The restorative potential of a university campus: Objective greenness and student perceptions in Turkey and the United States

Abstract

University students who balance multidimensional stress with their learning have everyday encounters with different locations of green outdoor campus spaces. Objective greenness of campus was measured in this study through the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index at three spatial levels - overall campus, central campus, and around the academic building. Students (n = 1079) pursuing business, design, or psychology degrees from two universities each in Turkey and the United States (U.S.) reported their perceptions of campus greenness, restorativeness, and quality of life. Correlation analysis demonstrated positive associations between objective and perceived greenness at each level, perceived restorativeness, and quality of life. In the U.S. there was a mismatch between objective and perceived greenness at the building level. Serial mediation analyses showed direct effects of all three levels of objective greenness on overall quality of life, but also indirect increases mediated by perceived greenness and perceived restorativeness. Campus green spaces are everyday sources for student restoration and knowing at which locations they are most effective can help planning and design efforts that reveal their potential as restorative resources.