VOL.26, NO.3
EXPLORING LANDSCAPE'S IMPACT ON HEALTH: EVIDENCE-BASED RESEARCH FOR HEALTHY LANDSCAPE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
I-Chun Tang, Shih-Han Hung, Yu-Chun Yeh , Yu-Hsin Tung, Chun-Yen Chang
This article explores the relationship between landscape typology characteristics and health, including the impact of the environment on physiological, psychological, and brain activation responses. First, it describes the benefits of proximity to nature, including stress reduction, attention restoration, and positive emotional recovery. Second, it describes the health effects of natural landscapes, aquatic environments, rural settings, and urban green spaces, supported by pertinent empirical research. In addition, it proposes planning and design principles for these four types of landscapes in terms of the health environment. Lastly, based on these theoretical foundations and research findings, the study introduces the "Health Smart Data Planning and Design Process" to assist professionals, designers, decision-makers, and users in better understanding the relationship between the environment and human health, thereby developing location-specific health-oriented design solutions. This research will contribute to the improvement of landscape planning and the creation of environments that promote health.
APPLYING IMPORTANCE-PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS TO INVESTIGATE HUWEI TOWNSHIP’S ATTRACTIVENESS OF MARKETING FACTORS EVALUATED
Chang-Jen Kuo, Yi-Hsuan Hsu, Hsueh-Chung Ting
Huwei Township, located in the heart of Yunlin County. Since HSR Yunlin Station made its debut to the public in Huwei Township, it has promoted the local economic development. Some recent construction and additions to the prolonged sugarcane factory and local historic sites across the town have revealed spectacular views. Thus, to understand the charm factors and the quality improvement indicator, the resercher utilized Preference-Based Design Evaluation Grid Method (EGM) and interviewing to extract the charm factors, used In-depth Interviews, quantitative study and Importance- Performance Analysis (IPA) to find point for the local tourism development. The results show that tourists’ socio demographic variables have partly significant difference in the charm factors and satisfaction. The study was conducted from March 7th to April 30th in 2021. The valid copies of the questionnaire was 324. The results of IPA show that Huwei Township is convenient to arrive and safe to travel, and residents and staff are friendly. Tourists are satisfied with the festival events, the sugarcane factory, and historic sites, but they can still be improved. Tourists are less care about and have lower satisfaction with accommodation, service products, and souvenirs. Traffic control and parking spaces can be improved to enhance tourists’ satisfaction. Hopefully, the results of the study for the government, the tourism industry, and related units to enhance tourists’ satisfaction while visiting Huwei Township and boost the local industry development.
EXPLORING DIFFERENCES IN FAMILIARITY, IDENTIFICATION, AND PREFERENCE AMONG TRADITIONAL AROMATIC PLANTS IN TAIWAN
Chiao-Yu Hsieh, Yu-Hsiu Huang, Chien-Yau Lin
Previous olfactory research in the country has mainly focused on commonly used aromatic essential oils or plants, with relatively less exploration of traditional aromatic plants in Taiwan. This study utilized the essential oils of three traditional Taiwanese aromatic plants, namely Tuberose, Osmanthus, and White Champak, as research materials. The aim was to investigate the impact of different Taiwanese traditional aromatic plant aromas on familiarity, identification, and preference. A total of 50 questionnaires were collected in December 2022. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the three plants in terms of participants' familiarity, identification, and preference. Osmanthus exhibited significantly higher levels of familiarity and identification compared to the other two plants, along with a higher preference rating. Qualitative data indicated that participants' associations with the plant odors varied depending on the aromas' features of different traditional Taiwanese aromatic plants, reflecting their influence on perception and memory. The plant aromas indeed evoke scene memories, suggesting the potential use of these three traditional aromatic plants in horticultural therapy activities or healing gardens aiming to create a nostalgic ambiance.
