Perception Of Environmental Quality Research Articles

Indoor environmental quality perception and users’ satisfaction of conventional and green buildings in Brazil

This work compares user’s perception about indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and corporate satisfaction in green building and similar ones: specifically, three green buildings certified as new constructions and three conventional buildings (bank branches) in São Paulo (Brazil), operating for at least one-year. To determine satisfaction were included in the survey building, besides IEQ, building features, corporate fulfillment and individuals’ ecofriendly attitude (sustainable practices). We applied semi-enclosed questionnaires with 6-points Likert-type scale with pictographic VAS to collect perceptions from employees and customers. We performed an exploratory factor analysis to summarize the main variables characteristics, data reduction and grouping in related indexes. Results shows that employees perceive green buildings spaces as better in comparison with conventional buildings employee’s perception, but customers of both groups cannot tell differences between those edifices. Ecofriendly attitude was more often observed among green building employees than conventional employees, presenting positively correlated to best ranking other buildings characteristics. Findings indicate that green buildings employees not only considered IEQ better but also are more satisfied overall with the company, building features and even more propense to sustainable attitudes; yet customers do not perceive differences between buildings in any aspects.

Environmental Urbanization Assessment Using GIS and Multicriteria Decision Analysis: A Case Study for Denizli (Turkey) Municipal Area

In recent years, life quality of the urban areas is a growing interest of civil engineering. Environmental quality is essential to display the position of sustainable development and asserts the corresponding countermeasures to the protection of environment. Urban environmental quality involves multidisciplinary parameters and difficulties to be analyzed. The problem is not only complex but also involves many uncertainties, and decision-making on these issues is a challenging problem which contains many parameters and alternatives inherently. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a very prepotent technique to solve that sort of problems, and it guides the users confidence by synthesizing that information. Environmental concerns frequently contain spatial information. Spatial multicriteria decision analysis (SMCDA) that includes Geographic Information System (GIS) is efficient to tackle that type of problems. This study has employed some geographic and urbanization parameters to assess the environmental urbanization quality used by those methods. The study area has been described in five categories: very favorable, favorable, moderate, unfavorable, and very unfavorable. The results are momentous to see the current situation, and they could help to mitigate the related concerns. The study proves that the SMCDA descriptions match the environmental quality perception in the city.

Does where you live matter to your health? Investigating factors that influence the self-rated health of urban and rural Chinese residents: evidence drawn from Chinese General Social Survey data

BackgroundChina’s rapid urbanization over the past decades has exacerbated the problems of environmental degradation and health disparities. However, few studies have analysed the differences between urban and rural residents in relation to how environmental quality impacts health outcomes. This study examines the associations between Chinese people's perceptions of environmental quality and their self-rated health, particularly focusing on differences between rural and urban residents in environment-health relationships.MethodsUsing a logistic regression model and data from the 2013 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), a representative sample of data for 3,402 urban residents (46 ± 16 years) and 2,439 rural residents (48 ± 15 years) was analysed. The dependent variable used for the logistic regressions was whether or not respondents reported being healthy. Independent variables included respondents’ evaluations of the living environment, and how frequently they participated in physical activities. Interaction terms were employed to measure the moderating effects of physical exercise on the relationship between perceived environmental quality and health.ResultsThe percentage of healthy urban residents was significantly larger than that of healthy rural respondents (70.87% versus 62.87%). Urban respondents living in areas with sufficient green space were more likely to report good health (OR = 0.749, CI = [0.628, 0.895]), while rural respondents without reliable access to fresh water were more likely to report poor health (OR = 0.762, CI = [0.612, 0.949]). Urban respondents who were exposed to green spaces and exercised frequently were 21.6 per cent more likely to report good health than those who exercised infrequently (OR = 1.216, CI = [1.047, 1.413]). Those who lived in areas with insufficient green space and exercised frequently were 19.1 per cent less likely to report good health than those who exercised infrequently (OR = 0.805, CI = [0.469, 1.381]). No evidence suggested that physical exercise exerted a moderating effect on the relationship between exposure to air pollution and health.ConclusionsOn average, urban residents have better health than rural residents. Among four indicators for low environmental quality (air pollution, lack of green spaces, water pollution, uncertain access to freshwater resources), green space was an important determinant of urban residents’ health status, while unreliable access to fresh water harmed rural residents’ health. Physical exercise moderated the effects of exposure to green spaces on urban residents’ health.

