Design Of Physical Environment Research Articles

Role Of Cities in NCD Prevention and Management: A Qualitative Research Study among Doctors

Background: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases are major global health concerns, surpassing the mortality rates of communicable diseases. These conditions pose significant challenges to global development, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where two-thirds of NCD-related deaths occur. In Pakistan, NCDs account for nearly 25% of all fatalities. The prevention of NCDs requires continuous lifestyle modifications, and evidence suggests that the physical environment and urban design play crucial roles in influencing health behaviors and outcomes. Objective: This study aimed to assess doctors' perspectives on the role of cities in the prevention and management of NCDs in Pakistan, and to identify barriers and enablers to the development of healthy city policies. Methods: This descriptive exploratory study employed a qualitative approach, conducted at various private hospitals in the Twin Cities. A purposive sample of approximately 20 doctors from medical units and outpatient departments participated in focus group discussions (FGDs). Data were collected using a semi-structured interview guide, and the FGDs were audio-recorded with participants' consent. Thematic analysis was performed to identify major themes and subthemes related to the role of urban environments in NCD prevention and management. Results: Participants recognized the importance of physical activity, healthy environments, and lifestyle modifications in preventing NCDs. Key barriers to physical activity included socio-cultural norms, environmental limitations, and political/legislative challenges. Facilitators included individual willpower, health-seeking behavior, supportive policies, and perceived benefits. Poor air quality and the lack of green spaces were significant contributors to the increased prevalence of NCDs. Participants emphasized the need for government intervention to improve urban infrastructure, promote physical activity, and enhance public health initiatives. Conclusion: Well-planned cities can significantly reduce the burden of NCDs by addressing modifiable risk factors. Governments must prioritize the development of infrastructure that promotes physical activity, improves air quality, and increases access to green spaces. Comprehensive multisectoral strategies are essential to combat the rising threat of NCDs, particularly in rapidly urbanizing areas.

Preparing students for the future: multidisciplinary perspectives on pedagogical activities and their spatial embeddedness

ABSTRACTTo implement educational transformations that prepare young people for the future society, it is valuable to deepen scientific understanding of socio-cultural, psychic, and physical aspects of learning environments. Towards that end, in this case study we examined educators’ and construction specialists’ perceptions of pedagogical activities and how design of physical learning environments intends to reciprocally support those activities in the context of constructing a new school building during the national renewal of general upper secondary schools in Finland. The study relied on multidisciplinary interviews (n = 22), observations and outcomes of participatory workshops, teachers’ free-form notes on benchmarking visits to recently occupied learning environments, and the operational requirements and goals that architects had prepared for the new building. Our analysis resulted in a framework comprising spatio-pedagogically interrelated themes of collaboration and community building, teaching and learning transversal competencies, supporting students’ wellbeing and inclusion, and digital instruments and technologies in support of teaching and learning. The results appear to indicate that pedagogical activities and their spatial embeddedness would have interrelations when constructing new learning environments that aim at collaborative knowledge creation, creative problem-solving, and teaching practices that build on the learners’ knowledge and active roles in learning.

Child-friendly environments in vertical schools: A qualitative study from the child's perspective

Vertical schools are becoming more common in Australia and around the world. However, we have a limited understanding of this school typology and how it operates, particularly from children's perspective. Vertical schools often manage to support formal games in their gyms or run educational tours in their neighbourhood, but this is a limited perspective on environmental provision for child-friendly schools. This research aimed to explore children's perspectives on the nature of spaces they preferred in these schools, and the problems they faced in this school typology that could be regulated by physical environment design. Using a socio-ecological framework, this participatory qualitative study completed 24 walking tours with 8–13-year-old children across three Australian vertical schools to identify multiple characteristics of child-friendly environments in this school type. The findings indicated children's preference for terraces to access the outdoors, and hubs to foster their connection to the school community. The major problems they faced included vertical movement, noise pollution, and overcrowding of corridors and staircases. Considering the limited footprint, children appreciated the availability of varied space types in this school typology, although their access was strictly programmed and supervised. The findings inform school design and school policy of the nature of child-friendly environments that should be valued in vertical schools.