VOL.26, NO.2
THE INFLUENCE OF WATER SOUNDSCAPE ON PERCEIVED AFFECTIVE QUALITY AND AUDITORY PREFERENCES
Chien-Yau Lin, Yu-Hsiu Huang, Jun-Hong Chen
Waterscape sound is easy to apply in landscape design. It has been used as a test medium with other natural sounds in past research, knowing people's preferences for different natural soundscapes and their psychological impact on people. However, few studies have explored the impact of different waterscape sounds on people. Therefore, in this study, 12 sections of sounds in different forms of waterscapes were used as stimulation sources to understand the impact of waterscape sounds on people's psychology. A questionnaire survey was conducted from April to May 2022, comprising 158 subjects. The results showed that waterscape form affects subjects' perceived affective quality and auditory preferences. Compared with the sound of the sea, fountain, and waterfall, the sound of the stream can cause more positive emotions and less negative emotions, so the auditory preference is significantly higher than that of the other three waterscape sounds. Waterfall sounds are more likely to evoke a confusing or annoying feeling and are less preferred. When only auditory stimuli, recognition degree affects people's perception of waterscape sound. Stream sound, which is the most preferred, has a high degree of preference.
COMPREHENDING TOURISTS’ PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS TO A COASTAL DESTINATION REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE: THE CASE OF LIUQIU
Chung-Hsien Lin, Yuan-I Eric Yeh, Jiin-Ling Lin, Wei-Ching Wang
A coastal destination is particularly vulnerable to climate change, and it is important to understand the attitudes and behaviors of coastal tourists in response to climate change. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between coastal tourists’ climate change perceptions, perceived destination impacts, attitudes toward climate change, and intentions to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. Using qualitative data from online travel community reviews and quantitative data from a field survey, the analysis revealed that tourists’ perceptions of climate change and perceived destination impacts were significant predictors of climate change attitudes; moreover, climate change attitudes had a greater influence on pro-environmental behavioral intentions than these two predictors. These results emphasize the importance of considering tourists’ perceptions and attitudes toward climate change in the formulation of sustainable tourism development policies and practices and contribute to the application of behavior change systems theory in the context of climate change. The findings provide a useful reference for coastal tourism management organizations to develop the effective environmental protection strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change on a coastal destination.
EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TSOU ETHNOBOTANY AND CULTURAL IDENTITY
Li-Ya Chu, Yen-Cheng Chiang
The increasing awareness of conserving traditional cultures has prompted Taiwan to preserve and revitalize various traditional cultures. The conservation of indigenous cultures has mainly focused on the aspects of language, festivals, and clothing and overlooked the preservation of plant knowledge. Plants exhibit particularly profound cultural significance to people. An in-depth understanding of the effects of plants on the ethnic identity of Tsou people facilitates the promotion of cultural inheritance. This study examined these effects to determine the relationship between the ethnic identify of Tsou people and the amount of plant knowledge they possess. We selected Tapangu in Alishan Township, Chiayi County as the study site. and the questionnaire responses were analyzed statistically to calculate the plant diversity score (which signified plant knowledge quantity) and determine the level of ethnic identity. A total of 122 valid questionnaires were collected. The results revealed that plant diversity was observed to affect ethnic identity. Subsequently, tribal members were divided into four groups based on their plant diversity and ethnic identity scores to advise on cultural preservation. Specifically, individuals with high plant diversity and ethnic identity scores should retain their knowledge and serve as tribal leaders. Additional knowledge acquisition channels should be provided to individuals with low plant diversity and high ethnic identity scores. Those with high plant diversity and low ethnic identity scores should strengthen the association of plants with culture and tribes. Those with low plant diversity and ethnic identity scores should try to establish a sense of engagement first before improving their motivation to voluntarily learn tribal culture. This quantitative study confirmed plant knowledge to be a crucial constituent of ethnic identity in Tsou people. Therefore, by increasing knowledge inheritance, more diverse Tsou cultures can be preserved and stimulated.
