful and are living decorations that are both useful and restorative. This cohabitation becomes fundamental, it allows us to breathe,” he says. “The theme of greening interior spaces seems to be a way to respond to the challenge of the city of tomorrow.”

Victoria-based environmental artist Joost Bakker has highlighted the importance of re-engaging with nature with his sustainable and innovative restaurant projects. In 2008, he set up Greenhouse, a pop-up restaurant in Melbourne’s Federation Square built from sustainable materials and featuring a rooftop garden, which supplied herbs, vegetables and fruits to the kitchen. The project has since moved to its permanent home in Perth’s CBD, but Bakker has recreated the design temporarily on the Sydney waterfront.

Covered in 4800 terracotta pots, each housing a strawberry plant, the pop-up restaurant took around three weeks to erect and will stay in its spot for just seven weeks, closing at the end of March. “I think the best part is when we’re actually gone,” Bakker says. “When people see that it’s gone, that there is nothing left, they go ‘wow’.”

Dutch-born Bakker is one in a long line of flower growers, and says his love of nature is innate. “I love plants and flowers. That’s what I’ve done for the past 20 years, inserted life into restaurants and bars, whether it’s cages filled with plants, trees that have blown over, whatever form it is,” he says. “For me, it’s how can you not be passionate about plants and flowers?”

The restaurant has its own composter that feeds the basil, rocket, parsley, coriander and marjoram that grow on the rooftop bar and in turn supply the kitchen. “That’s one of the best parts for me,” Bakker says, “that everyone will be standing up there among it.”

He says there is a disconnection between what we eat and how it is produced. “That’s the connection we’re trying to make. We’ve got straw [used for insulation] that is a by-product of wheat and we’ve got bags of wheat that we’re grinding and turning into flour; most people have forgotten that, which I find amazing,” he says.

Made from roll form steel, the flooring from old conveyor belts and chairs from discarded downpipe, the structure fits into four 12-metre containers and will be shipped to Milan, Berlin and London later in the year to bring a splash of greenery to those cities.

Berman says for those living in the city, interacting with nature even at this level can have cognitive benefits.

“Even looking at pictures of nature can have benefits. You want to make sure you spend time in an environment where your mind can wander and let go. Even 10-15 minutes is beneficial.”