It is well-established that the experience of nature produces an array of positive benefits to mental well-being. Much less is known about the specific attributes of green space which produce these effects. In the absence of translational research that links theory with application, it is challenging to design urban green space for its greatest restorative potential. This translational research...

Human factors researchers and practitioners have been focusing research attention on the easeof-use, productivity, safety, comfort, and effectiveness aspects of product and system design. This article argues that it is time that we add another important dimension to the fields of human factors research and practice—the aesthetic dimension. This article discusses the need for the establishment o...

This study aimed to determine whether associations between the perceived environment and physical activity are moderated by urban-rural status among midolder aged adults. Environmental (safety, aesthetics, physical activity environment) and physical activity (total, leisure, transport) data from 3,888 adults (55 to 65 years) from urban and rural areas of Victoria, Australia, were analyzed. Mult...

BACKGROUND In the past decade, various reviews described the relationship between the physical environment and different physical activity (PA) domains. Yet, the majority of the current review evidence relies on North American/Australian studies, while only a small proportion of findings refer to European studies. Given some clear environmental differences across continents, this raises questio...

Few people would deny an intuitive sense of increased wellbeing when spending time in beautiful locations. Here, we ask: can we quantify the relationship between environmental aesthetics and human health? We draw on data from Scenic-Or-Not, a website that crowdsources ratings of "scenicness" for geotagged photographs across Great Britain, in combination with data on citizen-reported health from...

Originally theorized as a radical environmental movement, bioregionalism connects humanity to the specificities of a place. To establish greater cohesion between environments and cultures, bioregionalism endeavors to integrate societal activities and the nuances of natural spaces known as bioregions. The criticism of bioregionalism, however, pertains to the shortcomings of circumscribing cultur...

In architecture, Venustas (aesthetics) is always considered an important attribute along with Firmitas (firmness) and Utilitas (usefulness). Pursuing aesthetics/ beauty one of the architect’s primary roles. However, it critical to comprehend ‘What aesthetics?’ its implications for built-unbuilt environment human beings. a world where everything changing, are definitions, concepts, parameters ae...

Bio-inspired design, as it will be developed in this essay, draws heavily on E.O. Wilson’s concept of biophilia and related work in environmental aesthetics. There are other valuable approaches to bio-inspired design, particularly those stemming from a consideration of the functions and processes of nature as so eloquently described by Janine Benyus in Biomimicry. My focus here, in contrast, is...