Can Historical Environments Rival Natural Environments? An Empirical Study on the Impact of Campus Environment Types on College Students’ Mental Health

Abstract

Contemporary college students face mounting psychological challenges under high academic pressure, and the design and functionality of campus environments may play a critical role in psychological recovery. Emerging evidence suggests that restorative benefits can be derived not only from natural environments but also from historically built settings rich in cultural narratives—can these historical environments compare to natural ones? This study surveyed how different campus environments affect students’ physiological (heart rate variability, HRV) and psychological (Profile of Mood States, POMS; Perceived Restorative Scale, PRS) outcomes. During the final exam week, 38 college students were exposed to four environments using a within-subject crossover design: an ordinary built environment, a natural landscape environment, a historical built environment with intentional historical narratives, and a built environment with unintentional historical narratives. The results indicated that the historical built environment with designed historical narratives provided restorative benefits comparable to those of natural landscape environments by enhancing HRV and improving mood states. These findings suggest that a historical built environment with intentional explicit historical interpretation can offer rehabilitation benefits similar to natural landscape environments, providing a practical pathway for high-density urban areas with small-scale historical campus settings to achieve effective restorative outcomes.

1. Introduction

Contemporary college students face multiple psychological challenges, with academic pressure and social anxiety being particularly prominent. Prolonged exposure to high-stress, competitive academic environments can lead to attention fragmentation and emotional exhaustion, which significantly impact mental health [1]. Existing research confirms the correlation between campus environment and emotional perceptions, suggesting that learning spaces are closely related to mental health [2,3].

The campus environment—including its natural areas, historic architecture, and cultural features—serves not only as a setting for learning and interaction but also continuously influences students’ psychological states. High-quality campus settings can facilitate attention restoration and relieve stress. Consequently, understanding how different environmental characteristics affect mental health and optimizing campus design have become crucial research goals for improving student well-being.

Kaplan and Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory (ART) provides a robust framework for interpreting these effects: environments offering a sense of “being away,” “fascination,” “extent,” and “compatibility” can replenish depleted cognitive resources [4]. ART builds on the biophilia hypothesis, which posits an innate human affinity for natural settings [5]. Consistent with these principles, a substantial body of work demonstrates that exposure to nature reliably reduces stress and restores attention [6,7,8,9]. For example, Amicone et al. (2018) found that school green areas improve children’s cognitive performance [10], and Malekinezhad et al. (2020) reported positive mental health outcomes associated with campus greenery [11]. These studies underscore the well-established benefits of natural environments for psychological restoration in educational contexts.

Although the restorative effects of natural environments have been extensively studied, the impact of historical environments—particularly those exhibiting varying degrees of narrative expression—on psychological health remains underexplored. In high-density urban campuses, where spatial resources are scarce, historical settings may serve as viable alternatives or complements to natural settings. Accordingly, examining the restorative potential of historical environments is crucial for optimizing campus design and enhancing students’ psychological well-being. Built environments enriched with historical or cultural elements are increasingly recognized for their restorative potential [12,13,14]. Stragà et al. (2023) argue that a strict dichotomy between “wild” nature and built settings may be overly simplistic [15]. Attention restoration-oriented design contributes not only to enhancing human well-being but also to advancing sustainable economic development [16]. Integrating historical narratives or cultural artifacts into design can cultivate cultural identity and foster place attachment, thereby aiding psychological recovery [17].

Place attachment—defined as the emotional bond between individuals and their meaningful environments—is an important mediator between perceived restorativeness (compatibility, scope, and “being away”) and pro-environmental behavior [18]. In particular, settings imbued with historical significance often strengthen this bond, enhancing perceived restorative effects. Cultural identity plays a crucial role in shaping mental health perceptions and recovery strategies. Historical environments that reflect cultural narratives can foster a strong sense of identity and emotional belonging, which are essential for psychological restoration. Research shows that individuals’ understanding of mental health is deeply influenced by the historical and cultural context of their communities. For instance, the stigma surrounding mental illness varies across cultural groups and is often rooted in their historical experiences [19]; such stigma may inhibit help-seeking behavior and thereby impede recovery [20]. Moreover, Furlong [21] suggests that divergent historical trajectories across regions shape how people perceive and respond to psychological challenges.

