Biophilic Landscapes

The current study explored how viewing green or blue biophilic outdoor landscapes impacts university students’ stress and anxiety? To operate the study, we hypothesized that a combination of green and blue biophilic landscapes would reduce stress and anxiety to a greater extent than individual elements or non-biophilic urban landscapes. We conducted an online experiment using a between-subject design on the UBC Qualtrics Platform. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions with different pictorial window views (ocean view, forest view, combined view and urban view) and asked to imagine studying and living in the environments shown in the pictures. Their stress and anxiety levels were measured using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire. An one-way between groups ANOVA and post hoc Turkey test revealed that participants in the forest view condition showed the greatest reduction of stress and anxiety, followed by the ocean view and combined view condition. Therefore, the results do not support our hypothesis. This can be due to the lack of ecological validity of pictures used and sampling bias. The current research can be applied to future residential zoning plans at UBC to maximize the forest and ocean views exposed to students. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Arts, Faculty ofPsychology, Department ofUnreviewedUndergraduat