landscape architecture and neuroscience

8/9/2019 Landscape Architecture and Neuroscience

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Landscape Architecture and Neuroscience: The New

Meaning of Contemplative Landscapes

Agnieszka Anna Olszewska, University of Porto, Portugal

Paulo F. Marques, University of Porto, Portugal

Fernando Barbosa, University of Porto, Portugal

Abstract: What is a contemplative landscape? Can it be beneficial for our health and well-being? Can its values be measured

by scientific methods? These questions were the origin for the innovative research bringing together landscape architecture

and neuroscience. This interdisciplinary approach is to show the importance of the particular the so called !contemplative

landscape design" for the health and well-being of urban inhabitants. #electing landscape settings that can potentially

induce a contemplative state in the visitors led us to classify the characteristics for contemplative design. This research

allows landscape architects to develop new design techniques focused on specific effects in the visitor. These effects can be

connected to the healing and restorative character of green spaces in metropolitan areas.

$eywords: %andscape Architecture &euroscience 'rban (lanning #patial perception

Introduction

here is no doubt that arhitets and landsa!e arhitets should design with !eo!le in "ind,

for there is a ontinuous flow between hu"ans and surrounding s!ae. #e live in the

designed s!ae, on day to day basis, we "anage it and get influened by it. Better

understanding and desribing the "ehanis"s of that onstant flow an !rovide the !ratial

guidelines of how to i"!rove !eo!le$s health and well%being by design. &herefore, the develo!"entof new "ethods is vital.

Beause one of the biggest hallenges faing the world$s develo!ed ountries is "ental fatigue,

and effets of stress '#.(.O. )**+, (ansson )**-, we have deided to fous our one!tual "odel

on solutions reo""ended for that !roble", and trying to "erge it with a s!atial design !ratie .

&he environ"ental !syhology and one!t of restorative landsa!es, introdued by a!lans

'a!lan and a!lan /010, /1)%/0+-, !roved that the natural settings are benefiial for our health

and well%being. 2ns!ired with their findings, we wanted to take a ste! forward and see what "akesthe landsa!es benefiial for health and well 3being, as there was no !hysial attributes of suh

s!aes yet studied.

&hat led us to the one!t of onte"!lative landsa!es. #hat do we atually know about

landsa!es of onte"!lation "ore than these are s!aes "ade for onte"!lation4 &here hasn$t been

any list of design attributes ever established, even though those s!aes have been reated for ages.

(ow we an then define the onte"!lation4 Aording to "ost of ditionaries it is an at of

attentive wathing, thoughtful observation. 2t always i"!lies so"e e5ternal sti"uli as a fous,

therefore we an onte"!late the !iee of art or a beautiful natural landsa!e et. #e know the

one!t of onte"!lation fro" !oetry and essays "ore than fro" sientifi elaboration. 6o how to

hek out if it$s benefiial for our "ental health and well%being4

&here isn$t an answer for that question unless we o"!are onte"!lation with another better

sientifially e5!lored one!t that was !roven to have !ositive effets on our well%being.Mindfulness is suh one!t. &he one!t of "indfulness is reently very !o!ular and is a !art of so

alled !ositive !syhology. 7ery well desribed and "easured by !syhology and the neurosienes,

and nu"ber of sientifi !ubliations about it grow geo"etrially 'Blak )*/8-.


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SPACES AN !L"#S

By definition, "indfulness onsists of heightened attention, 9hy!er%!resene: 'a feeling of here and

now-, and uriosity, o!enness, and ae!tane towards the !resent "o"ent and surrounding,

e5ternal sti"uli 'abat%;inn )**8-. By neurosiene it is desribed as for e5a"!le a left

dorsolateral !refrontal orte5 ativation or greater frontal "idline theta !ower, frontal < entral

al!ha '=han et al. )**1-.

