Kurzbeschreibung
(Deutsch)
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Das Projekt untersucht die Wirkung von Aufenthalten in unterschiedlich gemanagten Landwirtschaftsgebieten auf das Wohlbefinden, dies erlaubt Rückschlüsse auf die optimale Gestaltung von Naturflächen innerhalb von Green Care Angeboten. Zusätzlich wird analysiert, wie die Wirkung durch Aktivitäten (Radfahren, Hund ausführen) beeinflusst wird und welche Mechanismen der Wirkung von Natur zugrunde liegen.
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Partner und Internationale Organisationen
(Englisch)
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AT, BE, CH, CZ, DE, DK, FI, FR, GR, HU, IE, IS, IT, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, SE, SI, TR, UK
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Abstract
(Englisch)
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Natural environments make an important contribution towards recovery from everyday demands. In this context, especially close-by everyday natural environments, e.g. agricultural used land, play a key role. However, due to an increasing urbanisation in European cities, the pressure on public natural environments grows: less natural environments need to serve more people seeking restoration. Thus, besides restorative urban forests or parks, which are especially designed to serve restorative needs, other natural areas should be analyzed questioning their restorative potential. Agricultural used land provides close-to-urban natural environment and possibly effects restoration and psychological well-being as well. The main aims of Green Care is supporting human health apart from medical treatment, which can be released by 1) the perception and 2) the activation in natural environments. This relationship is questioned in two studies. The first study addresses the effect of the perception of natural environment and the second study addresses the effect of activation in natural environments. Study 1) How does the perception of different management strategies of agricultural land effect human restoration and well-being? A recent trend towards the consumption of organic food leads to a different agricultural management, which eventually influences the aesthetic perception on users. We combine the field of restoration psychology with land use planning questions, aiming to positively influence people's everyday restoration in means of Green Care. In an experimental design the effect of extensively and intensively managed agricultural land is compared. Video presentations of both conditions and a walk on a treadmill serve as the treatment. A control group watched no film while walking on a treadmill to be able to separate possible effects of physical activation. 138 inhabitants of Zurich, Switzerland, were randomly assigned to either film, or to the control group. All participants walk on a treadmill individually to exclude effects arising from physical activity or social interaction. The Perceived Restorativeness Scale assesses the perceived restorative quality of each treatment. Psychological well-being is measured by standardized scales before and after the treatment, and in a follow-up measure to analyze longitudinal effects. Group differences are analyzed by a between-subject covariance analysis with an alpha-error-level of p<0.05. Even though the environmental treatments were perceived significantly different as group comparisions show, differences between the effects of extensively and intensively used agricultural land concerning psychological well-being or perceived restorativeness were not significant. This indicates that physical activity had a stronger effect than the environmental stimulation for well-being. Physical activation showed to have a positive effect on psychological well-being, it increased in the control condition as well. However, this positive effect has been supported by the perception of natural (agricultural) environment, showing an effect of environmental stimulation itself. Study 2) How does activation in natural environments effect psychological and social well-being? People living in urban environments need possibilities to restore from their daily demands. Besides perceiving natural environments, the activation in natural environments possibly plays a key role. Facing different user groups, people with a migration background and Swiss participants, an exploratory case study (n = 17) addresses the aesthetical and psychological aspects of a temporay intercultural garden in Zürich. Intercultural gardens are community gardens activating people with different ethnical background to cooperate by shared gardening activity. In a longitudinal explorative research design gardeners completed questionnaires and half-structured interviews before the project started, after 3 months and again after 12 months. The motivation for participation was mainly recovery and gardening, while getting to know different cultures was not a very strong motivation. However, actual interactions between gardeners from different cultures have been reported on, and the interest to exchange knowledge between different cultures increased over time. The results of both studies contribute towards conceptualizing further research in the field of Green Care effects by distinguishing different natural conditions, measuring their specific perceived restorativeness and effects on well-being. Aside from this, practical implications for environmental development can be deflected. Close-to-urban natural aereas in particular could serve the need for restoration from everyday demands for urban visitors. Accessibility of agricultural land for restorative purposes needs to be focused in land use planning, because the perception of agricultural land supports the positive effect of physical activation. Thus, agricultural land can make an important contribution to one of the main aims of Green Care by supporting public health.
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