https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/26212/1/The%20urban%20domestic%20garden%20UFUG%206Jan2012.pdf

The domestic garden – Its contribution to urban green infrastructure

Components of small urban parks that predict the possibility for restoration

http://www.agnesvandenberg.nl/LUP_2014_final.pdf

Evaluating restoration in urban green spaces: Does setting type make a difference?

Environments shape health and well-being, yet little research has investigated how different real-world environmental settings influence the well-known determinant of health known as stress. Using a cross-over experimental design; this pilot study investigated the effect of four urban environments on physiological and psychological stress measures. Participants (N = 15) were exposed on separate days to one of the four settings for 20 min. These settings were designated as Very Natural; Mostly Natural; Mostly Built and Very Built. Visitation order to the four settings was individually randomized. Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase; as well as self-report measures of stress; were collected before and after exposure to each setting. Gender was included as a variable in analysis; and additional data about environmental self-identity, pre-existing stress, and perceived restorativeness of settings were collected as measures of covariance. Differences between environmental settings showed greater benefit from exposure to natural settings relative to built settings; as measured by pre-to-post changes in salivary amylase and self-reported stress; differences were more significant for females than for males. Inclusion of covariates in a regression analysis demonstrated significant predictive value of perceived restorativeness on these stress measures, suggesting some potential level of mediation. These data suggest that exposure to natural environments may warrant further investigation as a health promotion method for reducing stress.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/4/1250/pdf

The Influence of Urban Natural and Built Environments on Physiological and Psychological Measures of Stress— A Pilot Study

The study investigated restorative experiences in relation to respondents' everyday favorite places and analysed the associations between the use of favorite places, restorative experiences, their determinants and aspects of self-rated health. A simple random sample of 1273 inhabitants, aged between 15 and 75 years, of two major cities in Finland (Helsinki and Tampere) completed a postal questionnaire. A subsample of the answers from inhabitants with a self-reported distance from home to a favorite place of 15 km or less (n = 1089) was analysed. Restorative experiences in favorite exercise and activity outdoor areas, waterside environments and extensively managed natural settings (mainly urban woodlands) were stronger than in favorite places in built urban settings or green spaces in urban settings (mostly parks). The results revealed a link between the need for restoration (worries and stress), the use of environmental self-regulation strategies (favorite places) and restorative outcomes. The more worries about money and work (during the last month) a person had, the more stressed a person had felt during the last year, the less energetic s/he had felt, the lower was the number of visits to the favorite place (during the last 6 months) and the lower the typical level of restorative experiences. Inconsistently, the direct path suggested that the more worries about money and work, the higher the typical level of restorative experiences. The findings increase knowledge of health-enhancing environments and have implications for stress and work recovery research.

/pdf/favorite-green-waterside-and-urban-environments-restorative-abu33c1740.pdf

Favorite green, waterside and urban environments, restorative experiences and perceived health in Finland

The perceived restorativeness of gardens – Assessing the restorativeness of a mixed built and natural scene type

By participatory observation the researchers have observed when and where patients choose to walk while they were undergoing a treatment program for stress related diseases in a healing garden. The aim was to deepen the knowledge on environment–behaviour relations needed when designing gardens, parks, public open spaces and especially therapeutic environments. The purpose was to explore how patients use and interact with this therapeutic setting by looking at behaviour and location. This can be viewed as a kind of qualitative evaluation of the design of the garden. Depending on people's need and intentions, two main types of recreational walks (Introvert and Extrovert walks) have been observed, each with three sub-groups. These walks take place in different parts of the garden having different characteristics, confirming the need for knowledge on the relation between the design of green spaces and the activities this stimulates.

