VOL.22, NO.4
IMMEDIATED BENEFITS AND CONTINUED BENEFITS OF HORTICULTURAL THERAPY ON THE MOOD AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN CANCER PATIENTS
Chia-Yen Wu, Hui-Mei Chen
This study used quantitative method to evaluate the immediated and continued benefits of horticultural therapy(HT) on the mood and life quality of cancer patients. The HT was designed a six-week program which participants attended once a week for 2 hrours. The questionnaire survay was adopted in the pretest and postest evaluation of HT. Four times of 1-year follow-up test was conducted by telephone interview every three months. The results showed that this six week HT program significantly improved patients' mood of pleasure and arousal. But, there is no effect on quality of life. The attitude toward horticultural activity became more positive after the six-week HT. Patients with more positive attitudes toward horticultural activity engaged in activity more frequently in the follow-up period. The mood benefit of arousal lasted six to nine month after the six-week HT. There is also no effect on quality of life in the follow-up period. This paper provides empirical data to support the mood benefit of HT program as mind-body medicine for cancer patients.
THE EFFECT OF PICNICKER’S ENVIRONMENTAL PERCEPTION ON LEISURE MOTIVATION, LEISURE INVOLVEMENT AND LEISURE BENEFIT.
Yen-Shiang Huang, Po- Ju Chang
Many previous studies emphasized the forest damage caused by picnicking and picnicking areas, which were associated with forest studies. However, picnicking in national parks was considered as part of tourism and leisure activities, which was different from picnicking in parks. Previous studies relating to picnic as a leisure activity at urban parks was less. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of different environmental perceptions on the motivation, involvement and benefits of leisure in terms of picnicking. This study distributed questionnaires in public green spaces in Taipei. A total of 408 responses were collected. Structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis were used to examine the model of environmental perception, leisure motivation, leisure involvement and leisure benefit, and to examine the differences between family and friends accompaniment. The results indicated a significant difference in the effect of environmental perception on leisure involvement. The findings of this study contributed to future related studies, picnic programmers, and urban park designers.
A STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ULTIMATE FLYWHEEL TRAINING AND PHYSICAL FITNESS ACHIEVEMENT, FLOW EXPERIENCE AND EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
Yan-Hsi Li, Jui-Yu Chien, Jing-Shoung Hou
This study aims to explore whether ultimate flywheel training is beneficial to students' physical fitness performance. Also to know this leisurely sport whether let students bring a flow experience and what kind of emotional experience. The results show that there is a significant difference between the stay time and physical fitness achievement of the subjects before and after the training course; different exercise habits have significant differences in flow experience and emotional experience different staying times have significant differences in flow experience and emotional experience; different physical fitness achievement have significant differences in flow experience, but there is no significant difference in emotional experience; The flow experience has partially significantly affected the emotion experience. These research results hope to provide schools more and more interesting choices in physical fitness training and analytical results of physical fitness, flow experience and emotional experience in the academic environment as the rock of future related research.
VOL.22, NO.3
IDENTIFYING PERCEPTIVE SEGMENTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES AFFECTING PERCEIVED RELAXATION USING Q-METHODOLOGY
Kaowen Grace Chang
Urban green spaces play an important role in promoting wellbeing through relaxation for the public. In order to plan and construct such settings, environmental planners and designers often need to consider multifaceted designing factors and different user perceptions. Thus, we need to untangle the environmental attributes desirable to different groups by incorporating the complex inputs of multifaceted designing options and user subjectivity so that the outdoor recreation setting can benefit a wide spectrum of users. Using Q-methodology, we established concourse statement sets to investigate which environmental factors influence the perceived relaxation in outdoor recreational settings. We found that perceptive differences do exist among the identified five user segments. Among the tested environmental factors, the disturbance from the exterior environment, including the relative distance of automobiles and activities around, and the visual quality of the outside generally influence the perceived relaxation across different groups. The perceived relaxation of identified groups is triggered by different environmental factors. The groups show their environmental preferences respectively in the directions of humanistic ambience, naturalistic expression, spatial aesthetics, as well as thematic and interaction strength. Study limitations and implications of the results are discussed. The findings of this study offer essential information for planning and designing an environment that promotes wellbeing.
