Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission and vision
    • Need and opportunity
    • Our people
    • Friends and Partners
    • Join us
  • Learn
    • Facts and Figures
    • What is mental health?
    • How the city affects mental health
    • How mental health affects the city
    • How urban design can impact mental health
    • Mind the GAPS Framework
    • How to measure mental health
    • Courses
  • Cities
  • Journal
    • Edition 1
    • Edition 2
    • Edition 3
    • Edition 4
    • Edition 5
    • Edition 6
    • Submit to Journal
  • Events
    • Washington DC Dialogue
    • London Dialogue
    • Tokyo Dialogue
    • Hong Kong Dialogue
  • News
  • PRESS
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission and vision
    • Need and opportunity
    • Our people
    • Friends and Partners
    • Join us
  • Learn
    • Facts and Figures
    • What is mental health?
    • How the city affects mental health
    • How mental health affects the city
    • How urban design can impact mental health
    • Mind the GAPS Framework
    • How to measure mental health
    • Courses
  • Cities
  • Journal
    • Edition 1
    • Edition 2
    • Edition 3
    • Edition 4
    • Edition 5
    • Edition 6
    • Submit to Journal
  • Events
    • Washington DC Dialogue
    • London Dialogue
    • Tokyo Dialogue
    • Hong Kong Dialogue
  • News
  • PRESS
  • Contact

SANITY AND URBANITY BLOG

If you are an academic, urban designer, planner, health professional or citymaker, and would like to submit a blog, please see submission guidelines.

Which qualities of the natural environment promote mental health?

5/10/2017

0 Comments

 
By Sus Sola Corazon, Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management.
At present, studies on health-promoting environments are dominated by research focusing on the difference between the urban and the natural environment and less is known about which qualities of the natural environment promote mental health.

Aim of the research
Therefore the research group Nature, Health & Design at the University of Copenhagen, initiated a qualitative research project in the Danish Health Forest Garden Octovia. The aim of the project was to gain knowledge of which qualities and features of the environment were perceived as restorative.

Methods
The design of the Health Forest Octovia, where the research took place, is based on Grahn & Stigsdotter's research on perceived sensory dimensions (PSD). The Health Forest is located within an existing Arboretum and consists of eight different spatial settings.  26 female students participated in the study. They were individually interviewed about their restorative experience while participating in a guided walk through the health forest. 

Key findings that are relevant for planners and designers
  •  The experience of both openness and enclosure in a natural environment are important for psychological restoration: openness to provide an overview, and enclosure to provide a feeling of safety.
  • A diverse range of sensory stimulation enhances the feeling of restoration in a natural environment.
  • An optimal natural environment for psychological restoration should include the perceived sensory dimensions of serenity, richness in species, nature and refuge.
  • The specific environment where users grew up should be taken into account when designing restorative natural environments for different user groups.
  • One should pay attention to any possible unwanted associations when choosing design features since they may have negative connotations.  

Read the full research paper for free for further details

Citation: Ulrika Karlsson Stigsdotter, Sus Sola Corazon, Ulrik Sidenius, Anne Dahl Refshauge, Patrik Grahn. Forest design for mental health promotion—Using perceived sensory dimensions to elicit restorative responses, Landscape and Urban Planning, Volume 160, April 2017, Pages 1-15

About the author of this blog

Picture
Sus Sola Corazon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management. She is part of a multidisciplinary and international research group called “Nature, Health & Design” led by Professor Ulrika K. Stigsdotter where she conducts research within a wide range of current research trends on interactions between man, human health and the natural environment. The research takes place in the Nature, Health & Design Laboratory, which is a collective name for two research, development, and demonstration projects located in the Hørsholm arboretum: The Health Forest and The Healing Forest Garden Nacadia.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Sanity and Urbanity: 
    a UD/MH blog

    Reading, seeing, thinking and doing urban design to improve mental health. 

    Submit a blog post

    If you are an academic, urban designer, planner, health professional or citymaker, and would like to submit a blog, please see submission guidelines.
    Submission Guidelines

    Archives

    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.