Promotion of Aging-friendly Communities through Green Restorative Environments

Background: People benefit from the recreational services provided by an urban corridor, urban park, and urban forest. Due to ongoing land-use interest and urban development, however, these natural environments are coming under increasing pressure. Simultaneously, the world is becoming increasingly urbanised, and living in cities has been linked to mental health issues. On the other hand, different natural environments are known to create healthier environments, and the need for effective restorative environments has never been greater. The purpose of the study was to compare the impacts of walking in different natural environments. Methods: I) Kota Damansara Community Forest Reserve, II) Mutiara Damansara Recreational Park, and III) the Urban Green Corridor along Jalan PJU 7/7 were used as control study sites in this study. Each site was visited only once by the study participants (40 women and 40 men). Walking for 30 min was a part of the experiment. To identify the psychological effects of different natural environments, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS21), Profile of Mood States (POMS), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and Restoration Outcome Scale (ROS) were utilised. Results: In all three natural environments, the restorative effects were found to increase significantly. Conclusion: The overall conclusion of the field experiment is that being in an urban green corridor can also provide a refreshing environment. In terms of stress reduction among working adults, the recreational park is sufficient, while urban-forested areas are more effective in improving mental health by minimising stress, anxiety, and depression.

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Ethnic Differences in Environmental Restoration: Arab and Jewish Women in Israel

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182312628 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (23) ◽

pp. 12628

Author(s):

Diana Saadi ◽

Izhak Schnell ◽

Emanuel Tirosh

Keyword(s):

Psychological Health ◽

Central City ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Human Beings ◽

Jewish Women ◽

Cognitive Response ◽

Restorative Environments ◽

National Differences ◽

Social Discomfort ◽

Intervening Variables

Throughout the last few decades, plenty of attention has been paid to restorative environments that positively affect human psychological health. These studies show that restorative environments affect human beings emotionally, physiologically, and cognitively. Some studies focus on the cognitive effects of exposure to restorative environments. A widely used index that measures the cognitive response is the Perceived Restoration Potential Scale (PRS). Most studies employing the PRS have examined differences in human cognitive response between types of urban environments mainly urban versus green ones. We use Hartig’s questionnaire to expose differences between types of urban environments and ethnic groups. Variances between Arab and Jewish women were calculated in four environments: home; park; residential and central city environments. The effect of intervening variables such as exposure to thermal, noise, social and CO loads and social discomfort were tested. We find that dissimilar to urban typical built-up environments, green areas are highly restorative. Furthermore, differences in the restorativeness of different urban environments are low though significant. These differences depend on their function, aesthetic qualities, and amount of greenery. Ethno-national differences appear to affect the experience of restoration. While both ethnic related groups experienced a tremendous sense of restoration in parks, Jewish women enjoyed slightly higher levels of restoration mainly at home and in residential environments compared to Arab women who experienced higher sense of restorativness in central city environments. Jewish women experienced higher sense of being away and fascination. From the intervening variables, social discomfort explained 68 percent of the experience of restoration, noise explained 49 percent, thermal load explained 43 percent and ethnicity 14 percent of the variance in PRS.

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Restorative Environments and Health

Handbook of Environmental Psychology and Quality of Life Research - International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-31416-7_7 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 127-148 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Silvia Collado ◽

Henk Staats ◽

José Antonio Corraliza ◽

Terry Hartig

Keyword(s):

Restorative Environments

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Designing with smell: Restorative environments and design tools

Urban Smellscapes ◽

10.4324/9780203072776-19 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 183-208

Keyword(s):

Design Tools ◽

Restorative Environments

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Therapeutic landscapes, restorative environments, place attachment, and well-being

Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health ◽

10.1093/med/9780198725916.003.0036 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 57-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mardie Townsend ◽

Claire Henderson-Wilson ◽

Haywantee Ramkissoon ◽

Rona Weerasuriya

Keyword(s):

Place Attachment ◽

Well Being ◽

Mental Illnesses ◽

Emotional States ◽

Restorative Environments ◽

Therapeutic Landscapes ◽

Hands On ◽

Human Perceptions ◽

Australian Case

Evidence of declining well-being and increasing rates of depression and other mental illnesses has been linked with modern humans’ separation from nature. Landscapes become therapeutic when physical and built environments, social conditions, and human perceptions combine. Highlighting the contextual factors underpinning this separation from nature, this chapter outlines three Australian case studies to illustrate the links between therapeutic landscapes, restorative environments, place attachment, and well-being. Case study 1, a quantitative study of 452 park users near Melbourne, Victoria, focuses on place attachment and explored the links between pro-environmental behaviour and psychological well-being. Case study 2, a small pilot mixed-methods study in a rural area of Victoria, explores the restorative potential of hands-on nature-based activities for people suffering depression, anxiety, and social isolation. Case study 3, a qualitative study of users’ experiences of accessing hospital gardens in Melbourne, highlights improved emotional states and social connections.

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Risk Factors and Perceived Restoration in a Town Destroyed by the 2010 Chile Tsunami

10.5194/nhess-2016-256 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carolina Martínez ◽

Octavio Rojas ◽

Paula Villagra ◽

Rafael Aránguiz ◽

Katia Sáez-Carrillo

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Principal Component ◽

Large Earthquake ◽

Similar Degree ◽

Restorative Environments ◽

Reconstruction Process ◽

Maule Earthquake ◽

The 2010 Chile Tsunami ◽

Chile Tsunami ◽

Post Disaster

Abstract. A large earthquake and tsunami took place in February 2010, affecting a significant part of the Chilean coast (Maule earthquake (Mw = 8.8). Dichato (37° S), a small town located on Coliumo Bay, was one of the most devastated coastal places and is currently under reconstruction. Therefore, the risk factors which explain the disaster at that time as well as perceived restoration 6 years after the event were analyzed in the present paper. Numerical modeling of the 2010 Chile tsunami with four nested grids was applied to estimate the hazard. Physical, socio-economic and educational dimensions of vulnerability were analyzed for pre- and post-disaster conditions. A perceived restoration study was performed to assess the effects of reconstruction on the community and a principal component analysis was applied for post-disaster conditions. The vulnerability factors that best explained the extent of the disaster were housing conditions, low household incomes and limited knowledge about tsunami events, which conditioned inadequate reactions to the emergency. These factors still constitute the same risks as a result of the reconstruction process, establishing that the occurrence of a similar event would result in a similar degree of disaster. For post-earthquake conditions, it was determined that all neighborhoods have the potential to be restorative environments soon after a tsunami. However, some neighborhoods are still located in areas devastated by the 2010 tsunami and present a high vulnerability to future tsunamis. Therefore, it may be stated that these areas will probably be destroyed again in case of future events.

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