&he one!t of "indfulness an suessfully serve as a key for interdisi!linary dialogue

between artisti and sientifi disi!lines. #e believe that the reently rystallized de"and for

>oining landsa!e arhiteture and onte"!lative traditions with the rigorous "ethodology of

neurosiene will be effetive in !roviding answers to various questions that re!resentatives of eah

"entioned disi!line have been asking the"selves for years.

&hanks to neurosientifi "ethods suh as eletroene!halogra!hy '??@- and e5isting "easures of

brain ativity !attern, we are able to sientifially "easure the res!onse to !artiular sti"uli during

"indfulness e5!eriene. #e will be then able to "easure !eo!le$s brain res!onses to various ty!es

of landsa!e settings. 6o"e of the res!onses are sha!ing the healing brain "odel assoiable with

"indfulness. &hose landsa!e settings and !atterns an then be identified and a!!lied in the design

!ratie for reating s!aes !redesigned for onte"!lative e5!eriene s!aes that enable"indfulness.

&his !a!er illustrates the initial stage of a larger !ro>et entitled 9=onte"!lative 7alues of

Urban Parks and @ardens: and ai"s to illustrate whih !artiular attributes of the designed

landsa!e an lead to a restorative, healing state of "ind suh as onte"!lation and "indfulness. 2t

also desribes the "ethod being used for the !ilot e5!eri"ent. Our findings on onte"!lative

landsa!es differ fro" what we know as 9landsa!e !referene:. Aording to a!!lied fra"ework

the "ost onte"!lative landsa!es are !anora"i settings with long distane views and learings.

Aording to landsa!e !referene though, those ones are "ost boring and "onotonous 'a!lan

/001-.

$%pothesis and &oal

#e hy!othesize that there are so"e !artiular !hysial harateristis s!ae that an indue the

brainwave !atterns assoiated with the 9"indful brain "odel: '6iegel )**-, or the onte"!lation.

#e ai" to !rove that settings evaluated as contemplative indue a different ty!e of

neuro!syho!hysiologial res!onse than settings evaluated as non-contemplative. &he goal of

researh is to highlight the i"!ortane of 9onte"!lative designC in our neighborhoods and

!roviding !ratial 'design- tools and guidelines for onte"!lative design. Adequate design

strategies with onte"!lation in "ind "ay ontribute to !rodue green s!aes foused on stress

redution, "ental health !ro"otion and i"!rove"ent of well%being of ities$ inhabitants.

Methods

2n order to evaluate distinguish onte"!lative settings fro" non%onte"!lative settings, we have

established a heklist for an e5!erts$ !anel evaluation. #e then a!!lied the heklist to a set of

landsa!e settings !itures and rank the" aording to the sore ahieved.


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The checklist

&he heklist was based on the literature review of onte"!orary 'not older than )* years-!ubliations about s!aesDlandsa!es of onte"!lation 'see &able /./-.

&able /./ 6eleted attributes of onte"!lative landsa!e settings with literature referenes,

used for reating the heklist for onte"!lative landsa!e settings evaluation.

