Urbanization is increasingly compromising residents’ connection to natural habitats and landscapes. With established relationships between human–nature connection (HNC) and pro-environmental behaviour and human well being, there are calls for effective interventions to strengthen HNC in urban settings. However, much of this research has operationalised HNC in narrow psychological terms. Based on an embodied framework of urban human–food connection (HFC) as a specific dimension of HNC, this article explores the role of active urban gardening in promoting different types of internal and external HFC and their link with pro-environmental food behaviour (PEFB). Based on a quantitative survey in Germany addressing vegetable gardeners in Munich (N = 254), a principal component analysis extracted four components of HFC comprising external body-related HFC (i.e. immediate urban garden-body activities: food harvesting and experiential food interaction) and internal mind-related HFC (i.e. immediate urban garden-mind activities including food discovery as well as food consciousness). These were found to be statistically related to one another. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that food consciousness through concerns on food consumption and environmental impacts as well as food as part of life attitude as an internal HFC is the sole predictor of PEFB. The study suggests an embodied HFC model emphasizing the need for local body- and mind-based nature connections for fostering earth stewardship. Future research should explore the relationship between inner dimensions of nature connectedness and external behavioural change to enable transformations towards sustainability.

城市化正在日益损害居民与自然栖息地和景观的联系。随着人与自然的联系（HNC）与亲环境行为和人类福祉之间建立的关系，人们呼吁采取有效干预措施，以加强城市环境中的HNC。但是，许多研究已经从狭义的心理角度对HNC进行了操作。本文以城市人与食物的联系（HFC）作为HNC的具体维度的具体框架为基础，探讨了活跃的城市园艺在促进不同类型的内部和外部HFC中的作用及其与亲环境食物行为的联系（PEFB）。 ）。基于德国针对慕尼黑蔬菜园丁的定量调查（N = 254），主要成分分析提取了HFC的四个成分，包括与外部身体相关的HFC（即，城市花园与身体的直接活动：食物的收获和体验性的食物相互作用）和与内部心理相关的HFC（即与城市花园有关的即时的心理活动，包括食物发现以及食物意识）。发现这些在统计上彼此相关。此外，回归分析显示，通过关注食物消费和环境影响以及作为内部HFC的生活态度的一部分来关注食物，食物意识是PEFB的唯一预测指标。这项研究提出了一个具体的HFC模型，该模型强调需要以当地基于身心的自然联系来促进地球管理。