Using a Data Mining Method to Explore Strategies for Improving the Social Interaction Environment Quality of Urban Neighborhood Open Spaces

With the intensification of population aging and the increasing awareness of public health protection in the post-epidemic era, the renewal of the old urban community neighborhood space is facing many new challenges and problems. Neighborhood Public Open Space (POS) is the main place for people to carry out various social activities in community life. The quality of the social interaction environment that a neighborhood POS can provide can have a vital impact on people’s well-being, as well as their physical and mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify and clarify the key physical environmental design attributes/features of the old urban community neighborhood POS, and to explore the relationship between them from the perspective of creating a high-quality social environment. Through the investigation of relevant cases in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China, the classification performance of each case on the key physical and environmental elements is used as the conditional attribute, and the quality of the social interaction environment in the current situation of each case is used as the decision making attribute to conduct a data mining analysis. Using rough set theory, this study screened out four important elements: greenbelt form planning (C1); ped and bike system (C2); space organization and zoning planning (C6); Public facilities (C8). Moreover, this study also presents a set of hierarchical decision rules to describe the classification status of the matching physical environmental design elements when the social interaction environment reaches a high quality in the neighborhood POS. This study provides local policy makers with key current situation assessment and diagnostic tools in urban-built environmental renewal projects. The results of this study can help designers draw up the renovation design plans of neighborhood POS on the basis of efficiently obtaining the practical experience of relevant cases, and then create a high-quality social interaction environment.

Culturally based learning needs of Korowai students in a lowland-remote area of Indonesian Papua: school physical environment and building design

AbstractThis study explored the culturally based learning needs of Korowai students living in a lowland-remote area in Papua to address the question of how education in this part of Indonesia could be inclusive and engaging for indigenous students and their community. Case study was selected as it has potential to reveal detailed structured information and in-depth description of people and their experiences within a particular location, time and socio-political circumstance. The case study school was purposively chosen, due to its uniqueness of being situated in a remote, hunter-gatherer community that only recently began to modernise. School physical environment and building design was one of the identified themes that emerged in the case study school. This theme included some sub-themes, namely (1) the school building design, (2) forest as the school’s physical environment, and (3) school garden and animal husbandry. The Korowai students brought social and cultural capital and expectations to their local school that differed from those of traditional Indonesian school expectations and presented different learning needs. How the local school and teachers responded to these varied expectations and learning needs also differed and revealed further needs for differentiation in education. These points of differentiation include needs in their physical environment: to build some classrooms in the style of Korowai treehouse dwellings and to replant forest and food trees close to the school to provide students with a sense of cultural connection and school belonging.

Optimization of underground open intermediary space comfort in TOD complexes: A case study of Chongqing, China.

Rapid urbanization drives social development, but at the same time brings sustainable development Rapid urbanization drives social development, but at the same time brings sustainable development advantages of expanding underground space and relieving urban traffic congestion. High quality TOD complexes with natural elements in the intermediary space have been considered as one of the important means to address sustainable urban development. Nevertheless, intermediary spaces in TOD complexes face various challenges, such as significant contradictory factors in their physical environment spaces. This study classifies the underground open intermediary space into four types according to the characteristics of TOD complexes. And for these four types'Cthe physical environment-generated by various influencing factors of planar geometric, three-dimensional geometric, and detailed construction elements-is simulated using a numerical simulation method based on a static Taguchi experiment. The results demonstrate that space shape is a primary influencing factor for luminous and thermal environments; the window-atrium ratio (W/A ratio) and hole-atrium ratio (H/A ratio) comprise contradictory factors between the luminous and thermal environments of these spaces; profile inclination angle and sunken plaza height are primary impact factors for the acoustic environment; and skylight type has minimal influence on the physical environment. On average, their luminous and acoustic environment comfort can be improved by 200%; whereas, their thermal environment comfort can be improved by 21% and the potential for optimizing it in their shallow space (underground space depth ≤ 10 m) is relatively low. Subsequently, the necessity of comfort optimization as the passive optimization design of underground open intermediary spaces' physical environment in TOD complexes in the future is discussed. Finally, the feasible path and prospect of how to improve the livability and comfort of the spatial physical environment of TOD complexes are discussed and prospected.

