Beautiful Environments Research Articles

Architecture and Planning of Residential Complexes in Kazakhstan

Planning and designing of urban residential complexes with all the functions in beautiful environments responding to the local customs is a difficult task. In Kazakhstan, as a result of the growth of the economy, the improvement of needs, and the transformations of socio-economic functions, housing is changing fast. Urban residents now make complex and higher demands related to the environments of residential areas. In this context, this article examines the history of the design of residential construction in Northern Kazakhstan in relation to the stages of urban developments. The research analyzes the four most popular residential areas of the city of Astana, built at the beginning of the 21st century. A variety of research methods were employed such as historical method, analysis method, comparative method, and method of interpretation. The study revealed that the level of development of residential areas has a direct impact on the living environment of residents, and depends on whether their planning is reasonable. In summary, the reconstruction of old residential areas in Astana is a major livelihood project, which can not only effectively improve the living conditions environment of residents, but also improve urban support facilities and promote the healthy development of urban construction.

Reflections on How Young Children Develop a Sense of Beauty and Should Be Guided in Doing So

ABSTRACT This article explores tentatively how young children develop a sense of beauty and should be guided in doing so. Beauty is partly a matter of personal preference, but it implies a more profound and considered idea than what is pleasing or attractive. Beauty contributes to well-being and a flourishing life. Since ideas of beauty vary over time and are transmitted through culture and socialization, these are affected by socio-cultural factors such as gender, ethnicity, class and age. Children’s perceptions of beauty often differ from those of adults. A sense of what is beautiful or otherwise is based mainly in emotional and sensory responses but also involves cognitive processes and judgements. Unconscious learning by immersion in beautiful environments helps children sense what is beautiful. They benefit from a wide range of opportunities and experiences and time to dwell on these and to re-present them kinaesthetically, visually and using language. While the arts and nature provide particularly fertile opportunities, aesthetic development can occur in most contexts. The role of adults should be more that of facilitator, providing opportunities, encouragement and example, than instructor. Implications for the education of the whole child are considered.

Engaging Nigerian Older Persons in Neighborhood Environment Assessment for Physical Activity Participation: A Citizen Science Project.

Global organizations are advocating that older persons' voices should guide communities in age-friendly design. An important aspect of age friendliness to enable daily function and health is ensuring that physical activity can occur, regardless of age, within local neighborhoods. This study used a specific citizen science approach, Our Voice, to engage a sample (N = 13) of older adults (60 or older) in Festac Town, Nigeria. The citizen scientists' roles were to assess and identify how different aspects of the neighborhood environment act as supports or barriers to their physical activity participation. They were individually enabled using a tablet-based mobile application called the Stanford Healthy Neighborhood Discovery Tool to record a total of 156 geocoded photos and 151 commentaries of neighborhood environmental features that facilitate or hinder physical activity in and around their neighborhoods. In a guided process, the following occurred: collaborative discussions of findings with other citizen scientists to determine common targets, setting of priority targets for change, and brainstorming strategies and solutions. Facilitators of physical activity included: pedestrian and traffic facilities (e.g., traffic lights, walkways); green areas and parks; multigenerational community features (e.g., programs/facilities); opportunities for social connection (e.g., neighborhood associations, churches); safety of destinations and services; and public toilets. Barriers to physical activity included: hazardous walkways/traffic; noise pollution; refuse, selling of public parks; crime (e.g., kidnapping, criminal hideouts); no safe drinking water; and ageism. The priorities for changes were social connectivity; improved pedestrian and traffic facilities; and green and beautiful environments. In this study, both physical and social aspects of the environment were deemed important for older Nigerians to enable physical activity in their local community. This approach has a promise for age-friendly initiatives seeking local changes by meaningfully engaging older adults.