IMPROVEMENT BENEFIT ASSESSMENT OF LANDSCAPE PREFERENCE AND ATTENTION RESTORATION BY CALLIGRAPHY GREENWAY LANDSCAPE ENGINEERING
Chen-Fa Wu, Yen-Fen Hsieh, Hsuan-Hsuan Huang
Green landscapes provide people with outdoor relaxation. And they have attention restoration effect. Urban green landscapes are indispensable field. After the construction of urban green space landscape for decades, it will carry out improvements; however, whether the new style can increase people’s preferences, and improve attention restoration is worth discussing. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine green landscape improvements can increase the user’s landscape preference and attention restorations or not. This research area is Calligraphy Greenway. First, this study reviews the theory of landscape preference and attention restoration. Then, this study uses photos of before improvement and after improvement and conduct questionnaires survey, and multivariate analysis to investigate the feelings of users. The result shows that after landscape improvement, the user’s feelings of overall landscape, landscape preferences, and attention restoration of Calligraphy Greenway are higher than the landscapes, which are before improvement. This study is a pioneer in the study of landscape projects benefit assessment, and the study method is feasibility and easy. It will be able to provide the public sector as a reference to benefit assessment of construction projects in future.
FACTORS IN DEVELOPING VERTICAL GREENING PRODUCT AND TEMPERATURE REDUCTION OBSERVATIONS OF VERTICAL GREENING SYSTEMS
Chin-Chung Yu, Yun-Hsin Cheng, Bau-Show Lin
Vertical greening, which provides multiple environmental benefits, has got more and more attention. In recent years, vertical greening technology has been constantly innovated to provide customers with more advantages. To date, there are many diverse vertical greening products on the market. To provide more information for R&D suppliers/distributors, this study investigated the factors considered when developing/introducing a new vertical greening product, systematic categorization for vertical greening technology, and temperature reduction effect of different vertical greening systems. Study results showed that R&D suppliers/distributors considered several factors while creating/introducing a new vertical greening product. Overall, workability, composition fineness, low construction cost, low maintain requirement, aesthetics, plant growth well, auto-irrigation, and added benefit were the main considerations for R&D suppliers/ distributors. Nine vertical greening systems (VGS) were categorized, including planter boxes with drip irrigation system, planter boxes with irrigation system, panel with drip irrigation system, panel with irrigation system, geotextile felt system, supported climbing system, simple potted system, planter boxes with siphon system, and direct greening system. Respect to temperature reduction effect observation for 8 VGSs, all VGSs had significant temperature reduction effects. Different VGSs had significantly varied temperature reduction effects. Panel with irrigation system, panel with irrigation system, and direct greening system were observed to have a greater temperature reduction effect. For VGSs with higher green coverage ratio tended to have lower system surface temperature and wall surface temperature.
UNDERSTANDING THE INFLUENCE OF PLACE ATTACHMENT ON THE PERCEIVED IMPACT OF A DESTINATION—A CASE OF THE HOLIAY FOREST BEACH AND WIND POWER PLANTS
Ting-Hsuan Wang, Li Shen, Chia-Kuen Cheng
Place Attachment is collectively referred to the relationship between human and place. Under this emotional connection, people will attempt to retain them feel comfortable and safe place and avoid these special places changed. In some situation, these changes even impact them. Although many studies have pointed out that place attachment would affect environmental impact, but there had two opposite opinion of this situation. Most studies suggest that place attachment is an emotional connection to place, so when those people who had stronger attachment encountered place changed they would receive more impact. On the other hand, other researchers have also pointed out that people with higher place attachment would tend to ignore or rationalize environmental impacts and be inclined to accept them. The relationship between bonding to place and perceived environmental impact is worthwhile for further discussion.
In this study, the study site was a recreational destination close to wind power plants. Respondents’ experience-use history, attitudes toward incineration plant, attitudes toward depreciated behaviors, and bonding to the park were collected and compared. Results indicated that respondents with higher place attachment would ignore those impact from wind power plants. These results would help explained more in-depth explanation of the relationship between people and place, and it could be application in urban planning or environmental design in future to bring people to better life.
