Environmental Quality Factors Research Articles

Development of a Building Evaluation Framework for Biophilic Design in Architecture

Biophilic design has gained prominence in architecture as a strategy to integrate natural elements into built environments, aiming to improve human comfort, well-being, and environmental sustainability. This paper critically reviews existing biophilic design frameworks, identifying gaps in their integration of health outcomes and the relationship between indoor and outdoor environments, with a primary focus on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors such as air quality, natural light, thermal comfort, and acoustics. The review was conducted systematically, comparing frameworks using criteria such as health benefits, human–nature connections, and user satisfaction. Key findings highlight a lack of comprehensive frameworks that explicitly link biophilic design to measurable improvements in human health, comfort, and satisfaction. To address this gap, the study proposes an enhanced biophilic design framework that bridges IEQ-focused indoor environments with urban outdoor elements, prioritizing human comfort alongside environmental sustainability. The framework also emphasizes the role of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) in assessing the real-world performance of biophilic interventions, particularly in achieving user satisfaction and ensuring long-term effectiveness. This research contributes to the advancement of biophilic design by offering actionable strategies for architects, urban planners, and policymakers to adopt biophilic principles that create resilient, healthy, and sustainable spaces. Additionally, the study emphasizes the need for empirical testing and validation of the proposed framework, including POE and user surveys, to assess its real-world impact on human well-being and satisfaction, thus setting the stage for future research.

The effects of acoustic-light-thermal environment quality parameters on pedestrians’ overall comforts in residential districts

This study explored subjective responses towards various environmental quality parameters. It would be helpful to approach an overall comfort improvement relating to physics. In order to investigate the combined effects of sound, light and heat on the overall comfort of pedestrians, which could be evaluated by overall comfort vote, two residential areas in Yubei District, Chongqing (a Cfa city in China) were selected for field measurements and questionnaires. Three were three key findings were concluded based on subjective responses to environmental parameters via multiple linear regression. First, the average outdoor neutral temperature, mean neutral sound level and neutral illumination intensity were determined to be 26.6 °C (determined by physiologically equivalent temperature), 56.5 dBA (determined by A-weighted equivalent continuous sound level) and 21.4 klx (determined by LUX), respectively. Second, considering the effects of both physiology and psychology, thermal perceptions varied for acoustic and light environments. Residents partially had lower neutral temperatures at the noisy condition. Third, environmental quality factors had a significant effect on overall comfort. Positive correlation between physiologically equivalent temperature and overall comfort vote was found (sig < 0.000); while the effects of sound pressure and light intensity were not always significant. Hence, thermal stress played a significant role in people’s overall comfort. This study has explored the effects of three environment quality parameters on human perceptions. It provided better understanding against dwellers’ feelings under complex circumstances. Future urban design and planning works should consider the cooling factors regarding contextual acoustical and visual environments.

Ecological assessment and driver analysis of high vegetation cover areas based on new remote sensing index

Ecosystem degradation and decline are central issues that urgently require resolution within global environmental protection efforts. Accordingly, accurately analyzing the spatiotemporal evolution of regional ecological environmental quality and exploring its natural and anthropogenic driving factors of ecological environmental quality are crucial for protecting regional ecological environments and advancing sustainable development strategies. Therefore, this study created a new remote sensing ecological index to investigate the patterns of ecological quality change in vegetation-covered areas over a long time series and identified the intensity and local response relationships of various driving factors, including climate, topography, soil, and urbanization. The results revealed an upward trend in the ecological quality of the Heilongjiang region, with a high degree of spatial autocorrelation in ecological quality. The ecological grades in forest-covered areas significantly surpassed those in other vegetated, urban, and desert regions. Through a collaborative analysis of various geographical statistical methods, the intensities of the driving factors and their local response relationships were determined. This study provides a method for accurately and rapidly assessing regional ecological environmental quality and exploring the complex interactions of driving factors, thus offering a theoretical basis for monitoring regional-scale ecological conditions, balancing ecological and economic development, and informing environmental protection policies.

