Evaluation of the applicability of hospital-affiliated green spaces to patient recovery using the entropy weight method and grey relational analysis

Introduction

Hospital affiliated green spaces can help patients recover and recover their physical functions, promote physical and mental relaxation, enhance health awareness, and improve overall health. However, there are still significant questions about how to scientifically construct hospital affiliated green spaces. This study examines the impact of hospital green spaces on patient rehabilitation through scientific evaluation methods, providing reference for the scientific construction of hospital affiliated green spaces. Applicability evaluation was conducted on the affiliated green spaces of three hospitals in Harbin. An evaluation system covering plants, space, accessibility, rehabilitation functions, and promotional and educational functions has been constructed. The entropy weight method is used to determine the weight of indicators, and the grey correlation analysis method is used to evaluate the suitability of green space for patient rehabilitation.

Methods

The experimental results showed that the landscape accessibility index had the highest weight (0.3005) and the plant index had the lowest weight (0.1628), indicating that caring for special needs is the foundation of hospital landscapes, and plants have subtle and long-term effects on physical and mental health. In the evaluation of the rehabilitation applicability of the affiliated green spaces of various hospitals, the second hospital has the highest grey correlation degree (0.8525), followed by the tumor hospital (0.5306) and the fifth hospital (0.4846). It can be seen that the green space of the second hospital has high applicability for patient rehabilitation, but the green space of the tumor hospital and the fifth hospital needs to be improved and developed.

Results and discussion

The evaluation criteria used in this study are comprehensive. The landscaping at the Third Hospital is well-planned with good plant configuration and reasonable spatial layout. However, there is insufficient consideration for accessibility in the landscape design, and the details are lacking. The rehabilitation and educational functions of the landscape are inadequate, with limited outdoor activities and low road safety. The hospital's affiliated green spaces should adhere to the principle of "appropriate scale, comprehensive functionality, and educational leisure," integrating rehabilitation and educational functions while increasing the variety of outdoor activities. In the future, emphasis should be placed on exploring the integration of landscape and rehabilitation to provide a functional site that is convenient for visiting, with improved rehabilitation facilities and an educational and enjoyable environment. The design should incorporate elements that contribute to a sense of well-being, including roads and.

Semantic partitioning facilitates memory for object location through category-partition cueing

In our lived environments, objects are often semantically organised (e.g., cookware and cutlery are placed close together in the kitchen). Across four experiments, we examined how semantic partitions (that group same-category objects in space) influenced memory for object locations. Participants learned the locations of items in a semantically partitioned display (where each partition contained objects from a single category) as well as a purely visually partitioned display (where each partition contained a scrambled assortment of objects from different categories). Semantic partitions significantly improved location memory accuracy compared to the scrambled display. However, when the correct partition was cued (highlighted) to participants during recall, performance on the semantically partitioned display was similar to the scrambled display. These results suggest that semantic partitions largely benefit memory for location by enhancing the ability to use the given category as a cue for a visually partitioned area (e.g., toys - top left). Our results demonstrate that semantically structured spaces help location memory across partitions, but not items within a partition, providing new insights into the interaction between meaning and memory.

How can plant-enriched natural environments benefit human health: a narrative review of relevant theories

Plant-enriched environments, the most common terrestrial landscapes, are usually coded as "green space" in urban studies. To understand how these natural environments can benefit human health, many theories have been developed, such as the well-known Attention Restoration Theory. Nowadays, more theories are emerging with regard to various and complex health dimensions. In this context, we searched online databases (from 2000 to 2022) and conducted a narrative review aiming to introduce relevant theories concerning psychological (e.g. Perceptual Fluency Account and Conditioned Restoration Theory), physiological (e.g. volatile organic compounds and environmental microbiomes), and behavioural (e.g. physical activity and social contact) perspectives. We also slightly mentioned some limitations and directions to be considered when using these theories. These results may offer general readers insights into the value of nature exposure and also help relevant researchers with study design and result interpretation.

Semantic partitioning facilitates memory for object location through category-partition cueing

In our lived environments, objects are often semantically organised (e.g., cookware and cutlery are placed close together in the kitchen). Across four experiments, we examined how semantic partitions (that group same-category objects in space) influenced memory for object locations. Participants learned the locations of items in a semantically partitioned display (where each partition contained objects from a single category) as well as a purely visually partitioned display (where each partition contained a scrambled assortment of objects from different categories). Semantic partitions significantly improved location memory accuracy compared to the scrambled display. However, when the correct partition was cued (highlighted) to participants during recall, performance on the semantically partitioned display was similar to the scrambled display. These results suggest that semantic partitions largely benefit memory for location by enhancing the ability to use the given category as a cue for a visually partitioned area (e.g., toys - top left). Our results demonstrate that semantically structured spaces help location memory across partitions, but not items within a partition, providing new insights into the interaction between meaning and memory.

Designing Worthy Waiting Spaces: A Cross-Cultural Study of Waiting Room Features and Their Impact on Women's Affective States

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the impact of ambulatory waiting room characteristics on patients' emotional states and investigates whether these states are universally experienced or influenced by social and cultural factors among women aged 18-35 from the three largest demographic groups in the United States: Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White.

BACKGROUND

Patients typically spend more time waiting for routine medical appointments than receiving care, and evidence suggests that waiting can reinforces power dynamics that benefit privileged groups, leading to different experiences for minority women seeking preventative care. Still, literature addressing the impact of waiting areas is largely limited to universal measures, and little is known about how different ethnic/race groups respond to waiting spaces.

METHODS

This inquiry used a questionnaire assessing 15 waiting room characteristics and testing four variables (furniture arrangement, room-scale, color saturation, and quantity of positive distractions) in a 2 × 3 quasiexperiment using a fractional randomized block design with 24 waiting room images.

FINDINGS

Responses from 1,114 participants revealed mutual preferences for sociopetal seating, positive distractions, neutral colors, and welcoming and calming environments. Yet, Black participants indicated significantly greater importance in seeing ethnically/racially similar patients and healthcare providers and strategies that promote transparency, including image-based provider directories and views into the clinic.