VOL.22, NO.2
A STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FEATURES AND LANDSCAPING OF URBAN LANES AND ALLEYS IN CHIAYI CITY
Ting-I Lee, Yi- Hsuan Hsieh, Jyun-Huei Huang, Li-Jan Huang, Jia-Syun Li, Miao-Chi Syu, Pin-Rong Raymond Wu
In highly developed compact urban environments, linear greening can bring physical connection to fragmented green spaces. In Taiwan, those alleys in inner urban areas play a role as important as public open spaces. They are places where urban inhabitants’ daily life, connecting transportation, townscape characteristics, and historical and cultural activities take place. However, alley landscaping is often neglected by planning policies. There is a lack of fundamental research to support effective planning actions. Thus, this article aims at understanding the relationship between alley landscaping and alley features in urban regeneration areas. All alleys and lanes in the designated regeneration areas in Chiayi City were documented, and the associations between the factors of their landscaping typology and spatial features were analyzed. The results show that the existence of alley landscaping is mainly associated with the spatial pattern of alley itself and the activities in the alley space, but less associated with the type of buildings and the land use alongside. The planting typology is associated with the four features of an alley or a lane.
TRANSFORMATION OF BEIGANG COUNTY TOURISM IMAGE FROM ORGANIC, INDUCED, TO COMPLEX STAGE: A CASE STUDY OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDENTS
Chang-Jen Kuo, Ying-Tzu Chen
Tourists may use their images to decide their travelling destinations; therefore, when they are choosing a travelling destination, they may be influenced by their images. Thus, the study try to explore tourists’ transformation of an image via the concept of tourism destination image, and to understanding foreign tourists’ transformation of organic image, induced image, and complex image in a certain travelling destination. The participants in the study are international students studying in the Beigang. The valid samples are 89. Paired-Samples t-test and one-way ANOVA are used to analyze the data. The results of the study show that the foreign tourists’
transformation of organic, induced, and complex images on 28 tourism images in Beigang Image Commercial District can be categorized into four patterns: reinforcing, waning, Λ-type, and stable. Besides, their images about the place would be reinforced after they visit the place. Hopefully, the results of the study can be the related managerial units’ reference.
THE DISCUSSION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTION AND VISUAL PREFERENCE OF COLOR OF INTERPRETATIVE SIGNS: THE COMPARISON AMONG URBAN, COUNTRY AND NATURE AREA IN PENGHU
Chung Heng Hsieh, Yu Yun Kao
This study aimed to understand the environmental adaption and visual preference of color of four interpretative signs in three different recreational environments. We used the focus group method to classified Penghu’s landscape environments into three different categories, and also choose the color of interpretative signs. Photos depicting different recreational environment and colors were simulated by Adobe Photoshop used as a stimulus to assess environmental adaption and visual preference. 201 participants were asked to rate each photo for environmental adaption and their preference using a seven point Likert scale. The result showed that environment and signs color both affected the assessment of preference and adaptation of simulation images from the participants. The participants preferred the blue color interpretative sign than other colors in the city and country environment, and these four color interpretative sign were all not preferred in natural environments. The result also showed that the environmental adaption to interpretative sign could predict visual preference.
A STUDY OF DEMAND FOR EMOTION HEALING BY INTRODUCING EMOTIONAL RELEASE AND EMOTIONAL INTERACTION ACTIVITIES INTO PUBLIC SPACES
Yi-Tsu Peng, Po-Hsien Lin
The concept of healing has become a global topic in contemporary society. There are seminars and special issue papers in the field of environmental space in which the public are encouraged to join in the discussion and get remarkable success. However, the researchers found that there is relatively little literature on the direct emotional release and emotional interaction healing activity in the public space domain. The main purpose of this study is to explore the public’s needs and individual differences in the introduction of emotional release and emotional interaction healing activities in the public environment domain. The main research method used in this study was questionnaire survey. Researcher used statistical analysis to examine the needs of the public in bringing healing activities in to the public space. Furthermore, the research compared the needs of the potential users basing on their demographic background. This study yielded the following results: 1. The public has a positive demand response to the introduction of emotional catharsis and emotional interaction healing activity into public space. 2. People from different social backgrounds have different needs regarding self-healing public space activities. 3. The demand of disadvantaged groups (extreme depression and the unemployed) for emotional release activity has been neglected.