Behind the Bears Ears: Exploring the Cultural and Natural Histories of a Sacred Landscape

Behind the Bears Ears: Exploring the Cultural and Natural Histories of a Sacred Landscape

Determinants of tourists’ willingness to pay for conservation of ecotourism destinations: A case study of Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort, Nigeria

Tourist WTP was estimated using the contingent value method for conservation and protection of Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The Warm Spring is one of Tourist WTP was estimated using the contingent value method for conservation and protection of Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The Warm Spring is one of Nigeria's most beautiful environments, attracting a big number of tourists each year and serving as a significant ecotourism development location. In order to evaluate if demographic characteristics, awareness of natural resource conservation, tourist behavior, motivation, and satisfaction affect WTP, a face-to-face survey employing a questionnaire was done with two groups of tourists, domestic and international visitors to the site. The maximum amount that tourists were willing to pay was computed using the mean and median values. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the factors that influence tourists' WTP. For domestic tourists, the mean and median maximum amount they were willing to pay was US$2.57 and US$2.37 respectively, and for international tourists, US$1.27 and US$1.00. Age, education, income, domicile, and nationality all had an impact on the tourists' WTP, according to the research. It has been suggested that the site's management may use these elements to segment tourists for marketing purposes in order to secure the site's long-term viability.

Does a beautiful environment make food better - The effect of environmental aesthetics on food perception and eating intention

Generally, people prefer to dine in beautiful environments. Previous studies have reported that environmental factors affect an individual's perception of food; however, little is known about the effect of environmental aesthetics on food perception. In Experiment 1, we used photographs of restaurant (1a) or non-restaurant (1b) environments with high or low aesthetic value, paired with images of foods, and participants were asked to rate the visual, olfactory, and gustatory aesthetic value of the food. Results showed significantly higher ratings for food perception in all three sensory modalities in the high aesthetic value environment, together with positive emotion and the desire to eat, compared with the low aesthetic environment. Experiment 2 extended the study to two real-world environments (one high and one low aesthetic value) and actual food consumption. The results also found higher aesthetic ratings in the olfactory and gustatory systems and greater desire to eat again in an environment with high aesthetic value than in an environment with low aesthetic value. This research also explored the mediating role of emotion in the relationship between environmental aesthetics and food perception and found a significant mediating relationship. In conclusion, environmental aesthetics play an important role in food perception, and these findings provide insights into increasing positive food perception in daily life.

AIMING FOR THE ‘GREEN’: (Post)Colonial and Aesthetic Politics in the Design of a Purified Gated Environment

AbstractThis article investigates the politics of the design of a golf‐focused gated community in Gurgaon, India. It considers the aesthetic uses of golf and architecture that go into the production of a purified urban environment to explore the relationship between urban development, environmental aesthetics and spatial purification in contemporary India. I demonstrate how an architectural focus on golf reproduces the ‘distribution of the sensible’ by attempting to delimit the field of view: who and what is seen, and what an individual can or cannot see. I show how golf is political—deeply connected to and inseparable from legacies of colonial environmental and spatial purification and exclusion, as well as contemporary aesthetic‐political regimes that justify spatial segregation, cleansing, and the protection of beautiful environments away from the urban poor. The aesthetic emphasis on a beautified, green and empty environment that characterizes the production of golf highlights the aesthetic terms on which environmental selves are imagined and how environmental images are constructed. This is an aesthetic premised on the creation of shared viewership combined with the power to be(long) in a place where one can be with others but not mixed up with them.

Sport event ecotourism: sustainability of trail racing events in US National Parks

ABSTRACT The growth in sport event tourism to beautiful environments has led to some desirable benefits in many rural destinations, however it can also contribute to over-tourism, which is disadvantageous. This impact can be understood by examining sport event ecotourism – the sustainability and educational practices of events that occur in natural environments. The purpose of this study was to explore the juxtaposition of sport events and ecotourism by using the World Tourism Organization’s (WTO) Sustainability Indicators as a framework. A qualitative approach, using participant observation, semi-structured interviews, visual ethnography and content analysis, was employed to examine the sustainability practices of Vacation Races’ Grand Trailfest, which took place in a rural mountain town in Utah and throughout three national parks in the area. Findings suggest there are additional indicators extending beyond the WTO’s framework: education, literacy, political/special agendas and economic development that will help better identify ecotourism practices of sport events. Contributions to theory and practical implications are discussed.

