The Effect Of Greenway Environment On The Human Physiological And Psychological Health

Various factors of the natural environment affect human’s perception of the surrounding environment,like negative oxygen ion and noise.These factors have effects on human physically and psychologically by different levels.Greenway is one kind of public places that the interaction between urban dwellers and the natural environment happens most frequently.Current researches on greenway are mainly focus on its spatial and physical characters and visual effect.There is a lack of evidence-based research on the physical and psychological effects of greenway on human relatively.This study aims to provide evidence for greenway design from the perspective of the relationship of human and natural environment.This study focuses on three kinds of scenes: urban streets,greenway with lawn and shrubs,greenway with trees.By using the method of fixed point measurement,semantic differential,place perception,biofeedback measurement and Psychophysics,this study measures and assesses the physical environments of 3 scenes on North Wenjiang and their physical and psychological effects on human during summer.The results are as follows:(1)This study assesses the environment of urban streets,greenway with lawn and shrubs,greenway with trees by measuring the physical environment index using fixed point measurement.Light intensity,micro-climate(temperature and humidity),the concentration of atmospheric oxygen anion,noise index and PM 2.5 index are selected in the physical measurement of urban streets,greenway with lawn and shrubs,and greenway with trees.The result shows that the light density,temperature,noise index and PM2.5 Index of greenway with lawn and shrubs and greenway with trees are much more lower than that of urban streets while the concentration of atmospheric oxygen anion and humidity of greenway with lawn and shrubs,and greenway with trees are apparently higher than that of urban streets.The light intensity of greenway with trees and greenway with lawn and shrubs are 85% and 52%lower than that of urban street respectively.The temperature of greenway with trees and greenway with lawn and shrubs are 2.3℃and 1.8 ℃ lower than that of urban street while the humidity of them are 10.4% and 8.3% higher than that of urban street respectively.The concentration of atmospheric oxygen anion of greenway with trees and greenway with lawn and shrubs are 82% and 35% higher than that of urban street respectively.The noise index of greenway with trees and greenway with lawn and shrubs are 16% and 32% lower than that of urban street respectively.The PM2.5 index of greenway with trees and greenway with lawn and shrubs are 69% and 56% lower than that of urban street respectively.The result shows that compared with urban street,the physical environment of greenway with trees and greenway with lawn and shrubs are better.(2)25 indexes of are selected to assess the user satisfaction of the three scenes(urban street,green way with lawns and shrubs,green way with trees)by using semantic differential method.The result shows that the greenway with trees has highest score in this 14 indexes:Naturalization,Health,Aesthetics,Relief,Pleasure,Shade,Comfortability,Arrangement,User-friendly,Coldness,Safety,Humidity,Harmony and Decorum.The greenway with lawns and shrubs has highest score in 7 indexes: Quietness,Attraction,Peace,Interest,Fragrance,Characteristic and Non-Strong Smells.Urban street has highest score in 4indexes: Openness,Brightness,Neatness,and Fluidity.In conclusion,people are most satisfied with greenway with trees and least satisfied with urban street.(3)By using place perception and biofeedback method,this study explores the physical and psychological effect of the 3 kinds of scenes(urban street,green way with lawns and shrubs,green way with trees)on human.Subjects are tested when they are walking in different scenes.The result shows that walking in the all 3 different scenes can apparently affect the change of heart rate and blood pressure of human body.Subjects in all three scenes had lower heart rate after walking.The decrease of hear rare of subjects in green way with lawns and shrubs and greenway with trees are greater than that of subjects in urban street.The bold pressure of subjects apparently decreased after they walking in green way with lawns and shrubs and green way with trees.The blood pressure of subjects increased after they walking in urban streets.According to the 3-minutes record of Electroencephalogram,the average value of the α intervals,which representing the concertation level,decreased gradually when people walking is urban streets.In the urban street scene,the third-minute αinterval in 22% lower than the first-minute α interval,as for the β intervals which represents anxiety level,there is no apparent difference.In the scene of greenway with shrubs and lawn,both of the α intervals and the β intervals gradually increased.The third-minute α interval in32% higher than the first-minute α interval while the third-minute β interval in 36% higher than the first-minute β interval.In the scene of greenway with trees,there is no apparent difference of α interval but the β interval decreased sharply and reached the lowest at the second minute(33% lower than first-minute β interval),and then increased gradually in the following 1 minute,reached at 17% lower than first-minute β interval.The result shows that walking in greenway with tress could greatly relax people’s mind.Walking in greenway with shrubs and lawn could increase people’s tension in some degree because of the lack of shade,high temperature and high light intensity in there in summer.(4)By using the method of place perception and psychophysics,this study assesses the psychological health of subjects in three different scenes.State-trait anxiety inventory(STAI)are used to conduct survey.The result shows that subjects have much less negative emotion(tension,anger,exhaustion,panic)and much more positive emotions(feeling of energetic and self-dignity)in greenway with lawn and shrubs and greenway with trees.There is no apparent difference of psychological index in the two scenes.The result show that the greenway with lawns and shrubs and greenway with trees have positive effect on human’s psychological health.