)tem Content #ource

(A*T A

+physical

attributes,

A*/ Eong distane view '**"%infinite

kilo"eters-

'6"ardon, Pal"er,

Felle"an /01-

A*) (istori and ideologial universalis" '(er"ann )**+-

A*8 Anient world ins!irations '(er"ann )**+-

A* 2nward orientation of the s!atial

o"!osition

'(er"ann )**+,80-

A*+ Earge s!ae of absene 'rinke, )**+- '(er"ann

)**+,*-

A* 6"ooth land%for" '(er"ann )**+,*%/-

A* 6ignage ele"ents in the hierarhialrelation to eah other

'(er"ann )**+-

A*1 Gatural asy""etry '#illia" /00)- '(er"ann

)**+- 'a!lan, a!lan

/00,/01)-

A*0 @eo"etrial use of natural

ele"ents'!lants-

'(er"ann )**+, )-

';elanski, Fisher /00,

1*-A/* =ontrast with urban landsa!e 'rinke )**+- '(er"ann

)**+-

A// O!enings and losings of views 'rinke )**+- '(er"ann

)**+-

A/) ?5!liit s!atial order '(er"ann )**+, 8-

';elanski, Fisher /00-

A/8 Physial and visual relations worked out '(er"ann )**+, )-

A/ Eak or diret e5!osition to the sun '(er"ann )**+, -

'&reib )**+, )1-

A/+ #ar" olors '(er"ann )**+-

A/ 6ti"ulation to look u! to the sky '(er"ann )**+-

';elanski, Fisher /00,

)8-

A/ 6i"!lifiation of for"s '&reib )**+, ))-

A/1 He!etition '&reib )**+, )1-';elanski, Fisher /00,

)8-

A/0 7isibility of shade "ove"ents along the

daily yle sunD"oon !assage

'(er"ann )**+, -

A)* 6easonally hanging vegetation '(er"ann )**+- '&reib

)**+-A)/ 6!ae enlosed 'rinke )**+-

A)) Presene of sy"boli ele"ents with

strong onnotation to life and death

'(er"ann )**+, /-


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"LS'E#S(A: LANSCAPE A)C$IECT*)E AN NE*)"SCIENCE

A)8 Presene of sy"boli ele"ents with

strong onnotation to olletive hu"an

fa"ily

'(er"ann )**+, /-

(A*T

+archetypal

elements

B*/%

B/)

=learing, water feature on the botto" of

the valley, single old tree, big stone,

ave, fog, forest, grave, oean, irle

'Meier /01- 'Iung )*/*-

'(er"ann )**+, 80-

(A*T C

+bioart

attrbutes,

=*/ Jegree of abstration 'rinke )**+- '&reib

)**+-

=*) =harater of !eae and silene '(er"ann )**+- '&reib

)**+, /0-

=*8 Jegree of wilderness '6tigsdotter )**+-

=* Biodiversity 'rih in s!eies- '6tigsdotter )**+-

(A*T /+psychologic

al

attributes,

J*/,

J//

2dentifiation with s!ae '(er"ann )**+, -

J*)%

J*

&ransending nature '(er"ann )**+, 0-

J* 6ense of reorientation fro" everyday

routine

'(er"ann )**+, +%+0-

J*+%

J*1

6ense of solitude '(er"ann )**+, 8%+-

J*0%

J/)

&ransending ti"e '(er"ann )**+, %0-

(A*T 0

+landscape

composition

type,

?*/ =ano!ied,enlosed,e!he"eral,feature,fo

al or !anora"i.

'6"ardon, Pal"er,

Felle"an /01-

#ource: Author

?ah attribute of the landsa!e, desribed as one enabling onte"!lative e5!eriene in the

visitor, was !iked out and added to the list. All of the listed onte"!lative attributes of the s!ae

were studied and divided into grou!s. #e have distinguished + grou!s of attributesK

A+ ph%sical attri,utes, that are onneted to the s!atial o"!osition and visual values 'i.e.long distane views or geo"etrization of natural ele"ents-

-+ archet%pal elementse5isting in the setting 3 those based on the findings of =arl @ustav

Iung and his study on olletive sub%onsiousness 'Iung /00/-, suh as path clearing,single old tree et.

C+ .art / ,io0 characteristicsthat an be "ore of less intense aross the settings suh asharater of !eae and silene or level of biodiversity,

+ ps%chological attri,utes 3 how the s!ae !otentially "akes us feel 'i.e. Lsense ofreorientation fro"L , Lsense of solitudeL-

E+ landscape composition t%peK ano!ied, enlosed, feature, foal, e!he"eral or !anora"i'6"ardon /01-.

A +)%ite" heklist based on that list was reated and organized in five !arts inluding all of the

onte"!lative harateristis found in the literature '&able /.)-.