CONCLUSION

By investigating the impact of the waiting room environment on patient affect and comparing perceptions across three demographic groups of women, this study offers insights into potential strategies for improving access to preventative care services by creating more welcoming ambulatory care waiting environments.

Designing environments that contribute to a reduction in the progression of Parkinson's disease; a literature review

Parkinson's Disease (PD), a prevalent neurological disorder, causes physical difficulties like stiffness and impaired walking and affects patients' emotional well-being. Regular exercise and exposure to enriched environments are crucial to managing these symptoms. This review aims to extract evidence from studies regarding built environments' impact on reducing the progression of PD. Keywords from 2005 to 2022 were used in five databases, including PubMed, Clarivate Web of Science, UGA Library, and Google Scholar. Many studies emphasized physiotherapy and training for physical enhancement, often utilizing virtual games and smart devices. Others highlighted the advantages of non-slip flooring and accessible outdoor spaces, with some based on universal design principles. Few studies considered the emotional impact of built environments, showing a considerable gap in the studies simultaneously evaluating psychological and physical perspectives of Parkinson-friendly environments. There needs to be more consistency when considering these aspects of planning. Our findings suggest future research modeling enriched environments and tracking their impact on patients via Virtual Reality to find a comprehensive guideline for the most effective PD management environments.

Health Implications of Virtual Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Transferability of Findings from Neuroarchitecture

Virtual architecture has been increasingly relied on to evaluate the health impacts of physical architecture. In this health research, exposure to virtual architecture has been used as a proxy for exposure to physical architecture. Despite the growing body of research on the health implications of physical architecture, there is a paucity of research examining the long-term health impacts of prolonged exposure to virtual architecture. In response, this paper considers: what can proxy studies, which use virtual architecture to assess the physiological response to physical architecture, tell us about the impact of extended exposure to virtual architecture on human health? The paper goes on to suggest that the applicability of these findings to virtual architecture may be limited by certain confounding variables when virtual architecture is experienced for a prolonged period of time. This paper explores the potential impact of two of these confounding variables: multisensory integration and gravitational perception. This paper advises that these confounding variables are unique to extended virtual architecture exposure and may not be captured by proxy studies that aim to capture the impact of physical architecture on human health through acute exposure to virtual architecture. While proxy studies may be suitable for measuring some aspects of the impact of both physical and virtual architecture on human health, this paper argues that they may be insufficient to fully capture the unintended consequences of extended exposure to virtual architecture on human health. Therefore, in the face of the increasing use of virtual architectural environments, the author calls for the establishment of a subfield of neuroarchitectural health research that empirically examines the physiological impacts of extended exposure to virtual architecture in its own right.

Anthropause appreciation, biophilia, and ecophilosophical contemplations amidst a global pandemic

In 2020, COVID-19 mitigation measures, including lockdowns and travel bans to curtail disease transmission, inadvertently led to an "Anthropause" - a unique global pause to anthropogenic activities. While there was a spike in ecological studies measuring Anthropause effects on environmental indicators, people's experiences of the Anthropause or its potential to inspire change were hardly considered. Hence, we aimed to measure people's appreciation of the environmental outcomes of the Anthropause, ecophilosophical contemplations about the pandemic, and experiences of lockdown-triggered biophilia (human's innate love for and draw towards nature) and test the hypothesis that these experiences would be consistently more prominent among the already environmentally inclined. To that end, we developed and tested three measures on a representative sample of 993 New Zealanders. Anthropause Appreciation received the highest overall mean ratings, followed by Lockdown-Biophilia and Eco-Contemplation. Pre-existing pro-environmental dispositions and behaviours did not consistently influence our three measures as expected. Demographic variables had little influence, while experiences of financial and mental health impacts due to COVID-19 had no influence. We interpreted the limited influence of explanatory variables as indicative of a degree of uniformity in people's experiences. High appreciation of Anthropause benefits suggests that the public may be supportive of policies and ways of living that can lead to similar outcomes post-pandemic - offering environmental policymakers and communicators a basis for action. Ecophilosophical contemplations and biophilic draw among the public suggest an awareness of the significance of the human-nature relationship - offering a symbolic global keystone for communicating and advocating conservation and the many values of pauses in life to connect with nature. Building women's environmental leadership capabilities and the ongoing greening of Christianity may be essential steps for global post-pandemic environmental behaviour transformations.

Sustainability pedagogy: Understanding, exploring and internalizing nature's complexity and coherence

Online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has affected student academic performance as well as mental, physical, and social wellbeing. During a lockdown at the University of Toronto in Canada (September 2020-April 2021), my students expressed an underlying sense of monotony yet uncertainty. I recalled a contrasting paradox from the teachings of Indigenous Cree on mental wellness in land-based experiences: a sense of stimulation and security that we can liken to variations of Appleton's prospect-refuge theory. I modified my Environmental Science and Pathways to Sustainability course to support stimulation and security through embodied, interactive pedagogy at student-selected individual field sites. My main goals were to (i) support student mental wellness and (ii) provide an alternative to experiential field trips for understanding and connecting with nature as an adaptive complex system. I prompted students with field activities contextualized by a course narrative that purposefully directed attention to nature through intrinsically motivated curiosity, exploration, and discovery; conditions more similar to evolutionary environments of adaptedness than "getting away" in passive retreats. Student weekly field observations and reflections culminated in a post-intervention Reflection Assignment (n = 15) which became the bases of thematic and narrative analysis. Other assignments were added to my evaluation of complexity comprehension. The intervention successfully instilled security and stimulation via purpose-directed attention to different aspects of nature in the same setting followed by periods of knowledge integration. This empowered students with sustainability mindsets indicated by greater self-reported: sense of coherence, change agency, cognitive and affective restoration, nature connectedness, nature relatedness, social connectedness, and pro-environmental values. Assignments demonstrated an understanding of the environment as an adaptive complex system that was not present at the beginning of the course. Some students' self-construct adopted nature and its complexity, empowering them with greater trait resilience. This work speaks to opportunities for merging psychological restoration and analytical curricula by integrating cognitive and sensory meaningfulness in sustainability narratives. It asks scholars to reflect on how we operationalize foundational theories of Environmental Psychology based on ancestral survival conditions and encourages empirical research to consider how sociocultural contexts can direct attention to nature through purposeful inquiry.