VOL.22, NO.1
A STUDY OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND SAFETY PERCEPTION FOR THE PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS
Shu-Chen Chang, Shiao-Ping Ho
Many pedestrians are deterred from using pedestrian underpasses because they are located below the surface and give the impression that most of them are dark, enclosed, indefinite and insecure etc. This research purpose is to explore the spatial environmental characteristics of pedestrian underpass which affect the user’s safety perception. Pedestrian underpass space can be divided into 3 sections: the ground structure, the entrance stair and the underpass. This study focuses on the “underpass” section, and we take 34 photographs to evaluate the participants’
safety perception affected by the environmental characteristics of the underpass. In addition, we also discuss the effort made by the background music to enhance the sense of security when users walk through the underpass in this study. The majority of subjects are college students. The numbers of effective samples for the “spatial environment” and “background music”
are 388 and 433 respectively. The research results show: (1) Females and people who have a worse impression on social security and underpass safety have a lower sense of security in the underpass. (2)The 7 characteristics of underpass, which have a significant positive impact on the user’s safety perception, include the passage width, reflective wall material, decorative area, straight or implicit height difference passage, visible exit stairway, illumination level, and warm color illumination. (3) Playing background music in the underpass can effectively increase the user’s sense of security. The research findings above can provide reference information for the design and management units to build or improve pedestrian underpass security.
SITE SELECTION MODEL OF POTENTIAL ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT AREA: FROM THE RESOURCES ASPECT
Tzuhui A. Tseng, Tsu jen Ding, Wei Ya Su
Most ecotourism studies focused on the construction of indicators. However, only a few studies tried to explore site selection model of eco-tourism development and they only focus on developing the indicators of the site selection, and lack of spatial application and analysis. As a result, these site selections couldn’t be accurately implemented into special dimensions. This study has selected New Taipei City in Taiwan as the empirical study area, and with the combination of AHP method and GIS software to build one site selection model for potential ecotourism development area. First of all, related factors of natural and cultural resources were selected through literature review; then factor weights were collected by questionnaires from expert’s evaluation. Finally, all the evaluation factors were integrated in GIS system to map out potential ecotourism development areas. Results showed there were three areas of potential ecotourism development areas in New Taipei City, which are the ecotone between Tamshui and Bali district, Yehliu area in Wanli district and the Coast in Yanliao. The results of this site selection model can be a reference to the ecotourism development and planning for government and recreational agencies.
ANALYTIC ASPECTS OF HOST AUTHENTICITY IN TOURISM
Pei-Hsin Hsu
Authenticity is a leading concept in tourism studies, but academic understanding of host authenticity is insufficient. Authenticity theories – existentialism, objectivism and constructivism – do not consider host viewpoints in the discussion of authenticity of tour objects, events, and experience of authentic self. By examining the assumptions underpinning authenticity theories, the author proposes three analytic aspects of host authenticity including authentic self, host-guest encounter and cultural tourism setting. Future research needs to reconsider host authenticity in a broader scope. In turn, it contributes to balance market demands and local needs to provide tourism destinations with a sustainable future.
EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF JOGGING BEHAVIORS AND DEMOGRAPHICS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF JOGGING ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Kaowen Chang, Hungju Chien, Haoann Jane
The physical activity of jogging and road running has become publicly prevalent in recent years, attracting a wide range of users with different backgrounds and behaviors. However, little research has been done on exploring what characteristics of the environment are most important to joggers' jogging experience. Therefore, this study intends to investigate how joggers’ demographics and jogging behaviors influence their perspectives to the environmental conditions along jogging routes. This study used self-administered survey as the instrument. The data collection process was conducted on-site and electronically. The findings show that the joggers’ age, motive, jogging time slot, frequency, and distance affect their perceptions on jogging environments such as the scene, nearby traffic, accessibility, the level of naturalness, the level of challenge, and the width and clarity of routes. These exploratory findings support that the joggers’ personal and behavioral characteristics affect the judgments on environmental factors in jogging routes. These results provide the empirical references concerning the positioning and fitness of jogging environments.