Evidence connecting health care expenditures with physical activity and built environment is rare. We examined how detailed urban form relates to mode specific moderate-to-vigorous physical activit...

We conducted a systematic review to synthesize evidence of the effect of nature-based adventure (NBA) interventions on depressive symptoms. Our search was conducted in April 2021 and utilized the f...

The theory of supportive design influences healthcare facility design but is under-researched for different cultural groups. This mixed-methods study compared two Indigenous sample populations in A...

Organizations are increasingly adopting non-territorial organizational models with unassigned desks. However, previous research has: (1) shown mixed results regarding the impact of non-territorial ...

The built environment characteristics associated with walkability range from neighborhood-level urban form factors to street-level urban design factors. However, many existing walkability indices are based on neighborhood-level factors and lack consideration for street-level factors. Arguably, this omission is due to the lack of a scalable way to measure them. This paper uses computer vision to quantify street-level factors from street view images in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Correlation analysis shows that some streetscape factors are highly correlated with neighborhood-level factors. Binary logistic regressions indicate that the streetscape factors can significantly contribute to explaining walking mode choice and that streetscape factors can have a greater association with walking mode choice than neighborhood-level factors. A potential explanation for the result is that the image-based streetscape factors may perform as proxies for some macroscale factors while representing the pedestrian experience as seen from eye-level.

William Whyte originally hypothesized that the presence of people in a public space would attract more people. Contemporary planners now refer to “sticky streets” as places where pedestrians are co...

A substantial body of research provides evidence for the role of parents in transferring pro-environmental attitudes, values, and behaviors to their children. However, little research has focused o...

Environmental problems could be reduced if individuals act pro-environmentally. Typically, studies have examined factors explaining pro-environmental behavior among adults, but not among children. ...

This study examines the environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs) of undergraduates (n = 575). ERBs were measured in an online survey and the influence of situational context on behavior was exp...

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit humanity globally. Besides its obvious threats to our physical health and economic stability, one can only speculate about the pandemic’s and its countermeasures’ psychosocial impacts. Here, we took advantage of a sample of healthy male participants who had completed psychosocial measures on mental health, environmental concern, and prejudice against asylum-seekers just before and during the nationwide lockdown in Germany in spring 2020. A follow-up assessment of 140 participants during the lockdown provided a unique opportunity to track psychosocial changes in a prospective longitudinal study design. In comparison to before the lockdown (1) mental health worsened, (2) environmental concern increased, and (3) prejudice against asylum-seekers decreased. Our study demonstrates psychosocial “side effects” of the pandemic that bring both challenges and opportunities for our society with regard to the handling of psychological reactions to this pandemic and further global crises, including climate change and mass migration.

The present study employed a longitudinal survey experiment with American adults to investigate whether cognitive and emotional appraisals of messages about climate change related health risks would mediate the relationships between participants’ individual differences (in political ideology and health) and their perceived harm to self and support for climate change policies. The study found that liberals and people with poorer health evaluated the messages as more useful and interesting and generated more negative emotions toward the negative health consequences of climate change. In turn, they reported higher perceived harm to self from climate change and stronger support for climate policies, compared to conservatives and people with better health.

This study examines whether transitioning from cellular offices to an activity-based flexible office (A-FO) impacts employee absenteeism over time. Based on privacy theory, we hypothesized that cha...

Several studies have shown that moral licensing by observers makes observers more lenient in their judgment of subsequent immoral behaviors committed by a person. Environmental behavior is generall...

We expand on the plausible role of access to cognitive alternatives to the environmental status quo (i.e., the ability of people to imagine what a sustainable relationship with nature would look like) in motivating pro-environmental collective action. Using a representative sample of Canadians on age, gender, and ethnicity (N = 1,029) we evaluate the associations between access to environmental cognitive alternatives, politicized environmental identity, and willingness to engage in pro-environmental activist behavior. Additionally, we move beyond self-reported behavior by giving participants the opportunity to write and sign a pro-environmental letter to the Canadian Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. Our results suggest that access to cognitive alternatives is associated with stronger politicized environmental identity, greater willingness to engage in pro-environmental activist behavior, and increased likelihood of writing and signing a pro-environmental letter. All methods and analyses follow our preregistration and all materials and data are openly available.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have altered visitation patterns to parks, with potential effects on human health. Little is known about park use early in the pandemic, how park availability influenced use, and whether park visits accelerated COVID-19 spread. Using weekly cell phone location data for 620 U.S. counties, we show park visits decreased by an average 26% between March 15 and May 9, 2020. Net of weekly trends, park visits were 2.2% lower when stay-at-home orders were in effect, yet increased by 8.4% with school closures and 4.4% with business closures. Park visits decreased less during the pandemic in counties where park availability was high. Levels of park visits were not associated with COVID-19 growth rate or incidence in the following weeks. Thus, parks served as recreation and leisure outlets when schools and businesses closed, especially where parks were more available, with no evidence of park use increasing COVID-19 spread.

Few researches have considered fear of crime as a context-specific experience. This article promotes a place-based theoretical framework for studying crime perceptions through presenting app-based ...

Residents in US cities are exposed to high levels of stress and violent crime. At the same time, a number of cities have put forward “greening” efforts which may promote nature’s calming effects and reduce stressful stimuli. Previous research has shown that greening may lower aggressive behaviors and violent crime. In this study we examined, for the first time, the longitudinal effects over a 30-year period of average city greenness on homicide rates across 290 major cities in the US, using multilevel linear growth curve modeling. Overall, homicide rates in US cities decreased over this time-period (52.1–33.5 per 100,000 population) while the average greenness increased slightly (0.41–0.43 NDVI). Change in average city greenness was negatively associated with homicide, controlling for a range of variables (β = −.30, p-value = .02). The results of this study suggest that efforts to increase urban greenness may have small but significant violence-reduction benefits.

Research shows that place attachment is associated with disaster preparedness. In two studies we examined (1) participants’ place attachment at different spatial scales, (2) participants’ preparedness (intentions and behaviors), and (3) place attachment as a mediator of previously identified demographic predictors of preparedness. Our findings show that place attachment is associated with both preparedness intentions and behavior. When controlling for socio-demographic predictors, participants who reported stronger house and neighborhood attachment also reported stronger intentions to prepare (Study 1). In Study 2, house attachment was associated with mitigative preparedness behavior, whereas neighborhood attachment was associated with community preparedness behavior. House and neighborhood attachment mediated the relationship between home ownership, length of residence, and preparedness. These findings suggest that place attachment varies by spatial scale which matters for different types of disaster preparedness. House and neighborhood attachment should be considered as relevant predictors of mitigative and community preparedness in at-risk communities.

This experimental study tested the effects of digital tactical messaging on 189 undergraduates’ drought risk responsiveness using a mobile serious game. In the game’s virtual household environment, treatment groups were exposed to message framings informed by risk psychological theories. Drought risk responsiveness was indicated by participants’ in-game water consumption levels. The first intervention entailed treatment groups receiving advisories about an impending drought whose magnitude and likelihood varied for different groups. Next, groups would either receive a message reinforcing the efficacy, or social acceptability, of conserving and rationing water during a drought condition. Lastly, groups received a message about a water rationing exercise that they could participate in. Factorial analyses showed that knowing the severity and likelihood of an impending drought did not affect drought risk responsiveness. However, norms- and efficacy-framed messages, as well as rationing exercises, influenced risk responsiveness. The study is expected to be instructive to policymakers and practitioners interested in digitally communicating drought risk and adaptation to the public.

The perception of beauty is known to be associated with the bodily sensations and evolutionary implications. However, whether the esthetic preference for natural landscape environments with differe...