Nature exposure might be the intervention to improve the self-regulation and skilled performance in mentally fatigue athletes: A narrative review and conceptual framework

Background

Due to causing inability of self-regulation (ego depletion) and executive functions such as directed attention and visual searching for relevant information (e.g., the ball location and the position of teammates), mental fatigue impairs skilled performance in various sports. On the other hand, natural scenes could improve directed attention, which may considerably benefit visual searching ability and self-regulation. However, nature exposure as a potential intervention to improve skilled performance among mentally fatigued athletes has not been discussed thoroughly.

Purpose

To propose the potential intervention for the impairment of skilled performance among mentally fatigued athletes and generate a framework for future studies.

Methods

A narrative review was applied to search broadly across disciplines, retrieving literature from several databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCOhost).

Results

Thirty-three works of literature including 39 experiments (mental fatigue 15; ego depletion 5; and nature exposure 19) were obtained. Finally, a conceptual framework was built regarding the effect of nature exposure intervention on skilled performance in athletes for future studies.

Conclusion

Three theories (the psychobiological model of exercise performance, the strength model of self-regulation, and attention restoration theory) could be potentially integrated to be a conceptual framework and explain the mechanism of preventing prior mental exertion (e.g., mental fatigue and ego depletion). Future studies could examine more on the duration of the intervention.

Understanding the Cognitive Immersion of Hospitality Architecture in Culture and Nature: Cultural Psychology and Neuroscience Views

Hotel architectural design plays a critical role in the hospitality experiences of consumers, and it is important to consider that people may have different aesthetic cognitions toward the sensory properties of nature (i.e., the architecture of the hotel), such as its color and texture, as well as the landscape. While neuroaesthetics has emerged as a nascent field in hospitality research, few studies have investigated how nature reflects aesthetic experiences in the human brain. Moreover, the neuroaesthetic interpretation of architecture through the aesthetic triad is a novel interdisciplinary field. A field survey conducted at Amanfayun, a hotel in Hangzhou, China, in support of our propositions proves that sensory-motor, knowledge-meaning, and emotion valuation systems play key roles in appreciating architectural aesthetics. This study demonstrates that the evaluation of fluency, complexity, and naturalistic patterns of an architectural masterpiece is achieved through the sensory-motor systems. Our results also prove that familiarity, expectations, context, and cultural background directly affect the aesthetic knowledge of an individual and the meaning of architecture. Moreover, the interaction of sensory-motor and knowledge elements is uniformly moderated by the emotion valuation systems, resulting in a balanced appreciation of aesthetic architecture. Finally, the study reveals the central roles of culture and nature in cognitive rejuvenation.

Explorations of Young People’s Sense of Place Using Urban Design Qualities in Surabaya, Indonesia

This study aims to assess a sense of place in the context of an Indonesian city through real-time walking experience. With rapid urban development, the cityscape may change, leading to a lack of a sense of place. Here, the sense of place was measured by utilizing individual reactions to different urban design qualities and perceptual qualities during walking. Previous methods on visitors’ evaluation of places, walking experience and photographing, were adapted by adding two more stages: in-depth interviews and a workshop, obtaining participants’ opinions and behaviours. The analysis results showed that the participants experienced the sense of place through physical and non-physical features corresponding to walking speed. While the old buildings and ornament details attracted participants’ attention, this study demonstrated that the two-way interaction with residents also strengthened the sense of place. The major finding was that the participants were concerned about improving pedestrian infrastructure and the conservation of old buildings in the area. With the assistance of in-depth interviews and a workshop, participants’ perspectives were visually reflected in a comprehensive way. This study may be helpful for urban planners to manage the sense of place in historic city centres under the pressure of rapid urban development.

How Do Nature-Based Solutions’ Color Tones Influence People’s Emotional Reaction? An Assessment via Virtual and Augmented Reality in a Participatory Process

Simulations of urban transformations are an effective tool for engaging citizens and enhancing their understanding of urban design outcomes. Citizens’ involvement can positively contribute to foster resilience for mitigating the impact of climate change. Successful integration of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) into the urban fabric enables both the mitigation of climate hazards and positive reactions of citizens. This paper presents two case studies in a southern district of Milan (Italy), investigating the emotional reaction of citizens to existing urban greenery and designed NBS. During the events, the participants explored in Virtual Reality (VR) (n = 48) and Augmented Reality (AR) (n = 63) (i) the district in its current condition and (ii) the design project of a future transformation including NBS. The environmental exploration and the data collection took place through the exp-EIA© method, integrated into the mobile app City Sense. The correlations between the color features of the viewed landscape and the emotional reaction of participants showed that weighted saturation of green and lime colors reduced the unpleasantness both in VR and AR, while the lime pixel area (%) reduced the unpleasantness only in VR. No effects were observed on the Arousal and Sleepiness factors. The effects show high reliability between VR and AR for some of the variables. Implications of the method and the benefits for urban simulation and participatory processes are discussed.

The neuroaesthetics of architectural spaces

People in developed countries spend over 90% of their time in built environments. Yet, we know little about its pervasive and often hidden effects on our mental state and our brain. Despite growing interest in the neuroscience of architecture, much of this scholarship has been descriptive. The typical approach is to map knowledge of the brain onto constructs important to architecture. For a programmatic line of research, how might descriptive neuroarchitecture be transformed into an experimental science? We review the literature outlining how one might consider experimental architecture first by examining the role of natural features in architectural settings. We then turn to the human experience of occupants, and hypothesized that aesthetic responses to architectural interiors reduce to key psychological dimensions. Conducting Psychometric Network Analysis (PNA) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA) on responses to curated images, we identified three components: coherence (ease of organizing and comprehending a scene), fascination (informational richness and generated interest), and hominess (personal ease and comfort). Coherence and fascination are well-established dimensions for natural scenes. Hominess was a new dimension related to architectural interiors. Central to all three communities in the PNA was emotional valence. We also reanalyzed data from an earlier fMRI study in which participants made beauty and approach-avoidance decisions while viewing the same images. Regardless of task, the degree of fascination covaried with neural activity in the right lingual gyrus. In contrast, coherence covaried with neural activity in the left inferior occipital gyrus only when participants judged beauty, and hominess covaried with neural activity in the left cuneus only when they made approach-avoidance decisions. The visual brain harbours hidden sensitivities to architectural interiors that are captured by the dimensions of coherence, fascination, and hominess. These findings represent first steps towards an experimental neuroarchitecture.