These variations highlight the importance of culturally meaningful environments in supporting mental well-being. Spaces that integrate cultural identity—through architecture, symbolism, or historical references—can reinforce place attachment, a key mediator between perceived restorativeness and pro-environmental behavior. Furthermore, design strategies that incorporate cultural ecosystem services (CES), such as historical storytelling or heritage interpretation, have been shown to reduce stress and improve attentional recovery [22,23]. Given the psychological relevance of cultural and historical meaning, environments that explicitly convey cultural identity may offer restorative effects comparable to those of natural settings.

Beyond ART, Stress Reduction Theory emphasizes the environment’s capacity to alleviate physiological and psychological stress. Restorative environments—both natural and cultural—promote mental health by lowering stress, enhancing attention, and elevating mood [24,25]. Yet direct empirical comparisons of natural landscapes versus historically enriched built environments remain scarce.

Internationally, scholars have extensively explored the restorative qualities of various spaces. Chinese researchers Zhenyu Zhang et al. investigated the restorative effects of two distinctive urban green spaces (UGS)—modern urban parks (MUD) and Chinese classical gardens (CCG), revealing their differential impacts on psychological recovery [26]. In Mexico, Joel Martínez-Soto et al. conducted a comprehensive analysis of 65 public spaces, examining how environmental attributes—including vegetation density, spatial scale, landmark prominence, biophilic design elements, crowd levels, visual permeability, olfactory pleasantness, and noise pollution—influence mood regulation and stress reduction. Their findings concluded that environmental restorative effects manifest through decreased negative affect and perceived stress alongside enhanced positive emotional states [27]. Furthermore, Malaysian scholar Lai Kuan Lee et al. emphasized the critical importance of maintaining ecological sustainability and spatial integrity in campus wetland systems. Their work advocates for longitudinal studies to systematically evaluate the restorative potential of built environments, particularly for vulnerable populations requiring targeted mental health interventions [28]. Complementing these perspectives, American researcher Carol Vidal et al. documented practical applications of built environments as restorative tools in neighborhoods with high community violence, demonstrating how intentional architectural interventions can mitigate psychological trauma in urban crisis zones [29].

Existing studies have introduced the concept of hybrid spaces, which integrate greenery with historic architecture—such as green courtyards or landscape-enhanced heritage sites [30]. These environments aim to combine the restorative benefits of nature with cultural characteristics [31,32]. However, in the absence of design coherence and cultural depth, such spaces risk becoming fragmented and losing their restorative effectiveness. Superficial greening or generic renovations may undermine both ecological value and historical significance. As both natural and historical environments exhibit restorative potential, it is essential—particularly in resource-limited urban campuses—to examine the distinct mechanisms underlying their psychological benefits.

Guided by the need to promote student mental health, this study addresses three key questions in high-density urban contexts:

• For urban campuses with limited natural spaces, can built environments provide sufficient psychological restoration? What environmental characteristics drive these effects?
• Can historically rich campuses serve as viable alternatives to natural landscapes? How do their restorative mechanisms differ?
• Does explicit communication of cultural information in historical environments yield restoration comparable to natural settings?

This framework shifts focus from the current overemphasis on natural landscapes [33,34,35] to the restorative potential of historical spaces—a practical consideration for dense urban campuses. The findings will inform campus planning and support integrating historical environments into health-oriented urban strategies.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Research Subject

This study was conducted at South China Agricultural University (SCAU) in Guangzhou’s Tianhe District, a representative high-density urban campus spanning 140 hectares (1.4 km²), illustrated in Figure 1. The site’s functional complexity, featuring diverse natural landscapes alongside historical built environments, coupled with a homogeneous student population, provides optimal conditions for controlled comparative research. This setting enables cross-site comparisons using identical participant cohorts, minimizing individual difference bias. The campus uniquely combines dense urban characteristics with preserved restorative environments, offering an ideal platform for investigating attention restoration mechanisms.

Through systematic comparisons of three environmental typologies—natural landscapes, historical built environments, and ordinary built environments—this research elucidates how natural and cultural elements synergistically contribute to attention restoration. The results will provide empirical evidence to inform optimal campus spatial planning and develop evidence-based environmental interventions for mental health promotion.