Differently Designed Parts of a Garden Support Different Types of Recreational Walks: Evaluating a Healing Garden by Participatory Observation

The object of this study is to broaden our knowledge on how a therapeutic landscape is used and experienced by its patients. Data refer to qualitative, semi-structured and hour-long interviews with ten patients in a Swedish healing garden. All patients have stress-related diseases and are participants in a rehabilitation programme with nature-assisted therapy. A thematic analysis resulted in two main themes: “to escape, observe and get sensory stimulation” and “to achieve satisfaction, socialize and re-evaluate”, with two and three sub-themes respectively. To grasp both the experience and the use, the themes are described both as phenomena and in relation to where they occur. The experiences described and how they might be aspects of healing, as well as the need to include a perspective related to this process in the design of therapeutic settings, is elaborated on in the discussion. Aspects of results in the thematic analysis are discussed with relation to design and theories in environmental psychology ...

Patients' experiences and use of a therapeutic garden: from a designer's perspective | Patients' experiences and use of a therapeutic garden: from a designer's perspective

During the last decades an increasing amount of research suggests that a stay in a natural environment could reduce stress and help people restore. Furthermore, several decades of horticultural therapy have shown good outcomes in treating for example post-traumatic stress symptoms. Aiming at developing a new kind of therapy that combined the use of restorative natural areas, with therapies such as horticultural therapy and traditional occupational therapy, the Alnarp Rehabilitation Garden was designed and built in 2001. The intention is that the garden, with its combination of possibilities for experiences and the different activities conducted within the therapy, should be considered a supportive environment and a health promoting part of the therapy. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge of health garden design, which can be used by, for example, landscape architects commissioned to design gardens with the intention of being used to promote health. The aim is to explore how the Alnarp Rehabilitation Garden is used and experienced in order to develop a deeper understanding about this kind of mixed built and natural environment. The theoretical framework in the thesis is presented with a focus on the relation between health and the surrounding natural or built environment as well as gardens and their relation to health promotion. A multidisciplinary approach is used, where case study methodology is the overarching methodology, and the Alnarp Rehabilitation Garden is a single-case. Within the case study other methods, for example interviews and participant observation, have been used as sub-methods. The mixed built scene type of gardens is perceived as restorative, and the findings about the experience are discussed in relation to preference, safety, refuge, compatibility and rootedness. Regarding the use, the results are discussed in relation to the findings of introvert and extrovert walks and also in relation to the mechanisms behind a restorative experience. When comparing the results, refuge, safety and walking are notions that stand out as important. This case study broadens the discussion on the significance of this scene type and how designers can work with health design.

/pdf/on-the-use-and-experience-of-a-health-garden-exploring-the-2uwdbrg0dl.pdf

On the Use and Experience of a Health Garden Exploring the Design of the Alnarp Rehabilitation Garden

Natural environments have been found more restorative than built environments but studies have also highlighted mixed built and natural environments. The aims were to examine the perceived restorativeness of gardens, and evaluate the performance of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale, PRS, when applied to two examples from the same mixed built natural scene type rather than to a contrast between built and natural. The results show that the gardens are perceived restorative and the PRS also proved itself capable of discriminating between the two gardens. This points to the PRS being a useful tool and emphasizes the shortcomings of broad scene type definitions. The results show that one scene type can include environments that are significantly different in perceived restorativeness. This underlines the need to collect data on a greater number of both different scene types and examples within every type, as well as to have more controlled definitions of content and scene types to understand the relationship between the physical expression of a place and its potential of being restorative. The results show that the PRS is sensitive to place characteristics at subscale level, showing a high Being away score for both gardens and a Scope score that differed substantially. The results show a high correlation between restorativeness and preference.

Carina Tenngart Ivarsson

Papers

The perceived restorativeness of gardens – Assessing the restorativeness of a mixed built and natural scene type

Differently Designed Parts of a Garden Support Different Types of Recreational Walks: Evaluating a Healing Garden by Participatory Observation

Patients' experiences and use of a therapeutic garden: from a designer's perspective | Patients' experiences and use of a therapeutic garden: from a designer's perspective

On the Use and Experience of a Health Garden Exploring the Design of the Alnarp Rehabilitation Garden

The perceived restorativeness of gardens