Search Results (7)

Evaluating the restoration quality of university outdoor spaces is often constrained by subjective surveys and manual assessment, limiting scalability and objectivity. This study addresses this gap by applying explainable machine learning to predict restorative quality from campus imagery, enabling large-scale, data-driven evaluation and capturing complex nonlinear relationships that traditional methods may overlook. Using Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University as a case study, this study extracted road network data, generated 297 coordinates at 50-m intervals, and collected 1197 images. Surveys were conducted to obtain restorative quality scores. The Mask2Former model was used to extract landscape features, and decision tree algorithms (RF, XGBoost, GBR) were selected based on MAE, MSE, and EVS metrics. The combination of optimal algorithms and SHAP was employed to predict restoration quality and identify key features. This research also used a multivariate linear regression model to identify features with significant statistical impact but lower features importance ranking. Finally, the study also analyzed heterogeneity in scores for three restoration indicators and five campus zones using k-means clustering. Empirical results show that natural elements like vegetation and water positively affect psychological perception, while structural components like walls and fences have negative or nonlinear effects. On this basis, this study proposes spatial optimization strategies for different campus areas, offering a foundation for creating high-quality outdoor environments with restorative and social functions. Full article

Contemporary college students face mounting psychological challenges under high academic pressure, and the design and functionality of campus environments may play a critical role in psychological recovery. Emerging evidence suggests that restorative benefits can be derived not only from natural environments but also from historically built settings rich in cultural narratives—can these historical environments compare to natural ones? This study surveyed how different campus environments affect students’ physiological (heart rate variability, HRV) and psychological (Profile of Mood States, POMS; Perceived Restorative Scale, PRS) outcomes. During the final exam week, 38 college students were exposed to four environments using a within-subject crossover design: an ordinary built environment, a natural landscape environment, a historical built environment with intentional historical narratives, and a built environment with unintentional historical narratives. The results indicated that the historical built environment with designed historical narratives provided restorative benefits comparable to those of natural landscape environments by enhancing HRV and improving mood states. These findings suggest that a historical built environment with intentional explicit historical interpretation can offer rehabilitation benefits similar to natural landscape environments, providing a practical pathway for high-density urban areas with small-scale historical campus settings to achieve effective restorative outcomes. Full article

Many studies have proven that campus green space has healing effects, but there are few evaluation studies on the healing effects of a small-scale courtyard landscape on a high-density campus. This research comprehensively employs the method of semantic differential (SD method) and the perceived restorative scale (PRS) to construct an evaluation framework based on environmental preference and restorative evaluation in order to quantify the healing capability of small-scale campus landscapes. The findings demonstrate the following: (1) Plants close to or higher than human visual height, such as trees or shrubs, will lead to a better healing effect than lawns. An irregular layout of the plants can also bring a more beautiful aesthetic and better light than a monotonous layout, thus more strongly diverting people’s attention from pressure. (2) Users’ preferences for activity space do not depend on the scale of the activity space. (3) “Perceived quality” and “Experienced quality” represent the healing quality of the courtyard in terms of abstract feelings or atmospheres that are difficult to distinguish directly. In addition to expanding and deepening the concept of restorative space elements, this research provides some guidance for the design of healing courtyards in high-density campus environments. Full article

