BOOK OF PROCEEDINGSEDITED BY:ISABEL MARTINHO DA SILVA, TERESA PORTELA MARQUES, AND GONALO ANDRADE

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Copyright2014 by the authors

ISBN 9789729607677

Edited by the School of Sciences, University of PortoPorto, Portugal

Porto 2014

PEER REVIEWED PROCEEDINGS

E C L A S 2 0 1 4 CO N F E R E N C E

L A N D S C A P E : A P L AC E O F C U LT I VAT I O N

SCHOOL OF SCIENCES, UNIVERSIT Y OF PORTO

PORTO, PORTUGAL

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The paper aims to explore the meanings individuals give to particular places in gardens/parks and their effect on senses of well-being. The study was carried out with selected participants, in urban green spaces of Portugal and the UK, who were invited to engage in self-narrated walks. Findings suggest that feelings perceived by individuals to particular places are associated with the sensory qualities and attractiveness of the place and with personal constructs such as memories and expectations. These aspects are crucial to reshape experiences, reassure attachments and to foster personal well-being. Research furthers our understanding of the sensory qualities of nature and its ability to prompt and construct life course attachments and produce bridges to positive states of being. It employs mobile methods in landscape research that contribute to developing insights of place perception while in movement.

place attachment | special place | well-being | sensory experience | personal constructions

Special Places and Attachment as Drivers for Cultivating Well-Being

INTRODUCTION Green urban spaces provide urban dwellers with ready access to nature (Maller et al. 2006), with special places (Schroeder 2002) and privacy refuges (Hammitt 2002). They offer opportunities for respite from the demands of everyday life (Hartig 2007) and foster mental restoration (Kaplan 1995) and stress reduction (Ulrich et al. 1991). Sense of place and place attachment are concepts that explore peoples relationships with the place. Tuan (1977, p.6) argued that space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value. Steele (1981, p.9) emphasizes the personal dimension of sense of place, describing it as an experiential process created by the setting, combined with what a person brings to it." (p.9). Low & Altman (1992) draw attention to the affective dimension of place attachment the bond between people and place. These authors refer to a positive emotional attachment that develops between place and the individual in a sensitive way (Stedman 2003). In this paper we explore meanings individuals gave to certain places in gardens/parks and their effects on senses of well-being. We look at how individuals model the process of interaction and negotiate their experience towards positivity based on self constructs and place.

METHODOLOGY Leach (2005) suggests there has been a tendency to perceive space as isolated from the body and its sensations, privileging the visual and weakening our understanding of space. This study is based on phenomenology which calls for a heightened receptivity of all the senses (Leach 2005, p.102) and emphasizes the use of narratives (Wylie 2005; Potteiger & Purinton 1998; Ward Thompson et al. 2010). So, we developed the self-narrated walk technique which is a sensory experience and a method of recording first-person experiences, in-situ, in-movement and in-the-moment. A dictator was used for voice recording and a GPS with an incorporated camera allowed collecting movements and imagery. Individual walks have taken place

COSTA, SANDRA Birmingham City University, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, United Kingdom COLES, RICHARD Birmingham City University, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, United Kingdom BOULTWOOD, ANNE Birmingham City University, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, United Kingdom

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along a prescribed route. Participants were in control of their movements, pace and time. These walks were conducted in 2 green spaces, in Portugal and in the United Kingdom comprising at least 2 contrasting seasons. Participants, users and landscape architects, were identified and given exactly the same tasks and guidance. In total 42 participants performed the self-narrated walk, from which 30 did the walk alone and 12 walked in small groups with a close relation between them, e.g, mother and child. Data analysis followed an interpretative approach. At this stage the 2 groups of participants are being analysed as single group.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION It is suggested that the experience of landscape involves positive and negative associations, emotions and feelings which affect and are affected by the ways individuals access to and interact with place. These are induced in distinguishable ways and linked to moments of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, impact on lasting feelings, create layers of memories and ultimately, impact on senses of well-being and desires to revisit the experience. Here, it is outlined 2 perspectives of person-environment interactions: the place itself underpinned in its physical and sensorial qualities; and the personal constructions, in particular memory and personal expectations.