Evaluation of natural ageing of alkyd paints used for wood protection

Wood, a versatile material, has been increasingly used in house building. The protection and beautification of wooden components used in houses and other constructions are achieved by the use of coating products. Choosing the right coating system is very important both to protect wooden surfaces against deterioration and to maintain their appearance for as long as possible following the formation of varnish and paint films. Thus, when choosing a coating product, one should consider the climate in the location where it is used and its impact on human health and the quality of environmental factors. Four commercially available coating products containg alkyd-acrylic, alkyd with Teflon, ureo-alkyd and alkyd were assessed in our research. One or two coats were applied on fir wood plates and exposed in four different climatic areas for 18 months. The films were assessed after 6, 12 and 18 months, respectively, by various techniques: thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), water contact angle measurement and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) - attenuated total reflection (ATR-FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM).The best performance was noted with the hybrid formulation containing water-based alkyd-acrylic resins.

The technological assessment of green buildings using artificial neural networks

This study aims to construct a comprehensive evaluation model for efficiently assessing appropriate technologies within green buildings. Initially, an Internet of Things (IoT)-based environmental monitoring system is devised and implemented to collect real-time environmental parameters both inside and outside the building. To evaluate the technical suitability of green buildings, this study employs a multifaceted approach encompassing various criteria, including energy efficiency, environmental impact, economic benefits, user comfort, and sustainability. Specifically, it involves real-time monitoring of environmental parameters, analysis of energy consumption data, and indoor environmental quality indicators derived from user satisfaction surveys. Subsequently, a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) is selected as a conventional artificial neural network (ANN) model, while a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model is chosen as an advanced recurrent neural network model in the realm of deep learning. These models are utilized to process and explore the collected data and assess the technical suitability of green buildings. The dataset comprises physical quantities such as temperature, humidity, and light intensity, as well as economic indicators including energy efficiency and building operating costs. Furthermore, the assessment process considers the building's life cycle assessment and indoor environmental quality factors such as health, comfort, and safety. By incorporating these comprehensive criteria, a holistic evaluation of green building technologies is achieved, ensuring the selected technologies' suitability and effectiveness. The model prediction results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid evaluation model exhibits high accuracy and robust stability in predicting building environmental parameters. For instance, the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) for temperature prediction is 1.2 °C, the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) is 0.9 °C, and the determination coefficient (R2) reaches 0.95. Similarly, for humidity prediction, the RMSE, MAE, and R2 are 3.5 %, 2.8 %, and 0.88. Compared to the traditional MLP and LSTM models alone, the proposed hybrid model shows significant improvements in predicting building energy consumption, with approximately 15 % and 12 % reductions in RMSE and MAE, respectively, and an increase in R2 values of approximately 7 percentage points. These findings indicate that by amalgamation of the IoT and ANNs, this study successfully establishes a comprehensive model for accurately assessing technologies suitable for green buildings. This approach offers a novel perspective and methodology for the design and evaluation of green buildings.

Możliwy związek między eksploatacją lasów a emisją gazów cieplarnianych w Rumunii w latach 2008-2020

The increasingly obvious impact of climate change, in recent decades, has produced numerous negative effects and a series of measures have been imposed for reducing the emissions and for adaption to climate change. Forestry activities try to find a balance between adapting forest regeneration practices to the needs imposed by climate change. Two important economic activities: Forestry and logging and the second one the Wood processing and manufacturing play an important role on the quality of environmental factors in general and on greenhouse gas emissions in particular. CO2, CH4, N2O resulting from wood processing activities were used in this paper to evaluate the possible correlation between these emissions and the volume of extracted wood. The data were collected by the National Institute of Statistics during 2008-2020. The volume of extracted wood varies between 16,704 thousand cubic meters in 2008 and 19,652 thousand cubic meters in 2020, the analyzed period average being 18,218 thousand cubic meters. The CO2 emissions from Wood processing and manufacturing are significantly higher than the CO2 emissions from Forestry and logging, for example in 2008 the emissions from the first source were 230 thousand cubic meters compared to only 28 thousand cubic meters from the second source. The analysis of CH4 and N2O emissions shows that the two activities have relatively the same impact on air quality. Until now, there have been extensive studies on Romanian forestry activities from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, but it is important to observe the link between the volume of wood extracted and the emissions of greenhouse gases.

