There is already good evidence that exposure to green landscapes is good for people. The next frontier of research in the health impacts of designed environments is to be able to quantify connections between design decisions and life expectancy.
Jared Green attended the recent Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) conference in New Orleans, where he attended a presentation by William Sullivan, ASLA, a landscape architecture professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Green shares insights into Sullivan's presentation, which introduced the possibility of a future where designers "have guidelines that explain the best ways to reap the positive effects of nature."
Sullivan's presentation detailed current research studying the possible health benefits of the following design scenarios:
- How much stress can be recovered through views of green streets?
- What is the connection between high school landscapes and academic performance?
- How does rain activity respond to images of nature?
- "Do the most ecologically-healthy landscapes result in the healthiest people?”
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