Visitor preferences and willingness to pay for coastal attributes in Barbados

Coastal and marine resources in Barbados supply a wide range of goods and services including seafood, numerous recreation opportunities, wildlife habitat, and coastal protection. These resources also serve as the foundation of the Barbados tourism product and provide indirect economic support via employment, income, and tax revenues. Despite their obvious importance to the economy and culture of Barbados, the economic value of many aspects of coastal and marine resources have not been directly studied. An understanding of preferences and willingness to pay for coastal and marine characteristics can be useful in terms of developing efficient, cost-effective natural resource policies, particularly with regard to tourism, the principle economic driver in Barbados. This research summarizes the results of an economic valuation study aimed at understanding visitor perceptions of environmental quality, preferences for coastal amenities and willingness to pay for changes in coastal lodging attributes. Results indicate that visitors to Barbados have strong preferences for beach-front lodging and a strong aversion to beach litter. Differences in willingness to pay to avoid litter at the lower end of the litter spectrum illustrate the potential for significant economic gains to be realized through beach cleanup efforts. Tourists also display an aversion to narrow beaches, but do not seem to place much value on additional width beyond a threshold width of 8–10 m.

Perceived environmental quality and subjective well-being: are African countries different from developed countries?

An important literature examines the effect of environmental quality on self-reported measures of well-being. Some studies have focused on objective indicators of environmental quality, while other studies have explored how perceptions about environmental quality are correlated with happiness. However, there is little research examining the relationship between perceptions of environmental quality and subjective well-being in African countries. In this paper, we examine how people's perceptions about local environmental quality (poor water, poor air, and poor sanitation/sewer) and global environmental quality (global warming, loss of animal and plant species, and pollution of water bodies) are correlated with their well-being in a cross-country sample using data from the World Values Survey. We find a negative correlation between perceptions about the poorness of local environmental quality and subjective well-being for both developed and African countries. However, only in developed countries is there a negative correlation between perceptions about the poorness of global environmental quality and subjective well-being.

Prediction of the visual impact of motorways using GIS

Large scale transportation projects can adversely affect the visual perception of environmental quality and require adequate visual impact assessment. In this study, we investigated the effects of the characteristics of the road project and the character of the existing landscape on the perceived visual impact of motorways, and developed a GIS-based prediction model based on the findings. An online survey using computer-visualised scenes of different motorway and landscape scenarios was carried out to obtain perception-based judgements on the visual impact. Motorway scenarios simulated included the baseline scenario without road, original motorway, motorways with timber noise barriers, transparent noise barriers and tree screen; different landscape scenarios were created by changing land cover of buildings and trees in three distance zones. The landscape content of each scene was measured in GIS. The result shows that presence of a motorway especially with the timber barrier significantly decreases the visual quality of the view. The resulted visual impact tends to be lower where it is less visually pleasant with more buildings in the view, and can be slightly reduced by the visual absorption effect of the scattered trees between the motorway and the viewpoint. Based on the survey result, eleven predictors were identified for the visual impact prediction model which was applied in GIS to generate maps of visual impact of motorways in different scenarios. The proposed prediction model can be used to achieve efficient and reliable assessment of visual impact of motorways.

Regional Air Quality and Happiness in Germany

Previous research has analyzed the impact of air pollution on life satisfaction (“happiness”) based on both subjective perceptions of environmental quality and objectively measured pollution data. This article combines these two types of environmental data in life satisfaction regressions and investigates using an instrumental variable (IV)-ordered probit approach whether perceived air quality is endogenous with respect to happiness. We find combining German 2004 socioeconomic panel data with annual readings for sulfur dioxide (SO2), NO x, and PM10 by the Umweltbundesamt (UBA; German Environmental Protection Agency) for counties that people bothered by air pollution feel less happy but that simultaneously unhappy people feel more disturbed by air pollution. Controlling for this simultaneity in an IV-ordered probit approach reveals that perceived air pollution does not have a statistically significant effect on life satisfaction anymore. We also find econometric evidence that air pollution is fully capitalized in the housing market.

Green Consumers, Greenwashing and the Misperception of Environmental Quality

In this paper we analyse a setup where consumers are heterogeneous in the perception of environmental quality. The equilibrium is verified in a setting with horizontal and vertical (green) differentiation. Profits are increasing in the misperception of quality, while, the investment in green quality decreases the more the goods are substitutes. We further consider the introduction of either an emission tax or an environmental standard. The former rises the investment in environmental quality due to the higher cost of production, whereas in equilibrium quality always improves after the introduction of the latter. We show that an optimal environmental standard is an effective regulatory instrument against greenwashing and that the efficacy of the interventions is conditioned to the damage distribution and the aggregate level of emission.