The parameter of the Sick Building Syndrome: A systematic literature review

Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is a collection of symptoms assumed to be related to spending time in a certain building, most typically a workplace, but no specific cause has been identified. The need to measure and assess various types of parameters of SBS is crucial and it is important to explore what parameter has been used in the previous studies of SBS. Therefore, this study aims to systematically review the parameter that has been used to monitor the SBS. This study was conducted using the PRISMA Statement and the search was conducted using two scientific databases which were Scopus and Web of Science. After a thorough and tight process, a total of 55 articles have been finalized and selected for thematic analysis. Two themes have been identified which were a) Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and b) Occupant. This study also found that the spatial distribution pattern revealed that the Sick Building Syndrome research was spread over 26 nations, with the majority of articles originating from the United States and China. In terms of context, the majority of the selected publications employed the survey approach to investigate SBS parameters. Aside from that, the most researched form of building is the business building. This study has found that it would be more impactful for the SBS study if researchers could incorporate both indoor environmental quality and occupant factors into a study, resulting in more holistic conclusions.

Comparative Study of Environmental Qualities of Urban Spaces in New Shopping Malls and Traditional Bazaars Case Study: &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Kourosh&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; Mall and &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Kaffashha&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; Bazaar in Tehran

Throughout history, urban spaces have always been one of the important elements of the city. While having the social and cultural values of the society, they are a place for carrying out various activities that connect the members of the society with each other. They also provide opportunities for recreation. The more these spaces are built in accordance with the local culture and have a higher environmental quality, the more people tend to attend, be active and spend their free time there, and as a result, the vitality in the society improves. On the other hand, the lack of urban space or the lack of attention to the environmental qualities will reduce the sense of attachment and presence of people in these spaces, which will itself lead to the degradation of social relations. In urban settlements before modernism, public spaces such as squares and bazaars were used as arenas for social communication. In the process of modernization, the role of these places as urban space was diminished and new shopping malls have replaced them today. This research seeks to compare the environmental qualities of urban space in new shopping malls and traditional bazaars. The research is applied in terms of purpose and analytical-descriptive and comparative in terms of method. In order to achieve the goal of the research, the theoretical concepts were first studied and environmental quality factors were extracted. Then, with the technique of observation and photography, the extracted factors were checked in Kourosh mall and Kaffashha traditional bazaar. The results show that although shopping malls are derived from western societies and do not fit with Iranian culture, but due to the facilities they provide to the people, they have a more favorable condition in most of the factors examined in this research and have been more welcomed by people as urban space.

Sustainability of Housing Conditions in Rural Kerala

Housing being an important component of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development is an essential driver in achieving sustainable development goals directly or indirectly. Adequate and affordable housing leads to benefits in health, education and economic opportunities. “Adequate housing means more than a roof over one’s head. It also means adequate privacy; adequate space; physical accessibility; adequate security; security of tenure; structural stability and durability; adequate lighting, heating and ventilation; adequate basic infrastructure, such as water supply, sanitation and waste management facilities; suitable environmental quality and health related factors; and adequate and accessible location with regard to work and basic facilities: all of which should be available at an affordable cost” (UN-HABITAT, 2023). The state of Kerala occupies a unique position not only among the states in India but also among the developing countries as well in its high level of human and social development. Regarding housing, the average size, quality, and investment per house in the state were better than in other parts of the country. Today, housing condition in Kerala is much better when compared to the rest of the country. Kerala has achieved massive improvements in quality of human life. In this context, the present study attempts to examine the sustainability of housing conditions in rural Kerala by analysing the unit level data of NSSO 76th round for rural sector of Kerala based on the criteria for sustainability in housing adapted from the relevant literature in this regard.