Four distinct test sites with significant environmental characteristics were selected (Figure 2 shows the location of these four distinct test sites in South China Agricultural University):

(1)

Ordinary built environment lacking natural and historical elements (standard chain coffee shop in conventional building, P1);

(2)

Natural landscape environment without historical features (campus wetland park with rich ecosystem, P2);

(3)

Historically built environment with intentional historical narratives (independent coffee shop in century-old heritage building, P3);

(4)

Historically built environment with unintentional historical narratives (campus cultural gift shop in 50-year-old historical building, P4).

The standardized chain coffee shop (P1) is located within the built campus environment, adjacent to the cafeteria and library in the most heavily trafficked area of South China Agricultural University. Its architectural design reflects the characteristics of high-density urban campus planning, illustrated in Figure 3.

In contrast, the wetland park is embedded within the natural campus ecosystem, featuring tree-lined arrangements, lacustrine landscapes, pedestrian trails, and recreational pavilions, demonstrating inherent therapeutic qualities that make it a quintessential example of natural landscape environments, illustrated in Figure 4.

The independent coffee shop is situated in a historical campus precinct, exhibiting distinctive Chinese historical architectural features in its exterior design. Through deliberate spatial configurations and strategically placed informational signage, both its interior and exterior environments effectively convey historical narratives, illustrated in Figure 5.

By comparison, the campus cultural gift shop, located in the former residence of an academician currently serves as a retail space for campus-themed creative merchandise. This location exhibits lower pedestrian traffic density and maintains tranquil environmental conditions near the lakeside, yet it notably lacks proactive efforts to disseminate its historical significance through designed interventions, illustrated in Figure 6.

2.2. Participant

We recruited a sample of 38 college students (N = 38; age range: 18–24 years; 19 females and 19 males) from South China Agricultural University. Participants were deliberately recruited during their final examination week—a period characterized by heightened academic stress—to assess the effects of environmental exposure under elevated psychological pressure. Recruitment occurred via campus posters and official university social media channels, ensuring representation across diverse academic disciplines. The selection followed randomized, impartial procedures to mitigate sampling bias. Exclusion criteria included (1) specialized expertise in the research field (e.g., landscape architecture or related disciplines); (2) history of substance abuse or use of cardiovascular-affecting medications; and (3) diagnosed mental health conditions. This research complied with institutional ethical standards reviewed and approved by the ethics board. Written consent was obtained from all subjects following complete disclosure of study aims and methodologies.

2.3. Experimental Procedure

A within-subjects crossover design was employed, with all participants (N = 38) exposed to four experimental conditions: (1) a standardized chain coffee shop in a conventional campus building; (2) a campus wetland park with a biodiverse ecosystem; (3) a campus cultural gift shop housed in a 50-year-old historical building lacking explicit historical narrative integration; and (4) an independent coffee shop occupying a century-old heritage structure. To mitigate order effects, participants were randomized to different initial environments, ensuring balanced distribution across conditions. Each condition was administered on separate days within a 2-week period to minimize carryover effects.

2.3.1. Group Assignment and Counterbalancing

Participants were randomly assigned to small groups of 4–5 individuals. Baseline demographic and health characteristics (e.g., age, gender, self-reported health status) were evenly distributed across groups to control for potential confounding variables. A counterbalanced crossover design was implemented to randomize the sequence of environmental exposures, thereby minimizing order effects.

2.3.2. Pre-Experiment Protocol

One day prior to the experiment, participants completed an online background questionnaire. They received explicit instructions to avoid sleep deprivation, tobacco use, and alcohol consumption during the evening preceding their testing session. Compliance with these requirements was verified through a standardized pre-experiment interview conducted immediately before each session.

2.3.3. HRV Measurement Protocol

On the experimental day, participants assembled in a designated campus office where researchers fitted them with portable heart rate variability (HRV) monitoring devices. Baseline HRV measurements were obtained prior to each environmental exposure session to establish physiological reference values.

2.3.4. Environmental Exposure Procedure

Before visiting each experimental site, participants were provided with standardized instructions describing the upcoming environmental exposure. To control for potential confounding factors, researchers predetermined walking routes to ensure uniform travel duration between locations. Key environmental parameters including temperature, weather conditions, and ambient noise levels were systematically monitored to maintain experimental consistency. Ambient noise levels were measured using a decibel meter (Model XYZ) and maintained below 55 dB. Experiments were conducted exclusively on clear, dry days (temperature range: 20–25 °C) to minimize weather variability. Experimental sites were closed off to the public during sessions, eliminating external pedestrian traffic to ensure crowd density control.