What a cool classroom! Voices of 5-year-olds on the design of physical learning environments

Although early childhood physical learning environments are designed and organized almost entirely by adults, it is the children whose learning is affected. This exploratory study examined voices of 198 Israeli preschoolers regarding their physical learning environments (96 girls, middle socio-economic-status, mean-age 65.15 months, SD = 4.5; Israeli preschool settings encompass children aged 3–5). The study investigated preschoolers’ perceptions and preferences regarding the design and affordance of their physical learning environment and their ability to express and rationalize these preferences based on interviews conducted using the Photograph-Interview with Children (PIC) instrument, incorporating children's photography of their own preschools and examining photographs of other preschools. The findings from the interviews were analyzed using multilevel modeling analyses testing the effect of gender, non-verbal intelligence, and receptive language. Findings indicated that preschoolers have preferences regarding their physical learning environment and can verbally express, explain, and rationalize their opinions. The study mainly revealed gender-related differences in the participants' preferences: While girls significantly preferred the Home Themed Role-Play Center, boys expressed a significant preference for the Construction Center. Moreover, participants perceived their classroom design as contributing to social interaction more than to well-being and knowledge. Girls perceived their classroom design as contributing to knowledge and a sense of well-being significantly more than boys. The data analysis revealed those learning centers in which the children demonstrated a lack of interest—the Display Boards and the Science and Nature Center. These findings underscore the importance of preschoolers' voices and of the PIC instrument when designing learning environments.

Learning from the Magic Kingdom

People interact in and with environments. Information in the environment influences how we perceive places and informs what we understand we can and cannot do. For most of our history, the environments we have interacted in were strictly physical. But starting in the 20th Century, we have also started interacting in and with digital environments. We use environmental information to build internal models that allow us to act skillfully toward accomplishing our goals. These internal models are easier to develop if the environment is organized in understandable ways. By studying the design of physical environments, designers can produce digital environments that are easier to understand and navigate. This article offers insights from a specific physical environment: Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California.

Earthquake Response for Students with Different Severe Degrees of Disabilities: An Investigation of the Special Education Classes in Primary Schools in Taipei.

Taipei has been ranked as the most vulnerable city to a wider combination of risks. Although the Special Education Law addresses the consideration of disaster preparedness for students with disabilities enrolling in Special Education Schools, more attention needs to be given to the far larger number of students with disabilities enrolling in normal schools. These schools need to consider the care for students with different types and severe degrees of disabilities. The aim of the research is to investigate challenges of earthquake preparation and response for students with different severe degrees of disabilities who enrol in the special education classes in general primary schools. The objectives of the research include the following: (1) investigating the challenges and requirements for support of students with different severe degrees of disabilities; (2) examining the need and support for students with different degrees of disabilities during the earthquake response process; and (3) exploring the best practice in the curriculum building for students with different severity of disabilities. The purposive sampling was used to select four primary schools in Taipei as participant groups in the research. The research team used semi-structured interviews to interview eight participants: one special education class teacher and one administrator of each school were invited. Findings include the following: (1) ensuring the appropriate design of physical environment for earthquake response in schools, including rapid response, evacuation, and assembly points for students with different severe degrees of disabilities; (2) proposing suitable staff to student ratio to be planned for the response phase; (3) identifying the appropriate individualised curriculum and learning objectives to suit students with different severe degrees of disabilities.