New insights on the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of Chinese marine environmental quality and its driving factors from 2003 to 2021

As land and sea integration continues to accelerate, it will inevitably have an effect on the marine ecological environment. However, the study on spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of Chinese marine environmental quality and its driving factors was lacking. This paper employs Regression Analysis, Spearman Correlation Analysis, Canonical Correlation Analysis, Boston Consulting Group Matrix and Environmental Kuznets Curve to examine the spatial–temporal distribution characteristics and correlation factors of Chinese jurisdictional sea areas environmental quality. The environmental quality of the waters under China's jurisdiction improved on average from 2003 to 2021, the area of sea with excellent water quality increased by 7.21 × 104 km2. The spatial distribution showed “South superior, North inferior” trend. The accumulated red tide area is 2.01 × 105 km2, and the green tide has the average maximum area of distribution is 3.13 × 104 km2. The marine dumping area's volume of waste has a three stages of slow rise (2003–2007), steady (2008–2014) and rapid rise (2015–2021). The average percentage of seawater bathing areas with good water quality is 82.10 %. Urban Environmental Infrastructure Investment and Urban Drainage Construction Investments are positively correlated with excellent water quality and negatively correlated with light-sewage water quality. The typical correlation for the group “Environmental Quality/Environmental Governance” is 0.911, and the strongest correlation is between excellent water quality and urban drainage construction investment. The typical correlation coefficient for the “Environmental Quality/Socioeconomic” group is 0.960, and the strongest correlation is between excellent water quality and per capita GDP. The Gross Ocean Product, Per Capita GDP, Proportion of Non-agricultural Industries, Year-end Resident Population, and excellent water quality are positively correlated whereas light-sewage water quality is negatively correlated. Liaoning, Tianjin, Shandong and Guangdong shift from high-pollution-low-investment to low-pollution-low-investment model. Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and Hainan maintain high-pollution-low-investment model, Hainan maintains high-pollution-high-investment model. Jiangsu maintains low-pollution-low-investment model. Hebei and Guangxi shift from low-pollution-low-investment to low-pollution-high-investment model. Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Guangxi and Shanghai show inverted “N” shape, Jiangsu shows positive “N” shape, Zhejiang and Fujian show monotonic decline shape, Guangdong and Hainan show positive “U” shape. The results could provide valuable suggestions for coastal provinces to accomplish economic development and environmental improvement, which to prevent the old way of “pollution first and treatment later”.

The Impact of Indoor Environmental Quality on Occupant Satisfaction in Commercial Buildings: A Comparison of Building Expert Opinions and Residents’ Experiences

This paper investigates the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) factors influencing occupant satisfaction in commercial buildings in Iran, contrasting the views of building experts (architects and engineers) with those of building occupants. Employing the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), this study focuses on the four primary IEQ factors: thermal comfort, indoor air quality, visual comfort, and acoustic comfort. The study aims to bridge the gap between expert evaluations and occupant perceptions of IEQ factors in commercial buildings in Iran. By examining the disparities in prioritising IEQ factors between these two groups, the study sheds light on the complexities of IEQ assessment and highlights the importance of considering diverse perspectives in optimising indoor environments. Our methodology includes a survey conducted among 30 building experts (15 architects and 15 building engineers) and 102 occupants, employing FAHP to derive the relative importance weights of each IEQ factor. The results highlight significant disparities between architects, engineers, and occupants in prioritising these factors. Architects emphasise visual comfort (42%), while engineers and occupants view thermal comfort (53% and 41%) as the most crucial factor for occupant satisfaction. The study underscores the complexity of IEQ in commercial buildings and the diverse perspectives influencing its assessment. It contributes to the broader discourse on optimising IEQ, emphasising the need for a comprehensive approach that encompasses both technical expertise and occupant experience.