Innovative Polyelectrolyte Treatment to Flame-Retard Wood

Fire protection has been a major challenge in wood construction for many years, mainly due to the high flame spread risk associated with wood flooring. Wood fire-retardancy is framed by two main axes: coating and bulk impregnation. There is a growing need for economically and environmentally friendly alternatives. The study of polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) for wood substrates is in its infancy, but PECs’ versatility and eco-friendly character are already recognized for fabric fire-retardancy fabrics. In this study, a new approach to PEC characterization is proposed. First, PECs, which consist of polyethyleneimine and sodium phytate, were chemically and thermally characterized to select the most promising systems. Then, yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) was surface-impregnated under reduced pressure with the two PECs identified as the best options. Overall, wood fire-retardancy was improved with a low weight gain of 2 wt.% without increasing water uptake.

The Cognitive-Emotional Design and Study of Architectural Space: A Scoping Review of Neuroarchitecture and Its Precursor Approaches

Humans respond cognitively and emotionally to the built environment. The modern possibility of recording the neural activity of subjects during exposure to environmental situations, using neuroscientific techniques and virtual reality, provides a promising framework for future design and studies of the built environment. The discipline derived is termed "neuroarchitecture". Given neuroarchitecture's transdisciplinary nature, it progresses needs to be reviewed in a contextualised way, together with its precursor approaches. The present article presents a scoping review, which maps out the broad areas on which the new discipline is based. The limitations, controversies, benefits, impact on the professional sectors involved, and potential of neuroarchitecture and its precursors' approaches are critically addressed.

Exploring the Relationship Between Perceived Visual Access to Nature and Nurse Burnout

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to investigate the relationship between perceived visual access to nature views in nurse work and break environments and scores for subscales of Maslach Burnout Inventory among nurses.

BACKGROUND

Burnout is a severe problem among nurses. Literature shows a relationship between stress and burnout and between nature exposure and stress. However, the possible consequent relationship between connection to nature and nurse burnout needs further study.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study explored the relationship between the subscales (Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment [EE, DP, and PA]) of the Maslach Burnout Inventory as "outcome variables" and perception of view duration, frequency of exposure to views, view content and artwork content as "explanatory variables" in a subset regression model. The study model also included organizational stressors, environmental design factors, unit type, workload, and personal factors as control variables. Fifty-one nurses working in six units in a large tertiary care hospital participated in the study.

RESULTS

Percentage of perceived nature views and organizational stressors were the top two best predictors correlating with EE (37% of the EE variance; p < .05). Percentage of perceived nature views, organizational stressors, and environmental design were the top three predictors correlating with DP (43% of variance for DP; p < .05). No significant relationship was found between study variables and PA.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study recommend perceiving nature views as an independent or integrated intervention to meditation and relaxation techniques. From a design standpoint, this study suggests that a unit and breakroom design with access to nature views could work as a consistent preventive intervention for burnout.

The Potential of Biophilic Fractal Designs to Promote Health and Performance: A Review of Experiments and Applications

Fractal objects are prevalent in natural scenery. Their repetition of patterns at increasingly fine magnifications creates a rich complexity. Fractals displaying mid-range complexity are the most common and include trees, clouds, and mountains. The “fractal fluency” model states that human vision has adapted to process these mid-range fractals with ease. I will first discuss fractal fluency and demonstrate how it enhances the observer’s visual capabilities by focusing on experiments that have important practical consequences for improving the built environment. These enhanced capabilities generate an aesthetic experience and physiological stress reduction. I will discuss strategies for integrating fractals into building designs to induce positive impacts on the observer. Examples include fractal solar panels, fractal window shades, and fractal floor patterns. These applications of fractal fluency represent a fundamental and potentially impactful form of salutogenesis.

The potential synergistic effects between psychedelic administration and nature contact for the improvement of mental health

Therapeutic psychedelic administration and contact with nature have been associated with the same psychological mechanisms: decreased rumination and negative affect, enhanced psychological connectedness and mindfulness-related capacities, and heightened states of awe and transcendent experiences, all processes linked to improvements in mental health amongst clinical and healthy populations. Nature-based settings can have inherently psychologically soothing properties which may complement all stages of psychedelic therapy (mainly preparation and integration) whilst potentiating increases in nature relatedness, with associated psychological benefits. Maximising enhancement of nature relatedness through therapeutic psychedelic administration may constitute an independent and complementary pathway towards improvements in mental health that can be elicited by psychedelics.

The affective benefits of nature exposure: What's nature got to do with it?

Nature interactions have been demonstrated to produce reliable affective benefits. While adults demonstrate strong preferences for natural environments over urban ones, it is not clear whether these affective benefits result from exposure to nature stimuli per se, or result from viewing a highly preferred stimulus. In one set of studies (Study 1 and 2), state affect before and after image viewing was examined as a function of both preference level (high, low, very high, or very low aesthetic value) and environment type (nature or urban). When aesthetic value was matched, no differences in affect change were found between environments. However, affect change was predicted by individual participants' ratings for the images. The largest affective benefits occurred after viewing very high aesthetic nature images, but Study 2 lacked an equivalently preferred urban image set. In a second set of studies (Study 3 and 4), new sets of very highly preferred images in categories other than nature scenes (urban scenes and animals) were employed. As before, individual differences in preference for the images (but not image category) was predictive of changes in affect. In Study 5, the nature and urban images from Study 1 were rated on beauty to assess whether the stimuli's preference ratings were capturing anything other than simple aesthetics. Results showed that beauty/aesthetics and preference ('liking') were nearly identical. Lastly, a replication of Study 2 (Study 6) was conducted to test whether priming preference accounted for these benefits, but this was not the case. Together, these results suggest that nature improves affective state because it is such a highly preferred environment.