Upon reaching each designated environment, participants first completed a pre-exposure HRV assessment. They subsequently engaged in 15 min of unstructured environmental interaction, consisting of slow-paced walking and passive observation without performing specific cognitive or physical tasks. This was followed by a 5-min seated rest period to allow for physiological stabilization.

In order to ensure that the experimental results are not affected by the greening level, there is no significant difference in the greening level among the three sites selected in this study except P2 (natural landscape environment). In order to demonstrate this view, this study selected the green rate as the index to judge the greening degree. The green view index (GVI) is the percentage of vegetated areas in the field of vision; this metric may better represent people’s perception of greenery. In this study, the traditional method of measuring GVI is used, that is manual measurement using image editing software. The photos were imported into Adobe Photoshop 2023 and the areas corresponding to vegetation such as tree trunks and leaves, were selected using the magic wand tool. Then, operators manually added leaves and branches outside of the range and manually deleted selections that were not vegetation. The number of pixels in the selected area was counted and divided by the number of pixels in the entire photograph to calculate the GVI [36].

In the streetscape-based vegetation perception analysis, to ensure the objectivity of image sources, this study utilized dominant social media platforms among China’s university student demographic (TikTok and Rednote) as data repositories. Using media-prevalent expressions for target sites as search keywords, we extracted posts through the platform’s integrated sorting algorithms based on visual engagement metrics. After manually excluding irrelevant and promotional content, the top 10 valid posts per site were retained. This protocol ensures the objectivity of streetscape-based vegetation perception analysis. According to the pictures in the post, the traditional method is used to calculate GVI, and then the single factor anova test is used to analyze the results of GVI in different scenes, and the results are as follows:

The

Table 1. The green view index results in different locations.

Metric	P1	P2	P3	P4
GVI (%)	12.1 ± 3.28 a	84.1 ± 2.95 b	26.8 ± 5.65 a	20.45 ± 4.29 a

Note I. P1 = ordinary built environment, P2 = natural landscape environment, P3 = historical built environment with intentional historical narratives, P4 = historical built envi-ronment with uninten-tional historical narratives. Note II. GVI is the green view index.

is our analysis results (see Appendix A for detailed data). Different lowercase letters indicate statistically significant differences between treatments (p < 0.05).

It can be seen that the GVI of P2 is significantly different from that of P1, P3, and P4, but the GVI results of P1, P3, and P4 are not significantly different. It can be concluded that there is no significant difference in GVI among the other three scenes except P2, so the measurement in this scene will not be affected by the greening level.

2.3.5. Post-Exposure Measurements and Questionnaires

Following the 5-min rest period, participants completed a post-exposure HRV assessment. Researchers then removed the monitoring equipment, after which participants immediately completed two standardized psychological measures: momentary mood fluctuations were measured using the Profile of Mood States (POMS), while environmental restoration capacity was quantified through the Perceived Restorative Scale (PRS). This protocol enabled a comprehensive evaluation of both physiological and psychological responses to each experimental condition.

2.3.6. Behavioral Control

To control for potential confounding variables, participants received explicit instructions to abstain from verbal communication, tobacco use, caffeine consumption (including coffee and tea), and electronic device usage throughout the experimental sessions. Research staff actively monitored participant adherence to these protocol requirements.

All participants completed the identical measurement sequence across all four experimental conditions. Each condition followed standardized procedures to maintain methodological consistency and ensure study replicability.

Figure 7 shows the complete experimental procedure flow above.

2.4. Measurement

2.4.1. Measurement of Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

In this study, heart rate variability (HRV) was recorded using an Actiheart monitor (CamNtech Ltd., Cambridge, UK). During data collection, the electrodes were positioned on the participants’ chests while maintaining a seated posture to minimize physiological variability and enhance data reliability.

The Actiheart device records R-R intervals with a temporal resolution of 1 ms. For HRV analysis, 5-min epochs were extracted. First, each epoch underwent digital filtering to identify and eliminate ectopic beats and motion artifacts [37]. Epochs with >10% ectopic beats or artifacts were discarded to ensure analysis validity. Subsequently, spectral HRV components were quantified via a Lomb-Scargle periodogram [38].