Place qualities And part of the reason for it [the cottage garden] being a favourite spot is that it's sort of like a secret garden all these lovely big plants... it's cottagey and I can just sit and lose myself in here. Beautiful colours the leaves of the trees... There's these beautiful campanulas and fox gloves and I think that combination is beautiful,... and the shape of the flowers are similar and yet that's a lovely contrast, which I think is great. [John] The diversity of features and sensorial attributes of place are aspects that contribute to make a place attractive and positive. These qualities encourage permanence in place and its enjoyment, and were identified while participants stated preference and affinity for particular areas. Seasonality also enhances place sensorial qualities; landscape changes bring diversity, novelty and renewal of images, sounds and smells. Place and its sensorial qualities seem to prompt moments of joyfulness and happiness, peacefulness and relaxation as well as feelings of safety, mysteriousness and intimacy, expressed through the richness of the language. Yet, the experience is not only grounded in place per se but is influenced and amplified by personal values and introspections.

Personal constructs This always has been one of my favourite places, the rock garden. Again I think it reminds me my dad's garden where he had waterfalls and a lovely rock garden... and just the sound of that running water is really peaceful. [Joanne] In situ qualities of place evoked memories of participants life experiences. Special places are constructed and shaped in relation to life experiences and personal expectations (Coles & Millman 2013), such as memory recollections, and are assigned value and significance. The quote above reflects one participants experience with regards to one of her favourite

FIGURE 1.

places at the botanical gardens, which she associates with the memory of her Dad, who passed away. While this particular place has a role in evoking and mediating feelings associated with his absence, it also grew into important emotional attachment. Indeed, the qualities of the place offered the necessary external stimuli and afforded transcendent and meditative experiences.

REMARKS In the experience of landscape there are positive and negative interactions, associations and reactions. Movements towards positivity include a process of negotiation in which the individual tries to gain advantage to himself upon reactions and actions, such as remaining or moving away from place. This process of negotiation towards positivity involves the person constructs and the place qualities and cues. Participants responses were individual. Higher positive state was associated with slower pace and stationary positions (e.g. sitting, standing), with greater interaction with the landscape, through body movements and haptic experiences (e.g. picking the gravel). In addition, positivity was linked to immersive and introspective moments such as the recollection of happy memories. Places individuals show high affinity for had also a positive effect. When place qualities are aligned with peoples interests and expectations (Coles et al. 2013) they become special and part of their lives, and thus, they mediate, cultivate and reinforce well-being experiences, which are crucial to generate dialogues with and long lasting attachment with landscapes.

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Using mobile methods and narratives contribute to developing insights of landscape perception in transition from the user point of view. We are interested in developing further analysis in person-place interactions concerning the process of negotiation of the experience and movements towards positivity, pursuing how the process occurs.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Research funded by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). Collaboration by Serralves Foundation and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. A special thanks to all the research participants in Portugal and in the UK.

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contact with nature as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations. Health promotion international, 21(1), pp.4554; Potteiger, M. & Purinton, J., (1998). Landscape Narratives: design practices for telling stories, John Wiley and Sons; Schroeder, H.W., (2002). Experiencing Nature in Special Places: Surveys in the North-Central Region. Journal of Forestry, 100(5), p.7; Stedman, R.C., (2003). Is It Really Just a Social Construction?: The Contribution of the Physical Environment to Sense of Place. Society Natural Resources, 16(8), pp.671685; Steele, F., (1981). The sense of place, CBI publishing company inc; Tuan, Y.-F., (1977). Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, University of Minnesota Press; Ulrich, R. et al., (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11(3), pp.201230; Ward Thompson, C. et al., (2010). Landscape quality and quality of life. In C. W. Thompson, P. Aspinall, & S. Bell, eds. Innovative approaches to researching landscape and health - Open space: People space 2. Abingdon: Rroutledge, pp. 230255; Wylie, J., (2005). A single days walking: narrating self and landscape on the South West Coast Path. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 30(2), pp.234247.