Biophilic Design for Restorative University Learning Environments: A Critical Review of Literature and Design Recommendations

The influence of environmental design on people’s wellbeing and productivity has been well studied in some settings such as offices, hospitals, and elementary schools, but salutogenic and biophilic design in urban post-secondary educational environments remains understudied and warrants closer investigation. There are unique challenges faced by these students and implementing health promoting and restorative, environmental design strategies could improve the quality of life and learning outcomes of university students. This paper identifies pertinent themes in published multi-disciplinary literature relating to the influence of the built environment on university students: emotional stress, happiness, stimulation, cognitive function, social support, belonging, places to study, lighting, and ventilation. The results of the semi-structured literature review identifies, analyzes, and categorizes relevant studies that examine nature views, nature images, natural colors, natural materials, auditory and olfactory aspects of nature, nature images with water, indoor plants, campus landscapes, study spaces, local materials and style, daylight access, and thermal and environmental comfort. These are organized according to the biophilic patterns identified by Browning, Ryan, and Clancy. Trends and gaps in understanding the influence of biophilic design on university settings are discussed, and the paper identifies evidence-based design recommendations for incorporating biophilic design in university settings.

Aesthetic preference is related to organized complexity

There is extensive evidence today linking exposure to natural environments to favorable changes in mental and even physical health. There is also a growing body of work indicating that there are specific geometric properties of natural scenes that mediate these effects, and that these properties can also be found in artificial structures like buildings, especially those designed before the emergence of modernism. These geometries are also associated with aesthetic preference–we seem to like what is good for us. Here, using a questionnaire-based survey, we have tried to elucidate some of the parameters that play a role in formulating a preference for one form over the other. The images used were nature scenes from the Alpine landscape with various manipulations to alter their complexity, or with additions of computer graphics or various buildings. In all cases, the presence of a natural scaling hierarchy and of either fractal graphics or of ornate, non-local pre-modern buildings was always preferable to the alternative. We discuss these findings under the light of recent evidence in the field and conclude that they support the idea of the existence of a preference of our perceptive system for certain types of visual organization.

Sustainable Co-Design with Older People: The Case of a Public Restorative Garden in Milan (Italy)

The demographic aging and the evolution of lifestyles require new strategies to promote the well-being and active aging of elderly. Active aging depends on many factors: some of these are related to objective data such as physical environment, others are personal elements; it is important to improve environmental physical factors to encourage personal attitudes to the green spaces in use. To design a small sustainable restorative green space in Milan, Italy, restorative garden design criteria are summarized in the first section of the paper and both social and environmental sustainability are considered. The methodology section describes the co-design process and how it was applied to include different older user groups in the design of the area. In the results section authors apply a taxonomy based on the four properties of restorative settings according to the Attention Restoration Theory by Kaplan (compatibility, being away, extent, fascination): this provides a unified system to classify users’ expectations and to describe the final project. The proposed co-design process combines social and environmental sustainability, as it provides designers an insight about the user’s experience in nature. Such information can be fruitfully integrated with professional competences about comfort aspects and environmental protection in order to improve the whole design project.

Psychological and neural responses to architectural interiors

People spend considerable time within built environments. In this study, we tested two hypotheses about the relationship between people and built environments. First, aesthetic responses to architectural interiors reduce to a few key psychological dimensions that are sensitive to design features. Second, these psychological dimensions evoke specific neural signatures. In Experiment 1, participants (n = 798) rated 200 images of architectural interiors on 16 aesthetic response measures. Using Psychometric Network Analysis (PNA) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA), we identified three components that explained 90% of the variance in ratings: coherence (ease with which one organizes and comprehends a scene), fascination (a scene's informational richness and generated interest), and hominess (extent to which a scene reflects a personal space). Whereas coherence and fascination are well-established dimensions in response to natural scenes and visual art, hominess emerged as a new dimension related to architectural interiors. In Experiment 2 (n = 614), the PCA results were replicated in an independent sample, indicating the robustness of these three dimensions. In Experiment 3, we reanalyzed data from an fMRI study in which participants (n = 18) made beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions when viewing the same images. Parametric analyses demonstrated that, regardless of task, the degree of fascination covaried with neural activity in the right lingual gyrus. In contrast, coherence covaried with neural activity in the left inferior occipital gyrus only when participants judged beauty, whereas hominess covaried with neural activity in the left cuneus only when they made approach-avoidance decisions. Importantly, this neural activation did not covary in relation to global image properties including self-similarity and complexity scores. These results suggest that the visual brain harbors sensitivities to psychological dimensions of coherence, fascination, and hominess in the context of architectural interiors. Furthermore, valuation of architectural processing in visual cortices varies by dimension and task.

Impacts of large-scale interior murals on hospital employees: a pharmacy department case study

Purpose

Trending in modern interior design frameworks is an integration of real and simulated (i.e. photographs, murals) elements of nature into buildings, and a number of interdisciplinary studies concern the effects of nature on various aspects of human functioning. The purpose of this paper is to measure employees’ self-reported levels of affective organizational commitment (AOC), perceived productivity, well-being, attention restoration and satisfaction at work to explore how each mural is conceptualized and to make recommendations to hospital administrators and facilities managers as they make decisions concerning mural design and placement. One hospital had a biophilic mural and the other had a bold abstract mural.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was carried out using post-occupancy evaluation and mixed-methods survey design.

Findings

Employees in both hospitals disagreed that their organizational commitment (OC), perceived productivity or well-being at work had improved since the new murals had been installed. Responses from both hospitals were also low concerning perceptions of attention restoration. Indeed, no significant differences between hospitals were found. Correlations among scales were found within hospitals that support published studies. More correlations occurred at the hospital where employees viewed the biophilic mural (e.g. between OC and perceived productivity, and between satisfaction with the physical environment and perceived productivity). At both sites, satisfaction with the physical environment correlated with OC.