Heart rate variability (HRV) is an indicator of the central autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulation of the heart. High-frequency power (HFP) is a marker of parasympathetic regulation of cardiac activity, whereas low-frequency power (LFP) indicates sympathetic regulation [39]. The ratio of low-frequency power to high-frequency power (LF/HF) reflects the “sympathetic-parasympathetic balance,” representing the equilibrium between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system modulation of the heart rhythm [40]. Physiological and psychological stress can affect HRV. Under stress, autonomic regulation of the heart tends to involve more sympathetic activity and less parasympathetic activity, manifested by an increase in low-frequency power (LFP) and the LF/HF ratio, accompanied by decreased high-frequency power (HFP) and total power (TP).

2.4.2. Psychological Measurement

Psychological assessment comprised the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the Perceived Restorative Scale (PRS). Participants completed both questionnaires in a pre-post experimental design to evaluate emotional state changes across environmental conditions. Both scales underwent rigorous cross-cultural adaptation and validation processes to ensure their applicability and reliability in the Chinese context.

The Profile of Mood States (POMS) is a validated self-report measure of transient affective states [41]. This 40-item instrument employs a 6-point Likert scale (0 = “not at all” to 5 = “extremely”). It assesses six mood dimensions: Tension-Anxiety (T), Depression-Dejection (D), Anger-Hostility (A), Vigor-Activity (V), Fatigue-Inertia (F), and Confusion-Bewilderment (C). The measure has demonstrated strong psychometric properties across multiple validation studies.

Environmental restoration was evaluated using the Perceived Restorative Scale (PRS) [42]. This 24-item scale measures four restorative dimensions: Being Away, Extent, Fascination, and Compatibility. These constructs originate from Attention Restoration Theory (ART) [4].

In this study, the Chinese (simplified) version of the Mood State Scale (POMS) was used as a mental health assessment tool, and its cross-cultural validity and measurement reliability were strictly verified by academic research. Chen et al. (2002) studied and evaluated the equivalence of POMS in Chinese and English, and found that Chinese was as reliable as English, and the Chinese version of POMS showed strong psychometric characteristics in the subjects [43]. As a classic tool of cross-cultural psychometrics, for its localized application in China, Ileana Schmalbach et al. (2025) systematically studied the psychometric characteristics of POMS in 10 languages and found that the Chinese simplified version of POMS demonstrated strong model fit, which confirmed the cross-cultural applicability of POMS [44].

The Chinese version of the PRS was rigorously adapted through standardized cross-cultural validation protocols. This study employed the 26-item Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) developed by Hartig et al. (1997), a tool grounded in Attention Restoration Theory (ART), to evaluate the restorative quality of physical environments using a 5-point Likert scale [42]. The PRS has been widely applied in global research on the psychological benefits of natural and built environments [45,46]. To address cross-cultural validity in the Chinese context, this study referenced the 23-item Chinese version of the PRS, which followed rigorous cross-cultural validation procedures, including forward-backward translation, cultural-semantic adaptation, and pilot testing, to ensure alignment with Chinese university students’ cognitive patterns and campus environmental characteristics. Psychometric validation demonstrated excellent internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the stability of its four-dimensional structure (Fascination, Being away, Compatibility, and Extent) in Chinese populations. These findings align with the original framework by Wang et al. (2016) [47], confirming that the Chinese PRS effectively mitigates linguistic and cultural biases. Consequently, this study adopted the validated Chinese version to ensure cultural sensitivity and ecological validity in measuring environmental restorative effects within Chinese higher education settings.

The Profile of Mood States (POMS) is a validated self-report measure of transient affective states [28]. This 40-item instrument employs a 6-point Likert scale (0 = “not at all” to 5 = “extremely”). It assesses six mood dimensions: Tension-Anxiety (T), Depression-Dejection (D), Anger-Hostility (A), Vigor-Activity (V), Fatigue-Inertia (F), and Confusion-Bewilderment (C). The measure has demonstrated strong psychometric properties across multiple validation studies.

Environmental restoration was evaluated using the Perceived Restorative Scale (PRS) [27,28,29]. This 24-item scale measures four restorative dimensions: Being Away, Extent, Fascination, and Compatibility. These constructs originate from Attention Restoration Theory (ART) [47].

3. Results

3.1. Heart Rate Variability

To assess the impact of different environmental conditions on heart rate variability (HRV), paired t-tests were performed to compare HRV measurements across experimental environments. The null hypothesis (H_o) posited no significant differences between environments, while the alternative hypothesis (H₁) predicted significant HRV changes induced by environmental exposure (p < 0.05).

