Abstract
Under the influence of urbanization, the relationship between human and nature gradually separated, therefore it is difficult for people to obtain the benefits of nature connectedness. In this paper, an IoT-based sharing plant factory is described to improve nature connectedness of people in an indoor environment. The ecological service process of indoor environments is studied through user interviews and surveys, to understand the contact points of ecological services and the design points of sharing plant factories. Based on these points, a product prototype is realized. Finally, the nature connectedness is tested by 13 users comparing the sharing plant factory with traditional plant pots through the revised Inclusion of Nature in the Self and Connectedness to Nature Scale. The results prove that the designed sharing plant factory can effectively improve a user’s nature connectedness. In addition, the efficiency of plant maintenance is greatly improved with the help of a sharing plant factory. The introduction of nature connectedness into ecological design can guide design to pay more attention to the service effect of products. In addition, the introduction of plant factory technology indoors can help ecological service products to function better and provide new ideas for the research of indoor ecological service products.
Highlights
Human–nature connection is an emerging research field that is receiving increasing attention in sustainability science [1]
Researchers argue that nature connectedness research can contribute to sustainability science from many aspects: first, nature connectedness provides effective psychological-behavioral path to engage the public with sustainability issues [7]; second, as shown in Reference [8], public concern for the sustainability is largely driven by an existing, historically embedded sense of human/nature connection; last but not least, the study of nature connectedness brings new multidisciplinary consideration of sustainability, for example, Reference [9] suggests a broader conception of nonhuman nature and a co-evolutionary theory of genetic response and cultural learning be incorporated to study sustainability
The ecological service process of office space is studied through user interviews and surveys, to understand the contact points of ecological services
Summary
Human–nature connection is an emerging research field that is receiving increasing attention in sustainability science [1]. This paper develops a prototype system of sharing plant factory based on IoT technology (MSPF) to evaluate how it may impact nature connectedness and further change a user’s attitude and motivation of pro-sustainability behavior. The prototype system use the shared mode to reduce personal costs, automatically adapt to multi-region environments and multi-user needs based on IoT technology, and deploy a highly usable human–plant interface to motivate users to interact with plants, thereby improving the nature connectedness of indoor office space.
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