Socio-spatial differences in older urban residents’ engagement against transportation noise? Implications for distributional and procedural justice in noise action planning

Exposure to transportation noise is a highly prevalent health burden in urban areas. Social-spatially unequal distributions of transportation noise exposure can contribute to health inequalities (distributional environmental justice). Noise action planning according to the EU Environmental Noise Directive is the instrument for noise abatement at the local level. In this context, public participation in terms of procedural environmental justice becomes relevant. Socio-spatial indicators used to describe environmental justice mainly deal with the distributional aspect. The question is to what extent both unequal environmental quality on the one hand and unequal participation on the other can be traced by indicators and spatial units typically used in social monitoring at the local level. Using the distance measure index of German social welfare rates and the local voter turnout in 2014, the socio-spatial distribution of factors of objective environmental quality, subjective noise exposure and engagement against transportation noise among older residents in three major cities in the German Ruhr region was examined. In order to address the observed inequalities within noise action planning, distributional and procedural aspects have to be integrated in noise action planning.

Relationship between Environmental Quality, Hygiene, Food Sanitation, and Food Handling Factors with Escherichia coli Germ Rates at Snack Food Centers in Jambi City

Background : Food safety is a public need, safe food will protect and prevent disease and health problems. Environment and food need attention if you want to live healthy and get enough nutrition. Hygiene sanitation is an effort to control the factors of people, places, equipment and food. In producing ready-to-eat food that is safe and healthy, the principles of sanitation hygiene must be implemented. Food handlers are people who have direct contact with food. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between environmental quality, sanitation hygiene, handler behavior and knowledge of food handlers with the number of Escherichia coli bacteria.&#x0D; Method : The research design is a quantitative method using laboratory analysis with a cross sectional research design.&#x0D; Results : Research shows that there is a significant relationship between environmental quality, food sanitation hygiene, food handling behavior and knowledge of food handlers with the number of Escherichia coli germs in the Jajanan Food Center, Jambi City.&#x0D; Conclusion : There is a significant relationship between environmental quality, food sanitation hygiene, food handling behavior and knowledge of food handlers with the number of Escherichia coli bacteria.

Understanding Discrepancies between predicted and experienced (Dis)comfort for hospitalized Patients: Four Reasons explored

Hospitalized patients’ healing process is affected by their room’s indoor environmental comfort. Models are developed to predict (dis)comfort. However, discrepancies with experienced (dis)comfort occur. Four reasons have been identified for these discrepancies: (a) people adapt, (b) in their experiences, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors interact, and experienced (dis)comfort and adaptation differ (c) between people and (d) between settings. To better understand these reasons and their relationships, it was investigated how hospitalized patients’ experiences of their indoor environment relate to measurable values of IEQ parameters. A multiple mixed methods case study was conducted at Belgian hospital wards. Data collection included interviews, self-documentation by patients, questionnaires, sensor measurements of IEQ parameters, and simulations of indoor conditions. Data were analysed in separate and integrated ways. (a) Five adaptation strategies were identified. They seem to impact experienced comfort psychologically in different ways. (b) IEQ factors interact in experiences because their assessment is influenced by the overall comfort. Adaptation strategies enable achieving the highest conceived overall comfort. (c and d) What one considers as comfortable and the adaptation strategies one applies to achieve it differ between participants and between settings. This better understanding is an important step towards improving comfort predictions, and therefore reducing discrepancies.

Can regional environmental quality improve green innovation performance? an empirical analysis from China