Inpatients’ and outpatients’ satisfaction: The mediating role of perceived quality of physical and social environment

This study analyses the processes through which the physical environment of health care settings impacts on patients’ well-being. Specifically, we investigate the mediating role of perceptions of the physical and social environments, and if this process is moderated by patients’ status, that is, if the objective physical environment impacts inpatients’ and outpatients’ satisfaction by different social–psychological processes. Patients (N=206) evaluated the physical and social environments of the care unit where they were receiving treatment, and its objective physical conditions were independently evaluated by two architects. Results showed that the objective environmental quality affects satisfaction through perceptions of environmental quality, and that patients’ status moderates this relationship. For inpatients, it is the perception of quality of the social environment that mediates the relationship between objective environmental quality and satisfaction, whereas for outpatients it is the perception of quality of the physical environment. This moderated mediation is discussed in terms of differences on patients’ experiences of health care environments.

The Influence of Physical Environmental Qualities on the Social Climate of Supported Housing Facilities for People with Severe Mental Illness

The study investigates the extent to which the perceived physical environmental quality of housing facilities for people with severe mental illness accounts for perceived social environmental quality. Twenty facilities were assessed by people with psychiatric disabilities (residents), staff, and experts with regard to the physical environmental aspects of visual pleasantness, indirect environmental effects, overall physical quality, and the social environmental indicator of social relationship. The results suggest that residents’ and staff's physical environmental quality perception accounts for social relationship quality perception, whereas experts’ environmental assessment does not. Moreover, the staff reported a more positive social relationship perception than the residents.

Staff Perceptions before and after Adding Single-Family Rooms in the NICU

The purpose of this study is to evaluate staff perceptions of environmental quality before and after the renovation of an existing open-bay neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the addition of 23 single-family NICU rooms in the Wasie Neonatal ICU at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. In recent years there has been an increase in the design and construction of single-family rooms (SFRs) because they provide more privacy for families, offer better control over environmental stimuli such as lighting and noise, and possibly reduce infections. On the other hand, this model can cause staff members to feel isolated from one another, reduce their ability to respond quickly in a crisis situation, or impose additional demands on them. Few studies document the advantages and disadvantages of the SFR NICU model. This study utilized pre- and post-move surveys to investigate staff perceptions of the NICU. Overall, staff members perceive the quality of the work environment, and the safety and quality of the environment provided to patients and their families, as better in the renovated, combination NICU design (SFR and open bay) when compared to the open-bay, pre-move design. In spite of the potential drawbacks of having SFRs in the NICU, the study demonstrates that nurses may perceive associated benefits, such as a reduction of job stress and improvements in parental privacy, along with other positive outcomes.

Soundscape variation in a historical city centre due to new traffic regulation

In recent years the number of candidate historic city centers to be included in the World Heritage List is increasing. This inclusion must be supported by a Management Plan programming all intervention to be implemented for the preservation of the “outstanding universal value”. So far the Management Plans do not consider the preservation and valorization of the soundscape. Consequently, urban renewal processes are based on conservation and restoration of tangible cultural heritage, in order to increase touristic attraction and to improve the quality of life. All these efforts privilege visual perception and do not take in account the auditory perception. Soundscape of a site can be considered an intangible cultural heritage to be preserved and valorized as it constitutes a peculiar characteristic of the place. It makes the place recognizable and attractive. Recently the historic centre of Naples (Italy), as World Heritage Site, has been under renewal and for sustainable mobility the largest restricted traffic area (ZTL) in Europe has been introduced. The results of soundwalks carried out in the historic center of Naples before and after the implementation of ZTL are presented. The variations of acoustical and other environmental parameters influencing the subjective perception of environmental quality are analyzed.

Users' views of hospital environmental quality: Validation of the Perceived Hospital Environment Quality Indicators (PHEQIs)

Environmental Quality Perception (EQP) is an important construct used to help to understand the relationship between people and the hospital environment. From a patient-centered care perspective, it is important that hospital design take into account the patients' (and other users') point of view. This paper presents the adaptation and validation of a measure of hospital EQP, the Perceived Hospital Environment Quality Indicators (PHEQIs; Fornara, Bonaiuto, & Bonnes, 2006), and seeks to confirm the factor structure of this construct in a different cultural context. Three scales, two focusing on physical environments and one evaluating the social environment, were completed by 562 users of four orthopedic units in Portuguese hospitals, two older and two recently built or renovated. To assess criterion validity, hospital physical environments were also objectively evaluated by two architects. Using a confirmatory factor analysis the three validation procedures produced acceptable fit indices in the final measurement models. Overall reliability values were satisfactory, as was the evidence for criterion validity. PHEQIs scales and factors correlated with global evaluation of the environment, supporting concurrent criterion validity; and predictive criterion validity was demonstrated given that users of older and newer hospitals differed significantly on the perception of quality of hospital EQP, and that high congruence between users' and experts' evaluations was found. Discriminant construct validity was supported, and some difficulties in showing convergent validity are discussed in terms of item formulation adequacy. Implications for research and practice are described.