Interpretation of Natural Deconstruction Trough Pandemic Covid-19 Situation Based on “The Garden of Earthly Prosperity in Ground Zero”

“The Garden of Earthly Prosperity in Ground Zero” is a work of art by Isur Suroso. The painting reflects the story of the Sinom song in the text Babad Diponegoro. This fine art tells the story of Prince Diponegoro when he was raised by his great-grandmother in Tegalrejo Village, Yogyakarta. Tegalrejo Village has a simple community pattern. The beautiful natural environments in Tegalrejo Village are silent witnesses to Prince Diponegoro’s life. This research aims to describe the concept of visual deconstruction with the COVID-19 pandemic situation. This research uses the deconstruction theory of Jacques Derrida. There are forms of deconstruction meaning through the pandemic situation in this painting. The fine art of “The Garden of Earthly Prosperity in Ground Zero” is divided into three parts. These parts in this fine art can reflect normal life conditions before the coronavirus pandemic appeared and reflect life after the coronavirus pandemic hit the world. The middle part of “The Garden of Earthly Prosperity in Ground Zero” interprets normal conditions. Meanwhile, two other parts describe a pandemic situation.

AQUASCAPE MENENANGKAN PIKIRAN DAN MELATIH KREATIVITAS SISWA SMA, KECAMATAN WIYUNG KOTA SURABAYA

Wiyung Subdistrict is part of Surabaya City, once an agricultural area, but now all agricultural land has been developed into a densely populated residential area and shops. The livelihoods of most residents are traders, builders, factory workers, laborers, private employees and teachers. Wiyung which is part of Surabaya City, the second largest Metropolis City in Indonesia, feels the impact of the development of the city. The bad impact is the high pollution both air, soil and water. Air pollution comes from high smoke from motor vehicles and factories. This causes a lack of access to clean and healthy oxygen and a comfortable and beautiful place to stay free from pollution. For this reason, this community service program is implemented with the aim of providing education about a healthy and beautiful environment to residents, especially school age children. School-age children were chosen because they have great opportunities to develop and there are wide open opportunities to hone their skills to create beautiful environments through aquascape design training. Short-term goal is that they have the skills to make Aquascape to add beautiful and comfortable places to live and as a contributor to oxygen in the home environment. The long term goal is that they will be able to develop their business from the hobby of making Aquascape. The target participants of this program are high school students who live in Putri ‘Aisyiyah Orphanage, Wiyung District. At the Orphanage, children do not have activities to fill free time, so this service program is appropriate if it is there. Aquascape making activities are part of fish and plant cultivation activities. From the results of questionnaire questionnaires and direct interviews with the children and caretakers of the institution it was concluded that they were very enthusiastic about aquascape training because it was a new knowledge and experience for them.

The alternatives use of aquatic plants in geopark within approach landscape ecology

In the developed countries which attach importance to the health of their citizens, people are able benefit from the remedial properties of pristine and beautiful natural environments, favorable climate, sunlight, proper and functioning infra- and superstructures, efficient socio-cultural environmental opportunities, and hot mineral waters, in addition to other kinds of supportive care they receive under physician control. This study was conducted to research the aquatic plants that could be grown around the Kursunlu thermal springs located in the Salihli district of Manisa province and to determine the best living environmental conditions for these plants so that the plant species that would have the highest quality of life in the area could be identified. The Kursunlu thermal springs have different properties and qualities in terms of aquatic plants thanks to the geothermal energy present in and around them. In this context, an attempt was made to examine the vegetation of these locations, and Kursunlu thermal springs were selected as the case area for the study. The aim of the study was to improve the quality of life in the thermal springs and to popularize the use of aquatic plants. Taking into consideration the geothermal energy present in and around the study area, the aquatic plants that would be most suitable to include for landscape projects in the area were determined. These plants were then evaluated in terms of their visual properties, and expert opinions were taken regarding their use in landscape projects. This also presented an opportunity into research and gain insight to the level of influence of the natural properties of the area over the plants.

