COS 315-3 - We hear as much as we see nature: A multi-sensory approach to understanding psychological restoration in urban green and blue spaces

Abstract: Promoting and designing urban green and blue spaces (UGBS) for human and ecological health requires better understanding the micro-level socio-ecological dynamic processes affecting humans’ restorative experience. Humans engage with and perceive urban nature through multiple senses and in specific spatio-temporal and social-cultural contexts. However, visual assessments have been dominant in previous studies as well as UGBS planning and management. In addition, the link between physiological and psychological responses and objective and perceived qualities of the environment remain under-studied.

Here, we aim to fill this gap by presenting a novel multi-methods study that integrates soundscape and landscape ecology to better understand the complexity of psychological restoration in urban nature. Using a case study in Helsinki, Finland, we investigate: 1) What are the place-based, real-time interactions between landscape and soundscape elements, and psychological restoration in different types of UGBS (a remnant urban forest, a hybrid beach and newly built park)? and 2) How these interactions differ between the three places and over time?

The study uses Geographically Explicit Ecological Momentary Assessment (GEMA) design and multi-sensory in-situ walks during which we employed GPS tracking, various sensor technologies and wearable devices (e.g. a smart ring) to collect data on environmental conditions (temperature, wind, air quality, humidity, field observation), environmental objective (e.g. 360° photos, vegetation structure, acoustic recordings) and subjective quality (different perceived landscape and soundscape scales), as well as human physiological (Electrodermal Activity (EDA)) and psychological restoration (Restoration Outcome Scale).

In total 46 volunteers took part in five walks from early summer to early autumn. Building on previous studies, we found that biocultural diversity plays a crucial role in affecting how people restore in urban nature and generally the higher the level of human disturbance on the landscape and soundscape, the lower was overall pleasantness and stress recovery. Preliminary analysis of the data also shows that although there might not be significant differences in how human respond physiologically (through EDA levels), the differences are very pronounced in terms of perception and psychological outcomes. In addition, soundscapes and the presence of people act as strong predictors (both positive and negative) in changing spatio-temporal patterns.

Finally, we discuss implications for UGBS planning and management. We hope that by presenting this multi-sensory in-situ experimental approach at an early stage, we can inspire researchers and practitioners to more holistically assess the multiple layers of people–nature health relationships across space and time.