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&able /.)K =heklist s!eifiation inluding division into !arts, res!onse she"e nu"ber

of ite"s and the reliability e5!ressed by the !erent of overall agree"ent for eah !art

')/%* % fair agree"ent, /%* % "oderate agree"ent, /%1* % substantial

agree"ent, 1/%/**%al"ost !erfet agree"ent 'Fleiss /01/, 813-

1roup *esponse

scheme

&r of

items

(ercent of overall

agreement

(art A Physial attributes Go"inal 'NDG- )8 *

(art Arhety!al ele"ents Go"inal 'NDG- /) 0*

(art C Art < bio attributes Eikert sale '/%+- *

(art / Psyhologial

attributes

Eikert sale '/%+- /) 8*

(art 0 Eandsa!e

o"!osition ty!e

Go"inal 'a%f- / *

Total 12 345

#ource:Author

Landscape settings selection

#e have seleted three urban !arks that have been built during !ast +* years and !rovide biggest

!ossible nu"ber of various settings. 'Parque da =idade, 6erralves 'PortoDPortugal- Par Andre

=itroen 'ParisDFrane-. (owever the seletion of !arks isn$t "ost i"!ortant as!et as we evaluatesettings, not !arks. Juring several site visits we established a big !hoto%olletion of rando"

settings taken during a regular walk in the !ark. #e tried to take a !hoto everywhere aessible forthe visitors, and all the settings and views were inluded. #e "ade sure the light onditions are

equalized on eah !hoto, therefore, we took !hotogra!h with a 9white sky: weather onditions.

After re"oving !hotogra!hs with a re!eated ontent we re"ained with the olletion of +*

!hotogra!hs, whih were then forwarded to the heklist evaluation by the2ury (anel.

Jury Panel

6eleted landsa!e settings were evaluated by four inde!endent e5!erts, re!resenting the s!ae

design !rofession. &hey were instruted to give the "ost ob>etive answers to +* seleted

!hotogra!hs, aording to their !rofessional e5!eriene and knowledge. Photogra!hs were

dis!layed to the" on the P= sreen, there was no ti"e li"it for the !roedure.

Scoring system

6oring was "ade aording to the logiK the "ore onte"!lative attributes, the "ore likely the

setting is to have a onte"!lative i"!at, therefore the higher !osition in the ranking.

=onte"!lative value of the setting was e5!ressed by !erent. 'Fig.)-

)esults

As a result we obtained the ranking list of 50 evaluated landscape settings according to their

contemplative values. The highest score was 55%, and the lowest was 27,5%. e also obtained 50files of data!sets, one for each photo, with a detailed description of its contemplative values, andattributes. Two e"amples of those data!sets are presented b# $igure .


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Figure *K ?5a"!les of two data%sets of landsa!e evaluated by the Iury Panel in ter"s of their

onte"!lative values, aording to the heklist.

#ource: Author


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SPACES AN !L"#S

e were then able to select 5 most contemplative and 5 least contemplative settings out of theranking, for further stud# with the neuroscientific methods &identif#ing the brainwave response

between the block of most contemplative compared with the block of least contemplative settings'.

The checklist showed a substantial inter!e"aminer reliabilit# rate measured with the percent of

overall agreement of the (ur# panel &) * 0.+' &$leiss -, 813' &Table .2'. The reliabilit# wasalso measured for each of the five parts of the checklist &Table .'.

Table .. )ercent of overall agreement /% for each part of the checklist &A!1'

Source: Author

elected 5 settings from the top and from the bottom of the ranking, showed a statisticaldifference t&2-'* 22., p 3 0.0000. 4t means that those evaluated as most contemplative are

statisticall# proved to be different from ones evaluated as least contemplative.

