| 1. |
- Knez, Igor, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Wellbeing in Urban Greenery: The Role of Naturalness and Place Identity
- 2018
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-1078. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim was to investigate effects of urban greenery (high vs. low naturalness) on place identity and wellbeing, and the links between place identity and wellbeing. It was shown that participants (Gothenburg, Sweden, N = 1347) estimated a stronger attachment/closeness/belonging (emotional component of place-identity), and more remembrance and thinking about and mental travel (cognitive component of placeidentity) in relation to high vs. low perceived naturalness. High naturalness was also reported to generate higher wellbeing in participants than low naturalness. Furthermore, place identity was shown to predict participants' wellbeing in urban greenery, accounting for 35% of variance explained by the regression. However, there was a stronger relationship between the emotional vs. the cognitive component of place identity and wellbeing. Finally, a significant role of place identity in mediating the naturalnesswellbeing relationship was shown, indicating that the naturalness-wellbeing connection can be partly accounted for by the psychological mechanisms of people-place bonding.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Linus, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of Task Demands on Olfactory, Auditory, and Visual Event-Related Potentials Suggest Similar Top-Down Modulation Across Senses
- 2018
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Ingår i: Chemical Senses. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0379-864X .- 1464-3553. ; 43:2, s. 129-134
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A widely held view is that top-down modulation of sensory information relies on an amodal control network that acts through the thalamus to regulate incoming signals. Olfaction lacks a direct thalamic projection, which suggests that it may differ from other modalities in this regard. We investigated the late positive complex (LPC) amplitudes of event-related potentials (ERP) from 28 participants, elicited by intensity-matched olfactory, auditory and visual stimuli, during a condition of focused attention, a neutral condition, and a condition in which stimuli were to be actively ignored. Amplitudes were largest during the attend condition, lowest during the ignore condition, with the neutral condition in between. A Bayesian analysis resulted in strong evidence for similar effects of task across sensory modalities. We conclude that olfaction, despite its unique neural projections, does not differ from audition and vision in terms of task-dependent neural modulation of the LPC.
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| 3. |
- Gunnarsson, Bengt, 1954, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitude on perception of urban green space
- 2017
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Ingår i: Urban Ecosystems. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1083-8155 .- 1573-1642. ; 20:1, s. 37-49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Green space in cities contributes to the quality of life for city dwellers, e.g., by increasing the opportunity for recreation. However, perception of urban green space is influenced by multiple factors. We investigated effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitudes on visual and auditory perceptions of urban green space. Field measurements of biodiversity were conducted in six sites across an urban gradient in Gothenburg, Sweden, and three categories of biodiversity—high, medium, low—were established. Households were sent a survey on aesthetic perception of urban green space, sound perception and the importance of trees and plants for the perception of bird species. Each respondent focused on the site that was located nearby. The environment-related attitudes comprised “Nature-oriented” and “Urban-oriented” persons and were based on participants’ own attitude estimations. It was shown that participants’ “subjective” aesthetic and sound-related perception of urban greenery were in line with the “objectively” measured subdivisions of high, medium and low biodiversity. So also were their estimations of the importance of trees and plants for perception of bird species in urban greenery, although differing only between high and medium/low biodiversity conditions. Persons rating themselves as highly nature-oriented were shown to give higher scores to urban green space aesthetics and to value greenery-related sounds higher, and to attach greater importance to trees and plants in their perception of bird species in urban greenery, than less nature-oriented persons. Highly urban-oriented persons compared to less urban-oriented persons did the same, but only regarding urban greenery-related aesthetics and sounds of nature. We conclude that environment-related attitudes influence perceptions of green space. Moreover, our findings support the idea that biodiversity per se also influences perceptions; people value green space significantly more with high than with low measured biodiversity. Urban planning needs to provide city inhabitants with green spaces that are species-rich, lush, varied and rich with natural sounds.
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| 4. |
- Hedblom, Marcus, et al.