Workplace design and well-being: aesthetic perceptions of hotel employees

ABSTRACTThe study recognizes the lack of a clear theoretical and empirical link between employees’ sense of well-being and hotel design aesthetics, although beautiful environments are associated with optimal human functioning. Drawing on conceptual insights from organizational aesthetics and theory of subjective well-being, this quantitative study explored relationships between workplace design aesthetics, hotel employee subjective well-being and the role of contrast of back- vs. front-of-the-house. Based on cross-sectional data collected from 525 operations-level hotel employees in USA, the study found that backstage employees experience less aesthetic pleasure and report lower levels of well-being than frontstage employees. Design characteristics Unity and Variety positively affect the sense of well-being, while Typicality exhibits a U-type relationship with well-being. The effect of Variety is weaker for back-of-the-house employees. This study is the first attempt to empirically and explicitly connect organizational aesthetics to well-being and identifies a novel way to enhance the well-being of the hospitality workforce.

Analysis of Silk Road Tourism Development (Emphasizing On South Korea)

Abstract . In a research about “formation of Silk Road through security” (Case study: The works and findings of archeology regarding the road from Semnan to Garmsar), K. Niknami and M. Dahpahlavan came up with the following results: Undoubtedly, the governments and merchants have founded precise plans and transaction methods during the history to dominate Silk Road. Silk Road in its route, from the city of Shahroud to Caspi Gates (Eivankey) in Iran was as a narrow natural passageway, limited from the north to Alborz Mountains, and from the south to the Desert (Kavir). Studying historical texts, analyzing the ancient times and analyzing the strategic roles and importance of security in formation of roads, all indicate that natural bases and required facilities should have been provided for the environmental, physical, financial and commercial (transactions) securities for establishing an international connecting route. R. Sorour (2008) found the following results in a research about “Silk Road and its symbolic role in realization of the Islamic nations in the globalization era: Silk Road is the base of the oldest cultural, scientific and commercial exchanges and transactions in the history of East and West, and an effective factor in developing the relations between different nations as well as extending Iranian/Islamic culture. Due to its location within the mentioned cultural centers, the role of Iran is quite important and decisive that by benefiting from thousands of geographical, historical, archeological, scientific, cultural attractions etc. could have a great role in developing historical elaborations of the Islamic world and also realizing the Islamic nations union plan in the globalization era. E.Aliakbari (2012) came across the following results in a book “Iran tourism geography: Desert trips and participating in the tours for old caravans in apparently rough but beautiful environments are among the methods that could revive the desert regions (P: 54, 310).

Neurofunctional correlates of environmental cognition: an FMRI study with images from episodic memory.

This study capitalizes on individual episodic memories to investigate the question, how dif-ferent environments affect us on a neural level. Instead of using predefined environmental stimuli, this study relied on individual representations of beauty and pleasure. Drawing upon episodic memories we conducted two experiments. Healthy subjects imagined pleasant and non-pleasant environments, as well as beautiful and non-beautiful environments while neural activity was measured by using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Although subjects found the different conditions equally simple to visualize, our results revealed more distribut-ed brain activations for non-pleasant and non-beautiful environments than for pleasant and beautiful environments. The additional regions activated in non-pleasant (left lateral prefrontal cortex) and non-beautiful environments (supplementary motor area, anterior cortical midline structures) are involved in self-regulation and top-down cognitive control. Taken together, the results show that perceptual experiences and emotional evaluations of environments within a positive and a negative frame of reference are based on distinct patterns of neural activity. We interpret the data in terms of a different cognitive and processing load placed by exposure to different environments. The results hint at the efficiency of subject-generated representations as stimulus material.