VOL.26, NO.1
EFFECTS OF VISUAL ELEMENT OF VINTAGE COFFEE SHOPS ON EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE AND PREFERENCE FOR INSTAGRAM PHOTO
Te-Chieh Lien, Li Shen, Ai-Tsen Su
The aim of this study was to explore the effects of the existence and ratio of old house coffee shop on emotional experience and preference. An online questionnaire was conducted. The Instagram photos of the old house coffee shop in Taipei City in 2019 were taken as stimuli. The visual elements were categorized and digitalized. The emotional experience and preference were evaluated by respondents. Results showed that the presence and ratio of visual elements significantly affected emotional experience. The presence and ratio of plant, food, tableware, and table significantly affected preference, while the presence and ratio of wall, door, bar and cupboard, and vintage ornaments had a significantly negative effect on preference. The emotion experiences, including pleasure, calm, relaxation, and excitement, had a significantly positive effect on preference, while the boring feeling had a significantly negative effect on preference. The results of this study could be taken as a reference to photo taking and sharing for users on social medias, and enhance the spatial aesthetics of old house coffee shops.
THE IGNORED BACKGROUND: THE INFLUENCES OF ACTIVITIES ON THE ATTENTION OF SURROUNDED ENVIRONMENT
Hsuan Cheng, Yi-Chun Kuo, Chia-Kuen Cheng
The influence of the environment on people has been widely discussed in various fields for a long time, and the environment has also been proven to have a great influence on human behavior and lifestyle. These researches are based on the premise of people paying attention to the environment. However, people are not able to pay attention to the environment all the time. In the past, there were few studies discussed the circumstances and reasons why people ignore the environment. Recent studies have found that using mobile phones in green spaces will reduce the attention enhancement benefits of the environment. Activities that often provide flow experience are found to make people overlook the environment. Using 3C products and the activities that are prone to have flow experience possess the characteristics of hard fascination and are both highly attractive activities to people, therefore, it can be inferred that when other activities are more attractive than the environment, it is likely that the influences of the environment are reduced.
In this study, 60 participants performed cognitive tasks and then were randomly assigned to one of six rest treatments: green settings or barren settings with fascination activities (using smart phone or listening to an unplugged music concert), or soft fascination activity: sight-seeing. Attention was measured three times as the indicator of whether people are influenced by the environment in order to know whether different activities will Influence the attention of people toward the environment or not.
Results showed a significant effect of attention restoration in green spaces while sight-seeing. However, the attention restoration effects of green setting were not different from barren settings while using smart phone and listening to the music performance. As a result, we can assure that different activities will influence the attention of people toward the surroundings. Moreover, while performing highly attractive activities, i.e., hard fascination activities, will reduce the attentional functioning toward the surrounding therefore reduce the influences of the environment. Therefore, future environmental related research needs to avoid mistakenly attributing the consequences of activities to the environment, and to have a better understanding of the circumstances when environments have no effect on people. The application of this studies can also avoid invalid designs and constructions.
THE BIG FIVE: THE EFFECT OF GREENSPACE LANDSCAPE PREFERENCE AND ACTIVITY ON PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS
Mi-Geng Wu, Pei-Lun Sun, Po-Ju Chang
Previous studies focused on gender, age, and social status, when explored the social factors which affect the relationship between green space and health. However, personality traits affect the relationship between green space and mental health, but previous study has not clarified why personality traits affect human psychological benefits from green space. This study realized how personality traits affect the psychological benefits obtained from green spaces by landscape preference and activities, and explored individuals with different personality traits preferred what kind of green space through environmental cognition model. This study investigated personality and benefits, included self-report physical health, psychological distress, and well-being. Participants are asked to evaluate the environmental cognition, landscape preference and activity frequency for the three common green space in urban. The results revealed that people with high affinity, extroversion, and openness in personality traits may have higher preference for green space landscapes, and people with high openness tend to do activities in green space. In addition, there was a positive correlation between landscape preference and activity frequency for all three types of green spaces, and there was a positive relationship between landscape preference and all activities, not only physical activities. This study also found that the relationship between landscape preference and well-being was completely mediated by green space activities in parks and planted forests, which means that landscape preference must be influenced by green space activities to affect well-being; however, wild forests not only affect well-being through green space activities, but also directly affect well-being by landscape preference.