A livingscape approach to characterize urban historical places

The quality of life concerned with open spaces has more and more become an essential part of urban culture. The evaluation of environmental effects as perceived by people is primarily a subjective issue, rather than being simply based on objective parameters. This paper presents an approach called livingscape, used to assess the quality of urban spaces. It consists of analyzing and correlating psychometric tools to measure the perception of environmental quality with different aspects related to the urban blight (both in architectural and environmental terms) and objective investigation of environmental quality through the measurement of acoustic, visual, thermal, and IAQ physical parameters. Livingscape data were collected in 13 key-spaces of St. Salvario, an historical district in Turin (Italy), during summer 2010 and winter 2011, selected based on an historical analysis to characterize the past and present district soundscape and subdivided in nodes, paths, and edges. The subjective environmental perceptions are delineated through the analysis of the questionnaires submitted to the users of the area, outdoor. Objective measures (acoustical, lighting, and thermal parameters) were combined to subjective responses, thus providing a more complete key-spaces characterization. The investigation aims to describe the changes in the key-spaces characterization from 19th century to nowadays.

Gender Differences in Resource Use and Evaluatuon of Attributes of Places of Resource Use by Native Americans and Caucasians from Western Idaho: Relevance to Risk Evaluations

A substantial body of literature deals with exposure differences between men and women, and how men and women perceive environmental risk, but far less attention has been devoted to how men and women use the environment and how they evaluate the features of natural environments. The objective of this study was to examine gender differences in the perceptions of environmental quality and resource use for Native Americans and Caucasians interviewed at an Indian festival in northwestern Idaho. More individuals engaged in fishing than any other consumptive activity, and more people engaged in camping and hiking than other nonconsumptive activities. For both ethnic groups, significantly more men hunted than women, although a higher percentage of Native Americans of both genders hunted than did Caucasians. Although significantly more Caucasian men fished than women (63 vs. 41%), there were no marked differences in fishing for Native Americans. Significantly more Native American women gathered herbs (57%) compared to men (37%). There were no significant gender differences in nonconsumptive activities (camping, hiking, biking, bird watching, or picnicking). For those who engaged in consumptive and nonconsumptive activities, however, there were few gender differences in the frequency of these activities, except for fishing, hunting, and crabbing by Caucasians (men had higher rates) and collecting berries and herbs for Native Americans (women had higher rates). When asked to evaluate environmental characteristics or attributes on a scale of 1 (less important) to 5 (very important), unpolluted water, clean air, no visible smog, unpolluted groundwater, and appears unspoiled were rated the highest. There were few significant gender differences in these evaluations for Native Americans, but there were significant gender differences for Caucasians: Women rated most features higher than did men (except for natural tidal flow). These data indicate a need to evaluate not only consumption rate differences between men and women, but also nonconsumptive activities, as well as resource values and perceptions, when managing environments and determining potential risk from exposure.

Impacts of belowground herbivory on oviposition decisions in two congeneric butterfly species

AbstractRoot‐feeding insects can affect the performance of aboveground insect herbivores when they are forced to feed on the same host plant. Here we explored whether the oviposition behaviour of two closely related herbivorous species (cabbage butterflies; Lepidoptera: Pieridae) is influenced by root‐feeding insects, when they are given the chance to choose between host plants with and without root herbivores. Considering that egg load is an important physiological factor influencing the foraging behaviour of insects, we also examined whether root‐feeding insects differentially influence oviposition preference in butterflies with low and high egg loads. Oviposition preference in both butterfly species with low and high egg loads was monitored using host plants with and without root herbivores. To ascertain the status of butterfly age with low and high egg loads, the oviducts of a separate group of butterflies was dissected to record the number of immature and mature eggs in butterflies of various ages.Pieris brassicaeL. butterflies with low egg loads preferred plants without root herbivores over plants with root herbivores, and laid more egg clutches on the leaves of plants that were not attacked by root herbivores. Butterflies with comparatively high egg loads also selected a larger proportion of plants without root herbivores, but laid a similar number of egg clutches on the plant shoots independent of the presence or absence of root herbivores belowground. Independent of the age and egg load,Pieris rapaeL. butterflies selected a larger proportion of plants not attacked by root herbivores to lay eggs, but the number of eggs laid was similar in plants with and without root herbivores. This study shows that belowground insects can influence behavioural decisions of aboveground insect herbivores. Interestingly, the strength of these interactions depends on the physiological state of the insects which is probably correlated with their perception of environmental quality.