Originality/value

The authors expected that those working within view of the biophilic mural would report stronger ratings of AOC, perceived productivity, well-being, attention restoration and satisfaction with the workplace than employees with a view of the abstract scene. No differences between groups were found; responses to psychosocial scale items asking about whether attitudes had improved after the retrofit were low or neutral for employees in either hospital. However, more correlations between scales that support existing literature were revealed for those working near the biophilic mural. Thus, the authors recommend architectural programming before a design change to gather insight on occupants’ preferences at work.

Suitability Assessment of the Tools Under a Three-Dimension System of Landscape Monitoring: A Case Study in the NWHS of Bogda

Landscapes provide significant ecosystem service value in Natural World Heritage Sites (NWHSs) and are required to be preserved by regular monitoring and evaluation. It is vital to choose appropriate monitoring tools according to local conditions to guarantee the process is effective and efficient. This study aims to find out the spatial suitability of monitoring tools under a three-dimension system of space-based monitoring, sky-based monitoring, and ground-based monitoring. A suitability assessment was conducted from three aspects—the monitoring environment, object, and effect—from which typical differences existed among the three types of tools. Nine indicators were finalized, in which eight were classified and scored using the Delphi method with objectivity, and the remaining indicator was processed subjectively by quantifying the different monitoring effects on different landscape units by each of the tools. The method was verified using a case study in Bogda of Xinjiang Tianshan through overlay analysis in ArcGIS. The results showed an apparently stepped distribution characteristic related to altitude, where space-based monitoring zones are located in regions of high altitude, and the landscapes in low-altitude regions had the best monitoring effects using the ground-based tool and sky-based tool. Combined with the distribution characteristics of the 3-level protected zones, the results show a consistency with reality and could help planners to strategically deploy monitoring sites and allocate them advisable monitoring facilities and staffing.

Abstract art paintings, global image properties, and verbal descriptions: An empirical and computational investigation

While global image properties (GIPs) relate to preference ratings in many categories of visual stimuli, this relationship is typically not seen for abstract art paintings. Using computational network science and empirical methods, we further investigated GIPs and subjective preferences. First, we replicated the earlier observation that GIPs do not relate to preferences for abstract art. Next, we estimated the network structure of abstract art paintings using two approaches: the first was based on verbal descriptions and the second on GIPs. We examined the extent to which network measures computed from these two networks (1) related to preference for abstract art paintings and (2) determined affiliation of images to specific art styles. Only semantic-based network predicted the subjective preference ratings and art style. Finally, preference and GIPs differed for sub-groups of abstract art paintings. Our results demonstrate the importance of verbal descriptors in evaluating abstract art, and that it is not useful in empirical aesthetics to treat abstract art paintings as a single category.

Vitality from Experiences in Nature and Contact with Animals-A Way to Develop Joint Attention and Social Engagement in Children with Autism?

Animals are increasingly included in treatment for children with autism, and research has shown positive effects, such as increased social initiatives, decreased typical autistic behaviors, and decreased stress. However, there are still knowledge gaps, for example, on underlying mechanisms and effects from longer treatment duration. The purpose of this study is to contribute to these gaps and ask questions about the ways in which animals and nature can improve conditions for psychological development through support from therapists. The method is based on grounded theory. Data comes from a treatment model (duration 1½ years, a total of nine children), from environmental psychology and developmental psychology, both typical and atypical as in autism. The results consist of three key categories; reduce stress and instill calm, arouse curiosity and interest, and attract attention spontaneously. These three key categories are related to an underlying core variable, vitality forms, which was described by Daniel Stern and, according to him, is important in forming overall experiences. The starting point is the brain’s way of encoding many internal and external events based on movement perception. Here it is argued that the vitality forms from nature and animals are particularly favorable for effecting development-promoting interactions with a therapist.

Effects of biophilic interventions in office on stress reaction and cognitive function: A randomized crossover study in virtual reality

Biophilia hypothesis suggests humans have an innate connection to nature which may affect our health and productivity. Yet we currently live in a world that is rapidly urbanizing with people spending most of their time indoors. We designed a randomized crossover study to let 30 participants experience three versions of biophilic design in simulated open and enclosed office spaces in virtual reality (VR). Throughout the VR session, we measured blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin conductance level and administered cognitive tests to measure their reaction time and creativity. Compared to the base case, participants in three spaces with biophilic elements had consistently lower level of physiological stress indicators and higher creativity scores. In addition, we captured the variation in the intensity of virtual exposure to biophilic elements by using eye-tracking technology. These results suggest that biophilic interventions could help reduce stress and improve creativity. Moreover, those effects are related to both the types of biophilic elements and may be different based on the workspace type (open vs enclosed). This research demonstrates that VR-simulated office spaces are useful in differentiating responses to two configurations and among biophilic elements.

Neural correlates of appreciating natural landscape and landscape garden: Evidence from an fMRI study

INTRODUCTION

Rambling natural landscapes or landscape gardens may invoke positive emotions. However, the manner in which people experience landscape gardens and the cortical differences in the appreciation of the naturalness and artificiality of landscapes remain unknown.

METHODS

This study scanned participants with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they viewed photographs of natural landscapes and landscape gardens and performed scene type judgment task.

RESULTS

As predicted, we identified brain regions that were associated with perceptual process, cognitive process, and rewarding experience when appreciating natural landscapes and landscape gardens without color preference. Meanwhile, the contrast between the appreciation of landscape gardens and natural landscapes was characterized by stronger activations of the inferior occipital lobe, the left superior parietal lobule (SPL), the right fusiform gyrus, the right cuneus, and the right hippocampus.

CONCLUSIONS

Responses in these regions indicate that the appreciation of landscape gardens and natural landscapes relies on common cortical regions, and suggest the possibility that the inferior occipital lobe, the SPL, the fusiform gyrus, and the cuneus may be specifically associated with the appreciation of landscape gardens.