Corpos belos nos ambientes virtuais: estudo por meio da sociologia visual

The beautiful body was always present in the imagination and desire of people who increasingly resort to resources in order to achieve such beauty. Nowadays this beauty is also sought in the construction of avatars and virtual environments seems to contaminate. Therefore, we conducted a study aiming to investigate these beautiful environments, represented by avatars in the game Second Life. As a methodological proposal investigated 28 people in eight different environments. In analyzing the data we chose to use visual sociology. The main results we find the construction of avatars with physical attributes desired by our current society, in which women seek to explore the sensuality and the physical force men. These results led us to conclude that physical standards can be worshiped widely found in these environments.

Growing community: A case for hybrid landscapes

Hybrid landscapes are community landscapes. They are generated by combining two place-making processes: the ways that traditional public parks and streets are designed and maintained, and the acts of small-scale appropriation and embellishment that lead to the diversity and richness of front and backyards in residential neighbourhoods. Hybrid landscapes facilitate environmental communication between the community and individuals, and strengthen community sentiment by serving as mechanisms for the propagation of valued neighbourhood qualities that are threatened by redevelopment. In that context, the paper discusses neighbourhoods as familiar, restorative, memorable and beautiful environments. A community greenway, a model hybrid landscape, is described as an example, and rules for making such landscapes are explained.

A Student Bible Study Group

IN THE LAST few years there has certainly been a marked increase in the study of the Bible among groups of students everywhere throughout the world that the influence of the World Student Christian Federation can be said to have reached. Many campuses here in America are seeking to give a more prominent place to the study of the Bible in their religious activities. As a student who spent her junior year of college abroad and her senior year on the campus of Smith College, I am able to tell you a little about the study of the Bible among students that I knew abroad and about one repercussion of this world movement in an American student group. If I should take you with me to four places in which I had an opportunity of studying the Bible with students in foreign countries I think you would understand quite clearly the origins and purposes of our little group at Smith. I shall begin therefore by taking you to Goldern, Switzerland, where the World's Student Christian Federation Conference of 1938 is in session. Resting on chairs and on the grass, in an informal circle, we are studying the Bible in one of the most beautiful environments that I have ever known, the side of a hill overlooking a deep Alpine Valley and facing the snowy peaks above the Rosenlaui glacier. Our leader is a French theologian who has since felt it his duty to take up arms for his country. He is carefully going over each verse of the passage in John which we are studying, helping us to understand a little of the background known generally only to the true scholar and at the same time drawing us into a discussion of the deeper meanings of the lines. There are fifteen or twenty members of this group, among them a New Zealander studying at the Sorbonne, a young teacher at a mission school in Transjordan, a French boy and girl from Strassburg, an English pastor, an Australian student and a Latvian. We are all studying in French and, despite occasional passionate outbursts into English when the difficulties of the French tongue cramp too much the expression of our convictions (if we are not French), we manage pretty well to make ourselves understood. To many of us who have not been to a World Student Christian Federation Conference before, never has the Bible seemed so worth careful study and so provocative of thought. We are discovering the common bond of Christian truth and fellowship. Our scene changes to Paris where we are joining a group of French students. They are assembled for their weekly meeting in a second floor apartment of the little Rue Jean de Beauvas just behind the Sorbonne. A raucously gay crowd they are, indeed, all milling about in the small hallway so that they can shout Bonjours to late arrivals and compare news of the week's events, while their President and Presidente, shouting loudest of all, try to corral them into little groups of ten to fifteen for study. Withdrawing into separate rooms, each group after a brief prayer plunges into an hour and a half's study of this week's passage in Acts. Most everyone has brought with him a printed list of questions prepared ahead of time by the leaders. He has studied the passage and can enter readily into the discussion. Over the pages of our common source-book the numerous foreign students grow to understand and to feel themselves a part of the French group. After the meeting is over all the students come together to sing without aid of a piano hymns from the Cantate Domine of the Federation, to reread the passagestudied, and for prayer. The meaning for us of this group you would