Health effects of viewing landscapes – Landscape types in.pdfVIP

ARTICLE IN PRESS Urban Forestry Urban Greening 6 (2007) 199–212 www.elsevier.de/ufug Health effects of viewing landscapes – Landscape types in environmental psychology a a, b b M .D. Velarde , G. Fry , M. Tveit aSchool of Experimental Sciences and Technology, Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, C/Tulipan s/n, ´ 28933 Mostoles, Madrid, Spain bDepartment of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, PO Box 5003, N-1432 Aas, Norway Abstract The visible landscape is believed to affect human beings in many ways, including aesthetic appreciation and health and well-being. The aim of this paper is to analyse the range of landscapes used in environmental psychology studies, and the evidence of health effects related to viewing these landscapes. A literature review of publications linking landscapes and health effects was conducted. This reported evidence of health and well-being effects related to exposure to visual landscapes. The results of the review include an overview of the types of landscape used in the studies, the evidence on health effects, the methods and measures applied and the different groups of respondents. The analysis reveals a predominance of studies using only coarse categories of landscapes. Most landscape representations have been classed as ‘‘natural’’ or ‘‘urban’’. Few studies were found to use subcategories within these groups. Generally, the natural landscapes gave a stronger positive health effect compared to urban landscapes. Urban landscapes were found to have a less positive