Spatial Design of Childcare Facilities Based on Biophilic Design Patterns

This study covers the issue of insufficient childcare support, which is part of the combined social problem of low birth rates and aging, and sets the direction for the environmental improvement of childcare facilities. This study aims to find the clues to creating an optimized environment for children in nature, which is a key factor that generally promotes children’s physical, cognitive, and social development. In this paper, we conducted a literature review and case study to determine the spatial design characteristics of childcare facilities based on a biophilic design and survey. This study reached five conclusions. Firstly, childcare facilities need a spatial design to have a view of the natural ecosystem outside to increase children’s concentration and provide a pleasant environment. Secondly, there is a need for open space that makes observation and monitoring more convenient in the different spaces of childcare facilities. Thirdly, childcare facilities need a spatial design where children can enjoy various sensory experiences related to nature. Fourthly, childcare facilities must have an interesting and familiar spatial design using natural elements. Lastly, there must be hiding places considering the children’s stage of development and learning ability. The results will be used as the baseline data for the spatial design and planning of childcare facilities based on biophilic design.

From Psychology of Sustainability to Sustainability of Urban Spaces: Promoting a Primary Prevention Approach for Well-Being in the Healthy City Designing. A Waterfront Case Study in Livorno

One of the main objectives of contemporary society and international research is to improve the physical and psychological health and well-being of the population, especially within the urban space. An effective approach to address this complex issue must necessarily be trans-disciplinary, and must be framed in the broader perspective of the Science of Sustainability, in particular the Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development, as a frame of reference. The study shows the first results of research, in terms of methodology and qualitative analysis, with the following objectives—identification of the criteria for intervention for a healthy city design, with particular attention to the psychological, architectural, and construction aspects, and an initial verification of these criteria, through a case study consisting of a section of the city’s waterfront, in the city of Livorno. This case study has enabled, both, the definition of an innovative design and implementation of solutions, for the correct use, accessibility, and management of spaces. It provides the first evaluation of a possible digital analyses of a waterfront, before and after intervention; and highlights the potential and the critical aspects of the process of recovery and re-appropriation of an urban space, for a new social life, within it.

Edge-Orientation Entropy Predicts Preference for Diverse Types of Man-Made Images

We recently found that luminance edges are more evenly distributed across orientations in large subsets of traditional artworks, i.e., artworks are characterized by a relatively high entropy of edge orientations, when compared to several categories of other (non-art) images. In the present study, we asked whether edge-orientation entropy is associated with aesthetic preference in a wide variety of other man-made visual patterns and scenes. In the first (exploratory) part of the study, participants rated the aesthetic appeal of simple shapes, artificial ornamental patterns, facades of buildings, scenes of interior architecture, and music album covers. Results indicated that edge-orientation entropy predicts aesthetic ratings for these stimuli. However, the magnitude of the effect depended on the type of images analyzed, on the range of entropy values encountered, and on the type of aesthetic rating (pleasing, interesting, or harmonious). For example, edge-orientation entropy predicted about half of the variance when participants rated facade photographs for pleasing and interesting, but only for 3.5% of the variance for harmonious ratings of music album covers. We also asked whether edge-orientation entropy relates to the well-established human preference for curved over angular shapes. Our analysis revealed that edge-orientation entropy was as good or an even better predictor for the aesthetic ratings than curvilinearity. Moreover, entropy could substitute for shape, at least in part, to predict the aesthetic ratings. In the second (experimental) part of this study, we generated complex line stimuli that systematically varied in their edge-orientation entropy and curved/angular shape. Here, edge-orientation entropy was a more powerful predictor for ratings of pleasing and harmonious than curvilinearity, and as good a predictor for interesting. Again, the two image properties shared a large portion of variance between them. In summary, our results indicate that edge-orientation entropy predicts aesthetic ratings in diverse man-made visual stimuli. Moreover, the preference for high edge-orientation entropy shares a large portion of predicted variance with the preference for curved over angular stimuli.

Spiritual and Affective Responses to a Physical Church and Corresponding Virtual Model

Architectural and psychological theories posit that built environments have the potential to elicit complex psychological responses. However, few researchers have seriously explored this potential. Given the increasing importance and fidelity of virtual worlds, such research should explore whether virtual models of built environments are also capable of eliciting complex psychological responses. The goal of this study was to test these hypotheses, using a church, a corresponding virtual model, and an inclusive measure of state spirituality ("spiritual feelings"). Participants (n = 33) explored a physical church and corresponding virtual model, completing a measure of spiritual feelings after exploring the outside and inside of each version of the church. Using spiritual feelings after exploring the outside of the church as a baseline measure, change in state spirituality was assessed by taking the difference between spiritual feelings after exploring the inside and outside of the church (inside-outside) for both models. Although this change was greater in response to the physical church, there was no significant difference between the two models in eliciting such change in spiritual feelings. Despite the limitations of this exploratory study, these findings indicate that both built environments and corresponding virtual models are capable of evoking complex psychological responses.

The effects of preferred natural stimuli on humans' affective states, physiological stress and mental health, and the potential implications for well-being in captive animals

Exposure to certain natural stimuli improves people's moods, reduces stress, enhances stress resilience, and promotes mental and physical health. Laboratory studies and real estate prices also reveal that humans prefer environments containing a broad range of natural stimuli. Potential mediators of these outcomes include: 1) therapeutic effects of specific natural products; 2) positive affective responses to stimuli that signalled safety and resources to our evolutionary ancestors; 3) attraction to environments that satisfy innate needs to explore and understand; and 4) ease of sensory processing, due to the stimuli's "evolutionary familiarity" and/or their fractal, self-repeating properties. These processes, and the benefits humans gain from natural stimuli, seem to be largely innate. They thus have strong implications for other species (including laboratory, farm and zoo animals living in environments devoid of natural stimuli), suggesting that they too may have nature-related "sensory needs". By promoting positive affect and stress resilience, preferred natural stimuli (including views, sounds and odours) could therefore potentially provide effective and efficient ways to improve captive animal well-being.