(författare)
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Sounds of Nature in the City: No Evidence of Bird Song Improving Stress Recovery
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1660-4601 .- 1661-7827. ; 16:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Noise from city traffic is one of the most significant environmental stressors. Natural soundscapes, such as bird songs, have been suggested to potentially mitigate or mask noise. All previous studies on masking noise use self-evaluation data rather than physiological data. In this study, while respondents (n = 117) watched a 360 degrees virtual reality (VR) photograph of a park, they were exposed to different soundscapes and mild electrical shocks. The soundscapesbird song, bird song and traffic noise, and traffic noisewere played during a 10 min recovery period while their skin conductance levels were assessed as a measure of arousal/stress. No significant difference in stress recovery was found between the soundscapes although a tendency for less stress in bird song and more stress in traffic noise was noted. All three soundscapes, however, significantly reduced stress. This result could be attributed to the stress-reducing effect of the visual VR environment, to the noise levels being higher than 47 dBA (a level known to make masking ineffective), or to the respondents finding bird songs stressful. Reduction of stress in cities using masking with natural sounds requires further studies with not only larger samples but also sufficient methods to detect potential sex differences.
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| 5. |
- Johansson, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Factors Governing Human Fear of Brown Bear and Wolf
- 2012
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Ingår i: Human Dimensions of Wildlife. - London : Taylor & Francis. - 1087-1209 .- 1533-158X. ; 17:1, s. 58-74
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyzes people's subjectively experienced fear in areas with presence of brown bear or wolf. Departing from the Human-Environment Interaction Model (Küller, 1991), a hypothetical model of environmental and individual antecedents of fear was tested using structural equation modeling of survey data (n = 391). In the model of fear of brown bear, the main predictor was the appraisal of the species as dangerous/uncontrollable and unpredictable. In the model of fear of wolf, the greater experience with the species and a stronger appraisal of wolf as dangerous, uncontrollable, and unpredictable led to low social trust and this, together with the appraisal of wolf as dangerous/uncontrollable and unpredictable, increased the likelihood of fear. Efforts to reduce human fear of wolves should focus on building trust between the public and authorities, whereas efforts to reduce fear of brown bear should focus on the individual's appraisal of the species. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
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| 6. |
- Madison, Guy, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Numbers of publications and citations for researchers in fields pertinent to the social services : a comparison of peer-reviewed journal publications across six disciplines
- 2022
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Ingår i: Scientometrics. - : Springer. - 0138-9130 .- 1588-2861. ; 127, s. 6029-6046
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Timely dissemination of knowledge is essential and fosters development of knowledge both within academe and the wider society, not least for knowledge that serves practises outside of academia. Here, we compare six disciplines which provide health-related knowledge that serve the health and social services. Most previous research compares the size and impact of the body of publications belonging to each discipline, which ignores the distribution of seniority, productivity, and impact amongst researchers. Instead, we consider the whole population of academics in Sweden employed or active within each discipline, including those who have nil publications. The disciplines form three clusters, where researchers in Public Health and Nursing and Caring science claim about 15 articles per author, Psychology about 10, and Education, Sociology and Social Work less than four. Their numbers of citations follow the same pattern, and are substantially correlated with the number of articles. Tenured or full professors had about 50% more publications and citations per publication than had associate professors. The distributions indicate clear modes at 0, 4, and 16 publications for each cluster, and provide the proportions of researchers within each discipline who have no such publications at all. We discuss the implications of these results for policy, practice, and knowledge quality in the social services and the welfare sector.
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| 7. |
- Ode Sang, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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Are path choices of people moving through urban green spaces explained by gender and age? Implications for planning and management
- 2020
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Ingår i: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. - : Elsevier BV. - 1618-8667 .- 1610-8167. ; 49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neighbourhood green space is an important asset for the urban population, providing valuable ecosystem services such as supporting human health. Distance or access to urban green areas is well established as being important for the potential use of the area but how different demographic groups move within greenspace is still somewhat unknown. Previous studies have shown that there are gender as well as age differences in visual perception, audio experience and recreational activities as well as estimated well-being experienced from use of urban green space. Here we explored people's movement within their local green space in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. The results showed that movement took place over large parts of the green spaces studied, not only along paths. The data further showed that the movement pattern differed significantly between men and women as well as between young adults and old adults. Movement patterns of demographic groups could provide support to planning for sustainable urban green areas, help avoid conflict, identify areas for solitude and ensure equal access for people of different gender and age.
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| 8. |
- Stansfeld, S A, et al.
(författare)
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Aircraft and road traffic noise and children's cognition and health: a cross-national study.