Human health is closely related to the environment; a relaxing and pleasant landscape environment can make people feel less stressed and more energetic. To investigate the restorative potential of landscape types and landscape elements in the post-epidemic era from the perspective of visual perception, this study selected Sichuan Agricultural University’s Laoban hill, Jiuqu bridge, and the ginkgo garden to carry out physiological and psychological measurement experiments with college students. Research results on the psycho-biological and perceptual recovery vary with the types of landscape spaces. The results of the physiological data showed that all three space types had no significant effect on the recovery of blood pressure and heart rate; Laoban hill and Jiuqu bridge had some impact on concentration, while the ginkgo garden had no significant effect; and all three space types had some effect on the relaxation of the subjects’ mental state. The results of the psychological data showed that the subjects’ emotions were significantly improved in the three different landscape space types. The space with the strongest restorative effect on negative emotions was the ginkgo garden, followed by Jiuqu bridge and Laoban hill. The spaces with the strongest restorative potential for positive emotions were Jiuqu bridge and the ginkgo garden, followed by Laoban hill. The results of the perceptual restoration data showed that the Laoban hill space had the most effective restorative potential on the human body, followed by Jiuqu bridge, with the ginkgo garden having the least effective restorative potential. The results of the study on the difference between the aesthetic preference of different landscape elements and the perception restorative effect of a space showed that “the harmony between artificial structures such as garden pieces and the environment”, “plant species”, “waterscape state”, and “boundary clarity” were identified as significant landscape elements with perception-restorative effects. These findings summarize campus landscape types and elements with optimal restorative potential. In the future, in campus landscape design—an active approach with a scientific combination and configuration of campus landscape types and elements—can provide a feasible solution to enhance the potential of campus landscape restorative effects. Full article

Some policies implemented during the pandemic extended the time that students spend on electronic devices, increasing the risk of physical and eye strain. However, the role of different environments on eye strain recovery has not been determined. We recruited 20 undergraduate students (10 males and 10 females) from a university in eastern China and explored the restoration effects of their eye strain in different types of spaces (wayside greenspace, a playground, a square, and woodland) on campus through scale measurements. The results showed that the eye strain of the students accumulated by 15 min of e-learning was significantly relieved after 10 min of greenspace exposure compared to the indoor environment, and the recovery effect varied depending on the type of landscape. The effect of eye strain relief was found to be positively correlated with temperature, wind speed, visible sky ratio, canopy density, tree density, and solar radiation intensity, while it was negatively correlated with relative humidity. These findings enrich the research on the restoration benefits of greenspaces and provide a basis for predicting the effect of different environments on the relief of eye strain. Full article

Human stress recovery response to landscapes is under discussion in Chinese settings. The present study aimed to clarify the stress recovery effects of campus street trees on graduate students in autumn. A total of 150 participants (23.75 ± 1.01 years old) completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and were then randomly assigned to view one of five virtual environments, including the street trees Sophora japonica, Ginkgo biloba, Platanus acerifolia, Koelreuteria paniculata, and the indoor environment (control). Physiological responses were measured by R-R interval and electroencephalography (EEG). Psychological responses were examined through the state version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) and the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS). Results showed that R-R intervals significantly increased while viewing all street trees. Both alpha and beta brainwave activities while viewing S. japonica and G. biloba were remarkably higher than those while viewing P. acerifolia and K. paniculata. The STAI-S scores significantly decreased, and the positive PRS scores were registered after viewing street trees. We concluded that a brief virtual visual experience of campus street trees in autumn has stress recovery effects on graduate students, and the different levels of stress recovery are associated with different types of street trees. Full article

Students studying for a long time frequently suffer from attentional fatigue; however, campuses lack specific spaces in which to restore attention. This study aimed to explore the significant perceptual factors related to student selection of landscape types that they perceive as most relaxing on a university campus. To understand the design factors of an attention restoration space, this study examined the preference of students regarding restorative environments on university campuses at six universities in northeastern China using a questionnaire survey (n = 360). Place-mapping revealed the spatial characteristics of the preferences of students for relaxing in the available space. The primary perceptual factors were obtained using correlation analysis and keyword frequency. A relationship model of landscape types and perceptual factors was established using categorical regression (CATREG). Results showed that waterfront spaces have the optimal perceived attention restoration effect, followed by vegetation spaces, courtyard spaces and square spaces. Visibility, accessibility, comfort, recognition and sense of belonging are significant perceptual factors that should be first considered. Moreover, the optimal selection of design factors depends on the interaction of landscape types and perceptual factors. The design implications may assist designers to gain a new perspective on student requirements for a healthy environment. Full article