Introduction: Green innovation is an important driving force for reducing pollution and achieving high-quality development. Environmental factors are important external variables that affect innovation and are crucial to innovation development. There is a close relationship between environmental quality and green innovation performance. This paper takes the single environmental factor and combination of environmental factors of environmental quality heterogeneity as the explanatory variables, the traffic scale, economic scale, industrial scale and consumption scale as the control variables, and the per capita GDP of each city as the threshold variable, and calculates the impact of the single environmental factor and combination of environmental quality factors on the green innovation performance of 286 cities in China under different per capita GDP thresholds.Methods: We used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Threshold Regression model to measure the relationship between environmental quality and green innovation.Results: 1) under different thresholds, a single environmental factor has different impacts on the comprehensive level of innovation drive in Chinese cities. Comparing the single environmental factor under different threshold values of per capita GDP, when the per capita GDP is low, attention should be paid to improving the centralized treatment rate of urban sewage treatment plants and the comprehensive utilization rate of general industrial solid waste; When the per capita GDP is high, the harmless treatment rate of domestic waste, the centralized treatment rate of sewage treatment plants, the green coverage rate of the built-up area, and the green area can all have different promotion effects on the driving capacity of cities along the line. 2) Under different thresholds, the elasticity coefficient of the total ecological environment, the total ecological environment has a relatively obvious promoting effect on the innovation-driven development of cities along the line, but this promoting effect shows a further weakening trend with the increase of per capita GDP.Conclusion: This study helps to explain environmental quality and green innovation, which is important for promoting sustainable economic development. The government should control environmental pollution and introduce laws and policies to ensure innovation.

Impact of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors on occupants' environmental perception and satisfaction in hospital wards

The hospital ward's environment directly impacts the health and well-being of its occupants, especially patients. This study investigated the impacts of environmental factors (thermal, acoustic, luminous, and IAQ) and self-described health conditions on subjective environmental perception and satisfaction in hospital wards. A winter field survey of 156 occupants (patients and visitors) was conducted in a large general hospital in Changsha, China, using a combination of environment measurements, questionnaires, and interviews. The results showed comprehensive effects of environmental factors on occupants' perceptions. Lower air temperature improved participants' assessment of the acoustic environment; lower noise environment led to a positive assessment of IAQ perception; lower CO2 concentration improved the assessment of the thermal environment in a hotter environment. Acoustic perception (13.4 %), IAQ perception (10.5 %), and luminous perception (8.2 %) were significantly affected by health conditions. Moreover, the poorer the health condition, the lower the environmental satisfaction rating, and the acceptable environmental thresholds differed for individuals with various health conditions. The "very weak" group scored 1.6 and 1.5 points lower than the "very fit" for each environmental factor and overall satisfaction, respectively. For IEQ control in healthcare facilities, it is necessary to fully consider patients' health conditions during hospitalization and create a better recuperation environment for vulnerable groups.

Analyzing the impact of indoor environmental quality on physiological responses and work performance: Implications for IEQ control strategies

This study aims to analyze the effects of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors with simultaneous changes in illuminance and noise levels on building occupants' physiological response and work performance. To this end, four scenarios with changes in illuminance and noise levels were set up, and brain wave indices and work performance measured through a Stroop test were conducted during the scenarios. First, the findings revealed that noise and the interaction between illuminance and noise affect the building occupants' physiological response. Second, the illuminance was 150 lux, and the noise level was 40 dB, there was a correlation between the relative theta (0.685; p < .05) at the F3 location on the scalp and the average reaction time. Lastly, a comparison was made between psychologically preferred IEQ, IEQ when the physiological response is excellent, and IEQ when work performance is excellent. IEQ when the physiological response is excellent showed a high correlation with psychologically preferred IEQ, and it had a higher correlation with IEQ when work performance is excellent than psychologically preferred IEQ. Hence, an IEQ control strategy based on the physiological responses is necessary to improve work performance. It is expected to enhance building occupants’ work performance, health, and comfort.

Interaction effects of indoor environmental quality factors on cognitive performance and perceived comfort of young adults in open plan offices in North American Mediterranean climate

While Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) factors in an environment co-exist, the interaction effects of these factors and their impacts on cognitive functioning and perceived comfort have not been comprehensively examined. In this study, the interaction effects between temperature, lighting Correlated Color Temperature (CCT), and noise levels on selective attention, sustained attention, creativity, acoustics, thermal, visual, and overall IEQ comfort of young adults in open-plan offices in North American Mediterranean climate were presented. In a mixed-design controlled experimental setting, 52 young adults were recruited, and their objective cognitive performance and subjective comfort were assessed through statistical analysis. The experimental set points included [20 °C, 25 °C], [2700 K, 6500 K], and [50 dB, 65 dB] for temperature, lighting color, and noise, respectively. Additionally, the work took into consideration the gender and Body Mass Index (BMI) of participants. The results show that temperature moderated the effect of noise level and lighting CCT on selective attention, while no effect of IEQ factors on sustained attention was found. Creativity was influenced by gender and its interaction with the noise level. Concerning perceived comfort, acoustic comfort varied significantly with temperature. Thermal comfort was influenced by the combined moderating effect of lighting CCT and BMI on temperature, while visual comfort was driven by the moderation effect of gender on lighting CCT. Overall comfort was affected by the noise level and temperature. Finally, cognitive performance indicators were correlated with perceived IEQ comfort votes. Based on the findings of this study, considerations of interactions between noise, lighting CCT, temperature, gender, and BMI can shape occupant-centric priorities for enhanced cognitive functioning and comfort.

The Influence of Perceived Physical and Aesthetic Quality of Rural Settlements on Tourists’ Preferences—A Case Study of Zhaoxing Dong Village

Rural settlements, as crucial human habitats, encompass various values such as residential living, cultural tourism, and industrial development. This paper investigates the environmental physical and aesthetic factors perceived by tourists, which influence their preferences for rural settlement environments. Previous studies have predominantly focused on evaluating the impacts of physical or aesthetic factors on tourists’ environmental preferences, with limited research simultaneously examining their combined effects. To reduce this research gap, we selected Zhaoxing Dong Village in China, characterized by typical rural environmental traits, and collected 450 valid questionnaires. The questionnaire data underwent correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The results indicate that when considering only environmental physical quality factors, most of the physical quality factors are significantly correlated with tourists’ preferences. Among them, “visual quality” shows the highest correlation, followed by “facility” and “maintenance”, while “security” shows the lowest correlation. When aesthetic quality factors are added to the model as independent variables, they enhance the explanatory power of the model and exhibit more significant associations compared to the relationship between physical quality factors and preferences. Among the aesthetic quality factors, “multisensory” and “sublime” demonstrate the highest correlation, whereas “diversity” shows the lowest correlation. The current study demonstrates the validity of the two scales for measuring tourists’ perceived levels of physical and aesthetic quality in rural settlement environments. These findings contribute to the effective utilization of environmental capital within rural settlements and provide guidance for rural settlement planning and design.

Research on Social Service Effectiveness Evaluation for Urban Blue Spaces—A Case Study of the Huangpu River Core Section in Shanghai

Urban blue spaces (UBSs) hold significant value in terms of public health, tourism economy, and residents’ well-being. The Huangpu River in Shanghai, renowned as a global urban blue space, currently faces challenges such as unequal service capacity across sections and varying levels of spatial vitality. This study incorporates the concept of “service effectiveness” into public space evaluation. Drawing inspiration from the 4E (economics, efficiency, equity, and effectiveness) principles of effectiveness evaluation, a social service effectiveness evaluation system is constructed to measure service efficiency and effect. Through the literature research, 6 primary indicators and 12 secondary indicators are set to investigate the utilization rate and realization effect of the UBS. The evaluation system utilizes field surveys, text analysis, and remote-sensing techniques to collect relevant data. Through standardized calculations, different aspects of the indicators are integrated into a single evaluation criterion. The “overall effectiveness index” and the “efficiency–effect balance index” is introduced to quantitatively analyze the overall effectiveness characteristics, including spatial characteristics and time-varying characteristics, as well as efficiency–effect balance and imbalances. The evaluation located three low-effectiveness sections and three imbalanced sections at the north and south ends of the core section of the Huangpu River. The influence factors of effectiveness are analyzed through correlation test and literature studies, mainly including the urban hinterland, service facilities, environmental quality, and management publicity factors. This study aims to provide research ideas and methods for waterfront area planning and city-refined management.