A Hybrid Multiple-Attribute Decision-Making Model for Evaluating the Esthetic Expression of Environmental Design Schemes

A built environment with high-quality esthetic expression can positively contribute to key agendas of urban development. Environmental design is the design of physical environments that mainly respond to people’s behavioral needs and sensory preferences based on environment–behavior relations. Practitioners in this industry often work on esthetic quality improvement. Although previous studies have provided valuable knowledge about important elements of built environment esthetic expression, limited research efforts have been devoted to building a systematic framework that comprises key evaluation elements with high local adaptability and the influence relationships among them. The standards and preferences of esthetic expression in environmental design scheme evaluation are context-based. Providing an effective way to clarify evaluation elements with high local adaptability and the relationships among them may help reduce ambiguity, enhance consensus, and increase efficiency in the decision-making process. Therefore, this study adopted the esthetic expression evaluation of environmental design in China as an example and produced a hybrid decision analysis model by integrating the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM), exploratory factor analysis (EFA), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to evaluate the esthetic expression of environmental design schemes. A hierarchical evaluation framework composed of 5 dimensions and 18 evaluation elements was constructed in this study. The key design elements under each dimension and the influence relationships among them were also identified. This paper offers insights into the theoretical investigation and practical development of a systematic evaluation of the esthetic expression of environmental design schemes.

The effects of physical environment design on the dimensions of emotional well-being: a qualitative study from the perspective of design and retail managers

PurposeThis study aims to use place identity theory to examine the concept of physical environment design (PED) and its effects on consumers’ emotional well-being (EWB) dimensions such as sensorium, behaviour and happiness.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a qualitative approach. Thirty interviews were conducted among participants drawn from the city of London, which is one of the flourishing and world’s most famous international trade centre, providing paramount access to the global market. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsThe findings suggest that PED is defined precisely using the terms like atmosphere, appealing, attractive, impressing, inviting, ambient, compelling and design cues. The findings also suggest that PED has a positive effect on consumers’ sensorium, behaviour and happiness. However, these effects are lower when the retail stores have unwelcoming themes than when they have mesmerising PED. The different names can also be advantageous, specifically when online shopping dominates today’s retail industry. The findings also illustrate that the theoretical model used in this study is valid and suggest that PED has positive effects on consumers’ sensorium, behaviour and happiness.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, while other authors tried to identify the effect of PED on consumers buying behaviour, this study is the first one to show how PED effects consumers’ sensorium, behaviour and happiness. The results of personal interviews highlight the importance of design elements and a gap in the application of novel elements to improve consumers’ sensorium, behaviour and happiness.

Physical environmental designs in residential care to improve quality of life of older people.

Physical environmental designs in residential care to improve quality of life of older people.

Spatial distribution of crimes in urban areas: An insight from Sri Lanka

Similar to other Asian countries, it is forecasted that the urban population in Sri Lanka will continue to increase at an accelerating rate and the majority will be living in urban areas by 2022. Urban crime which is a major challenge that cities face is assumed to spread with the increasing population. They are clustered geographically generating a substantial economic struggle. The related theories argue that criminal opportunity is the root cause of crime and physical environmental design makes an influence on the criminal opportunity. Therefore, a need of identifying how the built environment and different land uses become an opportunity and make an impact on the spatial distribution of urban crimes is evident. This study aims to do a hotspot analysis within the Colombo Municipal Council Area, Sri Lanka to identify the spatial relationship of urban crimes with different land uses. The data on 627 crime incidents occurred in 2018 were obtained from crime records of police stations in Colombo North, South and Central police divisions and were analyzed using Kernel Density Estimation in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software. As per study findings, seven wards were identified as crime hotspots. Further, findings reveal that robbery and drug arrest incidents are common around low-income residential housing areas while property theft records are common around hospitals, cinemas and concentrated commercial areas. Vehicle thefts are often recorded near lakes, offices and playgrounds whereas housebreakings are recorded near housing schemes. Finally, implications to mitigate these impacts were also presented. Keywords: crime types, GIS, land use, spatial distribution, Sri Lanka, urban crime

The psychological impact of COVID-19 quarantine on children, and the role of parental support and physical environment design