3.1.1. Comparison of Ordinary Built Environment and Historical Built Environment with Intentional Historical Information

HRV measurements were compared between the ordinary built building environment and the historical built environment with intentional historical information. As shown in

Table 2. Comparison of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Between Ordinary Built Environment and Historical Built Environment with Intentional Historical Narratives.

Condition	Mean (ms)	SD (ms)
Office	55	23
Pre-walk (Standard Chain Coffee Shop)	52	32
Post-walk (Standard Chain Coffee Shop)	54	25
Pre-walk (Independent Coffee Shop)	58	30
Post-walk (Independent Coffee Shop)	64	28

Source: this study (own contribution).

, HRV increased significantly after walking in the historically built environment with intentional historical information (p < 0.01).

The results indicate a significant increase in HRV in the historical built environment with intentional historical information (p < 0.01), compared to both baseline measurements and the pre-walk HRV values in the Standard Chain Coffee Shop and Independent Coffee Shop.

3.1.2. Comparison of Historical Environment with Intentional Historical Narratives and Natural Landscape Environment

A significant difference was found when comparing HRV in the historical built environment with intentional historical information and the natural landscape environment.

Table 3. Comparison of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Between Historical Environment with Intentional Historical Narratives and Natural Landscape Environment.

Condition	Mean (ms)	SD (ms)
Pre-walk (Independent Coffee Shop)	58	39
Post-walk (Independent Coffee Shop)	64	28
Pre-walk (Wetland Park)	56	27
Post-walk (Wetland Park)	64	24

Source: this study (own contribution).

shows that HRV significantly increased after walking in the Wetland Park and Independent Coffee Shop environments (p < 0.05).

The statistics of HRV increased significantly in independent coffee shops (p < 0.05) and also changed significantly in wetland parks (p < 0.05), indicating that both independent coffee shops and wetland parks significantly affected HRV due to specific environmental characteristics.

3.1.3. Comparison of Historical Built Environment Without Intentional Historical Information and Other Environments

The historically-ambiguous environment showed no statistically significant HRV differences compared to other conditions. Similarly, conventional built environments and natural landscapes elicited comparable HRV responses. Complete statistical comparisons are detailed in

Table 4. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Across Environments with Unintentional Historical Information.

Condition	Mean (ms)	SD (ms)
Post-walk (Campus Cultural Gift Shop)	64	28
Pre-walk (Standard Chain Coffee Shop)	52	32
Post-walk (Standard Chain Coffee Shop)	54	25
Pre-walk (Wetland Park)	56	27
Post-walk (Wetland Park)	64	24
Pre-walk (Independent Coffee Shop)	58	39
Post-walk (Independent Coffee Shop)	64	28

Source: this study (own contribution).

.

These results suggest that the absence of intentional historical information in the historical environment does not have a significant impact on HRV compared with other environments, including ordinary campus buildings and natural landscape environments.

3.2. Overview of Emotional State

The results from the perceived mood states questionnaire were analyzed by performance means with regard to mean value, confidence interval (confidence limits 95% low/high), p-value (t-test dependent samples), and effect size (Hedges’g) (see

Table 5. Profile of Mood States (POMS) Scores and Effect Sizes Across Experimental Environments.

