Shedding Light onto the City Blues Myth—The Potential of Stimulating and Activating Effects of Urban Public Spaces and the Role of City Relatedness

The present study aims to investigate whether a sense of relatedness to a city helps to broaden understanding of the restorative potential of urban public spaces. Findings based on a sample of German adults (n = 249) confirm that people experience relatedness to a city. The study’s 3 × 3 (built, mix...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 19; no. 13; p. 7606
Main Authors: Lämmle, Lena, von Lindern, Eike, Rummel, Dorothee, Michaeli, Mark, Ziegler, Matthias
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Basel MDPI AG 21.06.2022
MDPI
Subjects:
Animal cognition
Food
Heart rate
Hypotheses
Physiology
Preferences
Traffic
Well being
ISSN:1660-4601, 1661-7827, 1660-4601
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The present study aims to investigate whether a sense of relatedness to a city helps to broaden understanding of the restorative potential of urban public spaces. Findings based on a sample of German adults (n = 249) confirm that people experience relatedness to a city. The study’s 3 × 3 (built, mixed, natural environment) × (average, livability environment, bird’s-eye view) design revealed disordinal interactions for being away, fascination, preference, mental fatigue, and stimulating and activating effects associated with cities. This implies that humans’ place perceptions are more complex than previously assumed. Both city and nature relatedness were relevant covariates of these findings. Surprisingly, the construct ‘activating effects’, was found to be mostly perceived as more positive for mixed and built environments compared to natural environments. Thus, complementing restorative environments research by introducing a measure for city relatedness significantly enhances understanding of the potential of urban public spaces for promoting human health and well-being.
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ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph19137606