Coronavirus disease 2019 is a contagious infection that caused a global lockdown and affected children who needed to stay home. There is a lack of knowledge about the role of parental stress and physical environment design on children’s mental wellbeing in quarantine. We hypothesis that COVID-19 quarantine affected child mental health, and that paternal stress or support, and child physical environment including household space, colors, sunlight exposure, and natural views, impacted child mental wellbeing in the quarantine. To assess the effect of quarantine on a child’s mental health, an online survey was administered globally through scientific organizations and social media. Those over 18 years old, and guardians of children were asked to participate in the survey. The survey was filled by 114 guardians from 31 countries. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Most participants experienced stress in the quarantine and reported child anxiety symptoms including focus reduction, sleeping difficulties, and appetite changes. Family fun activities and encouraging words, were mostly successful in reducing child anxiety. Reporting anxiety symptoms in children were more common in parents who had mental hardships compared to those who did not experience mental problems or had an improved mental status. Physical environment assessment showed that households with bright walls associated with fewer reports of child mental problems compared to households with neutral wall colors, and that most guardians thought that their children’s living space was not sufficient to play and study. Architects can provide evidence-based recommendations for customers to support children’s mental health.

Emotional Responses to the Visual Patterns of Urban Streets: Evidence from Physiological and Subjective Indicators.

Despite recent progress in the research of people’s emotional response to the environment, the built—rather than natural—environment’s emotional effects have not yet been thoroughly examined. In response to this knowledge gap, we recruited 26 participants and scrutinized their emotional response to various urban street scenes through an immersive exposure experiment using virtual reality. We utilized new physiological monitoring technologies that enable synchronized observation of the participants’ electroencephalography, electrodermal activity, and heart rate, as well as their subjective indicators. With the newly introduced measurement for the global visual patterns of the built environment, we built statistical models to examine people’s emotional response to the physical element configuration and color composition of street scenes. We found that more diverse and less fragmented scenes inspired positive emotional feelings. We also found (in)consistency among the physiological and subjective indicators, indicating a potentially interesting neural−physiological interpretation for the classic form−function dichotomy in architecture. Besides the practical implications on promoting physical environment design, this study combined objective physiology-monitoring technology and questionnaire-based research techniques to demonstrate a better approach to quantify environment−emotion relationships.

Influence of Building Performance Simulation on Architectural and Urban Design Processes – A Teaching Study

<p>氣候環境變遷快速以及建築技術發達，為了適應建築環境日趨複雜化，需要運用資訊科技工具來拉近建築設計與真實環境之間的距離。本教學設計案例主要探討電腦輔助設計—環境模擬工具，輔助建築及都市設計，以環境與效能分析來思考設計策略與方法，整合建築環境資訊及參數式設計應用，強調物理環境與建築設計之間的邏輯思維。本系「物理環境模擬」課程指導學生使用Grasshopper外掛軟體Ladybug & Honeybee進行環境模擬與分析，並配合設計課題目協助學生基地的環境分析及設計方法，使學生在設計過程中即逐步整合設計形式與功能性，促使數位造型設計的成果更具有說服力，訓練學生以設計解決環境問題、強化環境特色，同時培養學生數位工具的觀念與技術。</p> <p> </p><p>With the rapid changes of the climatic environment and the development of building technologies, building environments are becoming more and more complicated. Information technology tools are required to narrow down the gape with the real environment. This teaching study mainly explores an area of Computer Aided Design with Environmental Simulation Plugins to aid architectural and urban design. By integrating with building information and parametric design, design strategies and methods are developed based on environmental and performance analysis, emphasizing logical thinking between physical environment and architectural design. The Building Performance Simulation course at our department teaches students the use of the simulation plugin Ladybug and Honeybee for Grasshopper. By pairing this course with design topic, students should learn how to further analyze a building site and include these tools in their design method. Students are expected to gradually integrate form and function during the design process, thereby making their digital form design more convincing. The course trains students to both solve existing environmental problems and emphasize environmental characteristics, while at same time fostering students to understand the concepts and skills of parametric design.</p> <p> </p>

Architecture and Mental Disorders: A Systematic Study of Peer-Reviewed Literature.