Variable POMS	Variable Environment	Mean	CL Low 95%	CL High 95%	Standard Deviation	P (t-Test Dependent Samples)	ES (Hg)
Tension-Anxiety	P1	7.97	7.14	8.80	2.35
	P2	7.00	6.40	7.59	1.70	0.0452	0.15
	P3	6.81	6.26	7.33	1.63	0.0078	0.18
	P4	6.84	6.33	7.35	1.55	0.0198	0.18
Depression-Dejection	P1	14.22	12.82	15.62	4.09
	P2	12.44	11.64	13.23	2.28	0.0351	0.24
	P3	12.37	11.58	13.17	2.44	0.0134	0.25
	P4	12.31	11.67	12.95	1.94	0.0135	0.26
Anger-Hostility	P1	20.77	19.03	22.5	4.99
	P2	18.73	17.77	19.69	2.75	0.0417	0.25
	P3	18.78	17.51	20.04	3.90	0.0387	0.23
	P4	18.42	17.73	19.10	2.08	0.0121	0.30
Fatigue-Inertia	P1	26.6	24.26	28.93	6.80
	P2	23.73	22.45	25.01	3.67	0.0437	0.30
	P3	23.83	22.23	25.43	4.94	0.0347	0.27
	P4	23.52	22.31	24.74	3.69	0.0225	0.32
Confusion-Bewilderment	P1	7.62	6.80	8.44	2.34
	P2	6.17	5.58	6.77	1.71	0.0068	0.23
	P3	6.45	5.84	7.07	1.9	0.0277	0.18
	P4	6.68	6.11	7.25	1.72	0.0335	0.15
Vigor-Activity	P1	16.34	14.58	18.10	5.01
	P2	19.67	17.75	21.6	5.53	0.0187	0.36
	P3	19.00	16.16	19.99	5.91	0.2532	0.18
	P4	18.08	17.18	20.81	5.53	0.1450	0.19
Total POMS	P1	60.84	53.25	68.45	21.94
	P2	48.41	43.27	53.54	14.76	0.0413	0.47
	P3	50.08	44.58	55.59	13.36	0.1376	0.41
	P4	49.55	44.91	54.2	15.84	0.1809	0.41

Note I. P1 = ordinary built environment, P2 = natural landscape environment, P3 = historical built environment with intentional historical narratives, P4 = historical built environment with unintentional historical narratives. Note II. CL = confidence limits, ES (Hg) = Effect size, Hedges’ g. Note III. The p-values (t-test for dependent samples) and effect sizes (Hedges’ g) for P2, P3, and P4 were calculated in comparison to P1.

).

The reduction in mood disturbance was statistically significant in the historically built environment with explicitly conveyed historical narratives (p < 0.05). In relation to effect size (Hedges’ g), the POMS variable “Depression-Dejection,” “Fatigue-Inertia,” and “Anger-Hostility” were substantially reduced, and “Total POMS” was substantially increased by the walk.

The starting values for the four environments showed that several of the POMS variables in the ordinary built environment had higher values than those in the other environments. Therefore, the significance (t-test dependent samples) and effect size (Hedges’ g) were calculated to determine the difference in starting values. The results showed that the following five POMS variables had significantly higher starting values in the urban environment: Tension-Anxiety (p < 0.05, ES Hedges’ g = 0.18), Depres-sion-Dejection (p < 0.05, ES Hedges’ g = 0.24), Anger-Hostility (p < 0.05, ES Hedges’ g = 0.23), Fatigue-Inertia (p < 0.05, ES Hedges’ g = 0.27), Confusion-Bewilderment (p < 0.05, ES Hedges’ g = 0.18). Generally, in terms of the magnitude of the change in values, the change was more pronounced in the natural landscape environment than in the historical built environment with intentional historical narratives. However, this difference in starting values could be predicted by the participants already experiencing mood improvement from walking in the historical environment compared to sitting in an ordinary built environment.

3.3. Perceptual Recovery Scale

There was a significant difference between the ordinary built environment and the other three environments in the average PRS scores (Figure 8), where the ordinary built environment was rated lower than the ordinary built environment in all four components: Being Away, Fascination, Extent, and Compatibility. Between the ordinary built environment (P1) and the historical built environment with explicitly conveyed historical narratives (P3), the most pronounced difference emerged in fascination (P1 Mdn = 3.25, P3 Mdn = 3.83). The total PRS score for P3 was 14.78 (SD = 2.66), compared to 12.02 (SD = 2.23) for P1.

To investigate associations between PRS scores and POMS results, Spearman correlation analysis was conducted (

Table 6. Spearman Correlations Between Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) Dimensions and Profile of Mood States (POMS) Scores.

	POMS
PRS		Tension	Depression	Anger	Fatigue	Confusion	Vigor	POMS
Fascination	Difference	−0.290	−0.366	−0.367	−0.453	−0.427	0.477	−0.555
	p-value	0.140	0.072	0.072	0.033	0.042	0.000	0.012
Being away	Difference	−0.062	−0.232	−0.236	−0.284	−0.371	0.426	−0.437
	p-value	0.724	0.225	0.218	0.147	0.069	0.002	0.038
Compatibility	Difference	−0.220	−0.258	−0.271	−0.408	−0.479	0.602	−0.567
	p-value	0.246	0.182	0.164	0.049	0.026	0.000	0.011
Extent	Difference	−0.240	−0.307	−0.320	−0.316	−0.417	0.606	−0.555
	p-value	0.211	0.121	0.108	0.113	0.046	0.000	0.013

Source: this study (own contribution).