- 2005
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Ingår i: Lancet. - 1474-547X .- 0140-6736. ; 365:9475, s. 1942-9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Exposure to environmental stressors can impair children's health and their cognitive development. The effects of air pollution, lead, and chemicals have been studied, but there has been less emphasis on the effects of noise. Our aim, therefore, was to assess the effect of exposure to aircraft and road traffic noise on cognitive performance and health in children. METHODS: We did a cross-national, cross-sectional study in which we assessed 2844 of 3207 children aged 9-10 years who were attending 89 schools of 77 approached in the Netherlands, 27 in Spain, and 30 in the UK located in local authority areas around three major airports. We selected children by extent of exposure to external aircraft and road traffic noise at school as predicted from noise contour maps, modelling, and on-site measurements, and matched schools within countries for socioeconomic status. We measured cognitive and health outcomes with standardised tests and questionnaires administered in the classroom. We also used a questionnaire to obtain information from parents about socioeconomic status, their education, and ethnic origin. FINDINGS: We identified linear exposure-effect associations between exposure to chronic aircraft noise and impairment of reading comprehension (p=0.0097) and recognition memory (p=0.0141), and a non-linear association with annoyance (p<0.0001) maintained after adjustment for mother's education, socioeconomic status, longstanding illness, and extent of classroom insulation against noise. Exposure to road traffic noise was linearly associated with increases in episodic memory (conceptual recall: p=0.0066; information recall: p=0.0489), but also with annoyance (p=0.0047). Neither aircraft noise nor traffic noise affected sustained attention, self-reported health, or overall mental health. INTERPRETATION: Our findings indicate that a chronic environmental stressor-aircraft noise-could impair cognitive development in children, specifically reading comprehension. Schools exposed to high levels of aircraft noise are not healthy educational environments.
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| 9. |
- Ode Sang, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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The effects of naturalness, gender, and age on how urban green space is perceived and used
- 2016
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Ingår i: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. - : Elsevier BV. - 1618-8667 .- 1610-8167. ; 18, s. 268-276
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neighbourhood green space serves an important function for the urban population, and provides valuable ecosystem services for human well-being. In this article, we investigate the effects of naturalness, gender, and age on the activities, aesthetics, and self-reported well-being associated with urban green space. Our findings are based on a postal survey of residents living in close proximity to six different green spaces in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is shown that higher perceived naturalness generated more activities and higher aesthetic values and self-reported well-being for residents living close to urban green spaces. The results also indicated that, regardless of the type of naturalness, women were more active in urban green spaces than were men. Women also saw greater aesthetic value in green spaces than men did, and had higher self-reported well-being associated with the urban green spaces. Finally, older residents were shown to participate in a greater number of nature-related activities than younger residents. Older residents also saw greater aesthetic values and had higher self-reported well-being associated with urban green spaces than younger people did. Seemingly, this poses a considerable planning challenge if areas of perceived naturalness are to be retained in cities, since the present trend is for reduced green spaces in cities and a ‘parkification’ of surviving natural areas. Further, because of the importance of perceived natural areas to the elderly, and in particularly women, distances to urban green areas should not be too great.
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| 10. |
- Andersson-Sköld, Yvonne, et al.
(författare)
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A framework for assessing urban greenery's effects and valuing its ecosystem services
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Academic Press. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 205, s. 274-285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ongoing urban exploitation is increasing pressure to transform urban green spaces, while there is increasing awareness that greenery provides a range of important benefits to city residents. In efforts to help resolve associated problems we have developed a framework for integrated assessments of ecosystem service (ES) benefits and values provided by urban greenery, based on the ecosystem service cascade model. The aim is to provide a method for assessing the contribution to, and valuing, multiple ES provided by urban greenery that can be readily applied in routine planning processes. The framework is unique as it recognizes that an urban greenery comprises several components and functions that can contribute to multiple ecosystem services in one or more ways via different functional traits (e.g. foliage characteristics) for which readily measured indicators have been identified. The framework consists of five steps including compilation of an inventory of indicator; application of effectivity factors to rate indicators' effectiveness; estimation of effects; estimation of benefits for each ES; estimation of the total ES value of the ecosystem. The framework was applied to assess ecosystem services provided by trees, shrubs, herbs, birds, and bees, in green areas spanning an urban gradient in Gothenburg, Sweden. Estimates of perceived values of ecosystem services were obtained from interviews with the public and workshop activities with civil servants. The framework is systematic and transparent at all stages and appears to have potential utility in the existing spatial planning processes.
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