Relations between naturalness and perceived restorativeness of different urban green spaces

• Giuseppe Carrus ^[1] ; Raffaele Lafortezza ^[2] ; Giuseppe Colangelo ^[2] ; Ivana Dentamaro ^[2] ; Massimiliano Scopelliti ^[3] ; Giovanni Sanesi ^[2]
  1. [1] University of Roma Tre, Italy;; CIRPA-Interuniversity Research Centre on Environmental Psychology, Italy
  2. [2] University of Bari, Italy
  3. [3] LUMSA University, Italy;; CIRPA-Interuniversity Research Centre on Environmental Psychology, Italy

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• Localización: PsyEcology: Bilingual Journal of Environmental Psychology / Revista Bilingüe de Psicología Ambiental, ISSN-e 1989-9386, ISSN 2171-1976, Vol. 4, Nº. 3, 2013, págs. 227-244
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1174/217119713807749869
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Las relaciones entre la naturalidad y el potencial restaurador percibido de diferentes zonas verdes urbanas
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• Dialnet Métricas: 6 Citas
• Resumen
  • español

    Las zonas verdes tienen efectos positivos sobre el bienestar y la calidad de vida de los habitantes de las ciudades. Hasta el momento, los estudios en este campo han llevado a cabo fundamentalmente comparaciones entre las preferencias hacia ambientes naturales y las preferencias hacia ambientes construidos, así como entre las consecuencias del contacto con ambos ambientes. Pero se ha prestado menos atención al estudio de los efectos psicológicos del contacto con zonas verdes con distinto grado de naturalidad. Este artículo pretende por tanto ayudar a comprender la relación entre los factores ecológicos (nivel de naturalidad) y psicológicos (potencial restaurador percibido) y su efecto en las valoraciones de distintas zonas verdes urbanas y periurbanas. Se identificaron cinco tipologías de zona verde en la ciudad de Bari (sur de Italia), oscilando entre niveles mínimos (alta presencia de elementos de fabricación humana) y máximos (baja presencia de elementos de fabricación humana) de naturalidad. Se mostró un conjunto de fotografías de las distintas tipologías de zonas verdes urbanas a cincuenta estudiantes de grado de la Universidad de Bari, y a continuación se tomaron medidas de potencial restaurador percibido. Los resultados muestran que el potencial restaurador percibido más alto es el registrado en las zonas verdes periurbanas, y que aumenta significativamente en función del nivel de naturalidad.

  • English

    Green spaces have positive effects on human well-being and quality of life in cities. So far, studies in this field mainly compared preferences for, and outcomes of contact with, natural vs. built environments. Less attention has been given to the study of the psychological effects of contact with green spaces differing in their degree of naturalness. This paper thus aims at understanding the relation between ecological (e.g., level of naturalness) and psychological factors (e.g., perceived restorativeness) in shaping evaluations of different urban and peri-urban green spaces. Five typologies of green space have been identified in the city of Bari (southern Italy), ranging from minimum (i.e., high level of man-made elements) to maximum levels of naturalness (i.e., low level of man-made elements). A set of pictures of the different urban green space typologies was shown to fifty undergraduate students of the University of Bari, and then measures of perceived restorativeness were taken. Results show that perceived restorativeness is the highest in peri-urban green spaces, and increases significantly as a function of the level of naturalness.

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