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The Impact of Visual, Thermal, and Acoustic Environments in Urban Public Spaces in Cold Regions on the Psychological Restoration of the Elderly

Author(s):

Medium: journal article
Language(s): English
Published in: Buildings, , n. 9, v. 14
Page(s): 2685
DOI: 10.3390/buildings14092685
Abstract:

Optimizing the visual, thermal, and acoustic environments of urban public spaces in severely cold regions can significantly enhance the psychological restoration of the elderly, addressing the increasing mental health demands in an aging society. Despite its importance, the mechanisms, strategies, and seasonal effects of various environmental variables on psychological restoration remain inadequately studied. This research uses Harbin as a case study, employing field surveys and tests to systematically examine the elderly’s psychological restoration across different seasons. By integrating environmental stimulus variables with a psychological restoration evaluation model, the study investigates the impact of urban public spaces on mental health. The key findings are: (1) The spring environment of urban public spaces has the most significant positive effect on psychological restoration, with an effect size of η2 = 0.360. (2) A significant correlation exists between environmental variables and psychological restoration year-round, with the panoramic green view index in winter showing the highest positive impact (correlation coefficient = 0.301, p < 0.01). (3) The influence of environmental stimulus variables on psychological restoration varies notably across seasons; the acoustic environment in spring contributes most significantly, with an R2 = 17.03%, while visual factors dominate in winter and summer. (4) Conditional probability analysis reveals the effects of various environmental variables on psychological restoration, proposing season-specific environment optimization strategies. Based on these findings, the paper presents a model for optimizing urban public space environments in severely cold regions, aiming to maximize elderly psychological restoration by tailoring environmental stimulus variables to their mental health needs.

Copyright: © 2024 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
License:

This creative work has been published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) license which allows copying, and redistribution as well as adaptation of the original work provided appropriate credit is given to the original author and the conditions of the license are met.

  • About this
    data sheet
  • Reference-ID
    10795080
  • Published on:
    01/09/2024
  • Last updated on:
    01/09/2024
 
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