Self‐Perceived Health among Migrant and Native Populations in Madrid: A Gender Perspective

This paper describes the level of self‐perceived health (SPH) in immigrant and native populations resident in Madrid and the demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with negative self‐perceived health status, from a gender perspective. A population‐based home survey (2005 Madrid Health Survey) was carried out. Subjects were selected by random sampling of bistage clusters. The study was limited to 5704 adults (16 to 64 years). SPH was considered the dependent variable. The independent variables included migration status, social class, age, sex, marital status, level of education, area of residence, work precariousness, family burden and perception of environmental quality. The association was assessed by odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals obtained by multivariate logistic regression models disaggregated by gender and migration status. Results showed that poor/fair health status was perceived more by natives and by women. The variables associated with fair/poor SPH in immigrant men were the influence of working conditions perceived as negative and perception of the quality of the environment as poor, and in immigrant women, older age, low educational level and the influence of working conditions perceived as negative. Gender inequalities in self‐perceived health exist, and different factors are associated with immigrant and native populations. The results of the study support the need for a health intervention that would diminish gender inequalities in health, which are more accentuated in immigrants.

The perception of environmental quality in Aveiro, Portugal: a study of complaints on environmental issues submitted to the City Council

This paper presents an environmental diagnosis based on public complaints on environmental issues submitted to the Environmental Department of the Aveiro City Council, Portugal, between 2000 and 2005. It discusses the potential influences of these in local environmental planning and governance. The paper has been organised into five sections. The first of these introduces the study. The second section focuses on the conceptual approaches relating to environmental grassroots movements, the main actors involved in these movements and the role played by the local government. It also contains a brief review of the most recent urban environmental quality challenges in the European context together with a description of the main features of the associated political and legal framework in Portugal. The third section describes the case study and the methodology used. The results of the empirical study are detailed in the fourth section. The final section critically analyses these results with emphases on the temporal evolution of the submission of complaints, the actors involved, the local environmental problems and their associated spatial pattern as well as the responses given by the City Council. This information may then be used to provide a useful indicator for the perception of environmental quality as well as a credible instrument for the visualisation and evaluation of local performance in terms of environmental planning and management.

Environmental complaints in Aveiro, Portugal: actors, concerns, territorial pattern, and resolutions

This paper presents an environmental diagnosis based on public complaints on environmental issues submitted to the Environmental Department of the Aveiro City Council, Portugal, between 2000 and 2005. It discusses the potential influences of these in local environmental planning and governance. The paper has been organised into five sections. The first of these introduces the study. The second section focuses on the conceptual approaches relating to environmental grassroots movements, the main actors involved in these movements and the role played by local government. It also contains a brief review of the most recent urban environmental quality challenges in the European context together with a description of the main features of the associated political and legal framework in Portugal. The third section describes the case study and the methodology used. The results of the empirical study are detailed in the fourth section. The final section critically analyses these results with emphases on the temporal evolution of the submission of complaints, the actors involved, the local environmental problems and their associated spatial pattern as well as the responses given by the City Council. This information may then be used to provide a useful indicator for the perception of environmental quality as well as a credible instrument for the visualisation and evaluation of local performance in terms of environmental planning and management.

Measuring individuals’ valuation distributions using a stochastic payment card approach: application to solid waste management in Nigeria

The objectives of this study are twofold. First it aims to establish empirical grounds for pricing the services of a new environmental management initiative in Enugu state, Nigeria. A joint initiative of the UK Department for International Development (DfID), Enugu State Environmental Protection Agency (ENSEPA) and the State and Local Government Programme (SLGP). The second is to test the empirical performance of a new approach to the contingent valuation method (CVM) i.e., the Stochastic Payment Card (SPC) design proposed by Wang (Contingent valuation of environmental resources: A stochastic perspective, 1997a, Journal of Environmental Economics & Management, 32:219–232, 1997b). The SPC design unlike many of the conventional CVM elicitation formats, takes into account the stochastic nature of individuals’ valuation decisions. The data for the analysis were obtained from a random sample survey of a district in Enugu metropolis. The results show that, on average, households in this city are willing to pay (WTP) 215 Naira ($1.6) monthly as against 200 Naira ($1.5) currently charged for the service by ENSEPA. Analysis of individual’s valuation distribution function indicates that this amount is positively and significantly related to the gender of the respondent, household income and the respondent’s perception of environmental quality.