Buildings, Beauty, and the Brain: A Neuroscience of Architectural Experience

A burgeoning interest in the intersection of neuroscience and architecture promises to offer biologically inspired insights into the design of spaces. The goal of such interdisciplinary approaches to architecture is to motivate construction of environments that would contribute to peoples' flourishing in behavior, health, and well-being. We suggest that this nascent field of neuroarchitecture is at a pivotal point in which neuroscience and architecture are poised to extend to a neuroscience of architecture. In such a research program, architectural experiences themselves are the target of neuroscientific inquiry. Here, we draw lessons from recent developments in neuroaesthetics to suggest how neuroarchitecture might mature into an experimental science. We review the extant literature and offer an initial framework from which to contextualize such research. Finally, we outline theoretical and technical challenges that lie ahead.

Using deep learning to quantify the beauty of outdoor places

Beautiful outdoor locations are protected by governments and have recently been shown to be associated with better health. But what makes an outdoor space beautiful? Does a beautiful outdoor location differ from an outdoor location that is simply natural? Here, we explore whether ratings of over 200 000 images of Great Britain from the online game Scenic-Or-Not, combined with hundreds of image features extracted using the Places Convolutional Neural Network, might help us understand what beautiful outdoor spaces are composed of. We discover that, as well as natural features such as 'Coast', 'Mountain' and 'Canal Natural', man-made structures such as 'Tower', 'Castle' and 'Viaduct' lead to places being considered more scenic. Importantly, while scenes containing 'Trees' tend to rate highly, places containing more bland natural green features such as 'Grass' and 'Athletic Fields' are considered less scenic. We also find that a neural network can be trained to automatically identify scenic places, and that this network highlights both natural and built locations. Our findings demonstrate how online data combined with neural networks can provide a deeper understanding of what environments we might find beautiful and offer quantitative insights for policymakers charged with design and protection of our built and natural environments.

From Savannas to Settlements: Exploring Cognitive Foundations for the Design of Urban Spaces

Urban configurations in developing countries have become the subject of urban design, with good design promoting economic benefits. Yet, the common practice of urban design lacks a principled scientific foundation. In this respect, cognitive neuroscience could provide a unique perspective and potential foundational insights regarding how embodied cognition links configuration with movement. Although the neural networks that underlie navigation abilities in the brain have been extensively studied, the manner in which these networks might best constrain urban configurations has not been examined specifically. Moreover, it remains an open issue whether the neurological development and functional topographies in the brain that could potentially constrain such urban configurations might also replicate the geometric structures of those environments that were the cradle of human evolution. We propose urban grid-form settlement patterns may be a result of the naturally evolved structures of the human brain. We suggest then that a potential agenda for experimentation and debate could focus on neurological underpinnings of movement choices in urban places. Such an agenda would benefit from bridging a gap between C.P. Snow’s two cultures, i.e., among architects and neuroscientists. Here, we provide a perspective to engender such further dialog on the design of embodied urban spaces and the potential neural systems that may constrain their design.

Shopping experiences in visually complex environments: a self-regulation account

Purpose

– Providing satisfying shopping experiences is a major goal in retail management because satisfaction guides re-patronage behavior. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the visual complexity of an environment’s interior design (i.e. the overall amount of visual information in an environment) influences the shopping experience by impairing customers’ information processing and self-regulation resources.

Design/methodology/approach

– Two quasi-experimental field studies were conducted in two different cultural contexts (i.e. Germany and Singapore) to enhance the external validity and robustness of the findings.

Findings

– Both studies provide evidence that an environment’s visual complexity impairs the shopping experience. Study 1 shows that visual complexity places a perceptual load on customers which mediates the complexity-experience relationship. Study 2 replicates this finding in a different setting and extends it by showing that load relates to lower self-control, which in turn, mars the experience. Furthermore, the negative effect of complexity on the experience is more pronounced with shoppers pursuing utilitarian rather than hedonic shopping goals.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings in a supermarket context may not transfer to environments in which the visual design is an important component of the value proposition and where shopping goals are largely hedonic in nature.

Practical implications

– The findings advance theory by showing that it is perceptual load and its outcome, reduced perceived self-control, which are largely responsible for the negative effect of visual complexity on the shopping experience. This finding should encourage managers to proactively manage and reduce the complexity of their service environments.

Originality/value

– This study is the first to show how the visual complexity of a retail environment influences a customer’s shopping experience. It offers novel insights into the underlying mechanism of perceptual load and self-control as process mediators of visual complexity on the shopping experience.

The role of nature in coping with psycho-physiological stress: a literature review on restorativeness

Physical settings can play a role in coping with stress; in particular experimental research has found strong evidence between exposure to natural environments and recovery from physiological stress and mental fatigue, giving support to both Stress Recovery Theory and Attention Restoration Theory. In fact, exposure to natural environments protects people against the impact of environmental stressors and offer physiological, emotional and attention restoration more so than urban environments. Natural places that allow the renewal of personal adaptive resources to meet the demands of everyday life are called restorative environments. Natural environments elicit greater calming responses than urban environments, and in relation to their vision there is a general reduction of physiological symptoms of stress. Exposure to natural scenes mediates the negative effects of stress reducing the negative mood state and above all enhancing positive emotions. Moreover, one can recover the decrease of cognitive performance associated with stress, especially reflected in attention tasks, through the salutary effect of viewing nature. Giving the many benefits of contact with nature, plans for urban environments should attend to restorativeness.

Ambientes restauradores: definição, histórico, abordagens e pesquisas

Objetiva-se identificar referenciais teóricos que elucidem o conceito de ambientes restauradores (restorative environment). Examinam-se sua definição, contextualização histórica, as diferentes abordagens teóricas, os avanços nas pesquisas. Foram analisados artigos publicados entre os anos de 1991 e 2011 em periódicos científicos disponíveis no portal da CAPES. Verifica-se a atualidade do tema pelo aumento de estudos publicados nos últimos três anos. Pesquisas sobre ambientes restauradores investigam os fatores que auxiliam na promoção do bem-estar do ser humano, e reforçam o movimento interdisciplinar entre a psicologia e, por exemplo, a saúde e prevenção, a educação, a arquitetura e o planejamento urbano.