The ranking of landscape settings shows, that the common attributes for 5 settings evaluatedas mostl# contemplative are those characteried b#6 long distance view &more than 00m', large

empt# space, smooth land!form, natural as#mmetr#, contrasting with an urban t#pe of landscape,openings and closings of views were worked out, stimulation to look up to the sk#, simplification of

forms, and seasonall# changing vegetation. Their main archet#pal element is clearing. The# are allcharacteried b# a high character of peace and silence and biodiversit#, and low degree of

abstraction and wilderness. The# represent panoramic or focal t#pe of landscape.8n the other hand the least contemplative are usuall# lacking most of the ph#sical attributes of thecontemplative space, the main present archet#pal element is a path. The character of peace andsilence as well as biodiversit# is lower, but degree of abstraction is higher. The# usuall# represent a

enclosed t#pe of landscape composition. Three most contemplative setting and three leastcontemplative setting are presented below, on $igure 2.

iscussion

9esults of applied framework showed a proof of concept : the established checklist can serve as aevaluation tool of contemplative attributes of landscape settings. ;ifferent scores of landscape

settings provided b# the e"perts< evaluation are statisticall# coherent, and can serve for furtherlaborator# e"periments, and attempt of finding out if the# also differ in case ofneurops#choph#siological response.


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$igure 2. =ost and least contemplative landscape settings, with the ranking place and score /%based on the contemplative attributes.

Source: Author

1ven though presented stud# is on initial point &pilot e"periment stage', we are able to establish

that our findings differ from what we know as a >landscape preference? &@aplan, @aplan -'.evertheless, our aim is to remain independent from alread# known methods of landscapeevaluation b# do you like this landscape?-surve#s. 9estorative or mindfulness mechanisms in ourbrains are unconscious &unless we are meditation practitioners'B this is wh# the sub(ective response

might be misleading for the landscape evaluation. Also, number of respondents does not reall# know

what the# feel about some certain landscapeB their more or less e"tended knowledge aboutphotograph# or composition can be misleading too. $inall#, we do not procure the landscapesettings that are likeable, but ones that can have a particular influence on our brainwave patterns,

and therefore provide a design tool contributing to improvement of Cualit# of living in the cities, andimprovement of health and well!being.

$urther e"periments following the checklist!based part, should be conducted with e"tended

number of independent e"perts, and in a laborator# environment. $inding out the brainwave patternsassociated with mindfulness present during observing the contemplative settings, and finding how it

differs from response to non!contemplative landscapes, can significantl# contribute to this researchas well as scientific evolution of design disciplines.

+*- ),+ 0- )1,88 1- )1,88

"ost

onte"!lative

least

onte"!lative

/- ++ )- +,/ 8- +8,88


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SPACES AN !L"#S

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A-"*T T$E A*T$")S

Agnieszka Anna Olszewska: Master in Eandsa!e Arhiteture, and ?nviron"ental ?ngineer

at #arsaw University of Eife 6ienesD Poland ')*/*-. Juring her dotoral !rogra" in%andscapeArchitecture and 'rban 0cologyat University of Porto % Faulty of 6ienesD Portugal. 2n )*//

PhJ !ro>et Contemplative alues of 'rban (ar@s and 1ardenswas awarded with the 2ndividual

Jotoral @rant by Portuguese Gational Foundation for 6iene and &ehnology 'F=&-.

Paulo F. ar!ues "PhJ in Arhitetural 6tudies, University of 6heffield, U. Au5iliary

Professor at the University of Porto, Faulty of 6ienes, Je!art"ent of Eandsa!e Arhiteture,

Hesearh interestsK biodiversity, environ"ental design, drawing for landsa!e arhitets.

Fernando #ar$osa %PhJ in Bio"edial 6ienes 3 Geurosienesin the Faulty of

Psyhology and ?duation 6ienes at University of PortoD Portugal. Hesident researher atEaboratory of Geuro!syho!hysiology, Hesearh interestsK Psyhobiologial researh on antisoial

behavior, in !artiular on ri"inal behavior

landscape architecture and neuroscience

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