To perform a systematic study about the contribution of architecture and interior design researchers in studying the effect of physical environment on mental disorders. Mental disorders are a major health problem worldwide and related to severe distress, functional disabilities, and heavy economical burdens. Studies propose that physical environment design can trigger or reduce mental disorder symptoms. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the extent of architectural design research contribution to all types of mental disorder prevention or intervention. A team of cross-disciplinary researchers gathered information from peer-reviewed manuscripts about the effect of architectural design on enhancing or reducing mental disorder symptoms. Data were collected from manuscripts published between 2008 and 2020 (research related to the topic became clearer in quality and quantity then). Keywords including architecture, interior design, physical environment, and mental disorders were used in the systematic search. Databases were collected using online resources. Numerical data collected from quantitative studies were organized in tables. Our data showed that there were a lot of studies about dementia and autism; few studies about schizophrenia, anxiety, stress-related disorders, and depressive disorders; and no studies about the rest of the mental disorders. General environment followed by housing facility design were the most assessed physical environments for mental disorders. As all mental disorders can have a significant impact on the society, we conclude that architectural studies should focus more on improving or preventing the symptoms of all types of mental disorders through the design of physical environments.

Experimental Study of the Classical Music and Light Intensity Effect on the Heart Rate of the Readers (A Case Study in Industrial Engineering Library, Diponegoro University)

This paper aims at determining the effect of music and light intensity on heart rate and perceptions of visitors in Industrial Engineering Library, analyzing the performance of users in various treatment conditions and by doing so, providing recommendations for the right combination of treatments to increase concentration and increase the level of relaxation. It proves a better performance of the students when they work in better physical environment design, especially in the library. Based on preliminary studies, it is indicated that the Industrial Engineering Library (IEL) needs re-engineering of the light and sound condition. The library room does not inline with the Head of National Library of Indonesia's rules, number 13 of 2017, about the national standard of college libraries for lighting condition. Besides, about 90.2% of students feel the classical music increases comfort and concentration in reading activities. The research data was collected by recording 24 respondents' heart rate and processed by experimental design using SPSS software. The result provides recommendations from the human physical aspect by selecting the treatment to achieve the highest performance. An additional questionnaire with a Likert scale was disseminated to measure the respondents' perceptions. The results showed that the interaction of 200-600 lux lighting and classical music variables was the best treatment to achieve the highest performance.

Swipe Inwards

Infrastructures of accessibility have a significant impact on people’s sensory experience of privacy, autonomy, and security in a psychiatric hospital. This is the case for patients and staff. Through an examination of the material and social interactions that staff and patients have at four inpatient psychiatric units, we have identified some of the affective aspects of using a variety of technologies. From locked and alarmed doors, to swipe cards, keys, and individual wristbands used to allow secure access and privacy within the units, each of these infrastructures afford different and sometimes paradoxical experiences. Through this analysis of the ways in which the embodied experiences of accessibility exist in relation to the interior technicities, this article discusses some of the implications for the design and use of physical environments that are dedicated to care, specifically, for psychiatric wellbeing.

Lockdown urbanism: COVID-19 lifestyles and liveable futures opportunities in Wuhan and Manchester

ABSTRACT Based on the authors’ personal experiences, this commentary discusses contrasting urban contexts and lockdown measures in twinned cities Wuhan, China and Manchester, UK, to examine spatial reach under COVID-19 restrictions in both places. Focusing on latency, the capacity of space to fit new occupation patterns and uses, the role of architecture and urban design is considered, to identify lessons applicable to physical and digital environment design, in scales and media that can absorb shock, supporting flexible, creative resilient approaches and patterns of future liveability. With massive externally induced change, what stays, what shifts, what disappears? This paper considers spatial adaptability, spatial resilience in two comparative, yet different contexts to identify design-based questions and propose thematic responses addressing resilient liveable future urbanism. This reflects on the similarities and differences between lockdown in China and the UK, the concept of mental as well as physical lockdown and how this has played out in these two countries.