Abstract
Apartment housing has become a dominant form of urban residence. High dwelling density in apartment complexes causes frequent conflicts and disputes. To counter this, it is necessary to promote a sense of community among residents with programs such as a customized horticultural program for the introduction of a community garden in an apartment complex. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of a community garden program in an apartment complex in fostering residents’ sense of community and reducing stress. Experiments were performed in three groups: a group participating in the program based on the sense of community theory (SCG; n = 11), a group participating with a focus on horticultural education (HEG; n = 11), and a non-participation group (NPG; n = 10). The experimental results revealed that the sense of community was significantly higher in the SCG than in the HEG and NPG. The results suggest that the SCG positively affected the sense of community, overall energy, ratio between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and stress resistance. Considering these results, community garden programs with appropriate interventions to promote a sense of community are more effective in improving community life and reducing stress than programs based on horticultural education.
Highlights
SCG: group participating in the apartment community garden program based on the sense of community theory; HEG: group participating in the apartment community garden program with a focus on horticultural education; NPG: non-participation group; O1 : Pre-test, O2 : Post-test; X: Apartment community garden program based on the sense of community theory; Y: Apartment community garden program focusing on horticultural education
No significant intergroup differences were observed in total power (TP), low frequency (LF), standard deviation of the NN interval (SDNN), and mean beats per minute (BPM), which establishes pre-intervention homogeneity
In perceived stress (p = 0.005), the values of high frequency (HF) (p = 0.008), LF/HF (p = 0.011), and root mean square of standard deviation (RMSSD) (p = 0.005) were not homogeneous among the three groups, which were subjected to analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to analyze the post-intervention values
Summary
While the quality of dwelling conditions has improved, the independence of housing units, which is the greatest advantage and disadvantage of apartment housing [2], and the high dwelling density, frequently lead to conflicts and disputes among residents [3]. These conflicts are related to parking, inter-floor noise disturbance, second-hand smoking, pets, and the installation of electric vehicle charging stations. Apartment building designs mainly reflect suppliers’ interests and present stimuli to which residents must adapt. Such residential environments increase their stress levels [4]
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