). First, the Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated for the historical built environment with unintentional historical narratives (P4), followed by correlation analysis. Table 6 presents the correlation coefficients (ρ) and significance levels of these correlations.

As shown in Table 5, after walking in the historical built environment with implicitly conveyed historical information, the POMS dimensions that showed significant changes were all five negative dimensions: “Tension-Anxiety,” “Depression-Dejection,” “Anger-Hostility,” “Fatigue-Inertia,” and “Confusion-Bewilderment.” When examining whether the results of the POMS scale were correlated with the results of the PRS scale, significant correlations were found between “Fatigue” and “Fascination” (p < 0.05) as well as “Compatibility” (p < 0.05); “Confusion” also showed significant correlations with “Fascination,” “Compatibility,” and “Extent” (all p < 0.05). Additionally, significant correlations were observed between “Vigor” (p < 0.0005 for Fascination, p < 0.00001 for Compatibility, p < 0.005 for Being Away, and p < 0.00001 for Extent) and “Total POMS” (all p < 0.05 for Fascination, p < 0.05 for Compatibility, p < 0.05 for Being Away, and p < 0.05 for Extent) and all four dimensions of the PRS, as shown in Table 6.

4. Discussion

4.1. Physiological Findings and Implications

The ranking of physiological recovery effects was as follows: P1 < P4 < P3 < P2.

This study found that HRV in historically built environments (e.g., the Independent Coffee Shop) was significantly higher than in ordinary built environments (e.g., Standard Chain Coffee Shop), suggesting that historical environments may regulate autonomic nervous function through cultural resonance [48]. However, the clarity of historical information conveyed did not have a significant effect on HRV, which partially contradicts the “environmental symbolism” theory proposed by Scopelliti et al. [17]. This discrepancy may be because participants’ perceptions of implicit historical elements were not quantitatively assessed. Additionally, the HRV increase was most pronounced in natural environments, supporting Ulrich’s Stress Reduction Theory (SRT) [24], which posits that the biophilic qualities of natural elements directly promote physiological relaxation. Brief nature-based mindfulness interventions demonstrate efficacy in alleviating anxiety symptoms among university students [49]. The results also support Peng et al.’s conclusion that “campus greening” has a negative impact on “disappointment” and “depression” and a positive impact on “happiness” and “security” [50].

These findings highlight the potential of historically built environments to foster physiological well-being, suggesting that they should be prioritized in urban renewal initiatives as key spaces for public mental health interventions. By preserving and revitalizing historical built environments, cities can create restorative settings that not only retain cultural significance but also contribute to stress reduction and cognitive recovery [8].

4.2. Psychological Restoration: Mood and Attention Dynamics

The ranking of psychological recovery effects was as follows: P1 < P4 < P3 ≈ P2.

The results from the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) revealed that both historical and natural environments exerted significantly greater restorative effects on attention than typical urban settings. In particular, the natural environment (P2) exhibited the strongest restorative potential. However, the historical built environments with designed historical communication (P3) still demonstrated greater restorative effects than the historical environment lacking such communication (P4), albeit weaker than the natural setting.

POMS data revealed positive improvements across all six mood dimensions in the historical and natural locations when compared to the ordinary built environment (P1), with notable reductions in negative emotions such as depression and anger, particularly in the historically informed environment (P3). This finding aligns with previous research by Korpela et al. [8], which suggests that cultural narratives may enhance emotional regulation. Prior studies have echoed analogous perspectives; for instance, Lin et al. emphasized the criticality of considering the proportions of landscape elements [51]. Additionally, research by Mehaffy, et al. observed congruent findings, noting that individuals tend to prioritize architectural facades and artificial decorations when engaging with campus landscapes [52].

Despite these benefits, the restorative potential of historical environments, even when enriched with historical contexts, remains lower than that of natural environments, suggesting that the integration of natural elements may be crucial for maximizing the therapeutic effects of historical settings. These results emphasize the need for urban planning strategies that combine historical preservation with natural elements to optimize both cultural value and psychological restoration in urban environments. In particular, the implementation of a “history-nature” hybrid space design —such as cultural trails and ecological courtyards—can maximize the healing potential of the environment. Future research can expand to compare multiple urban campuses and explore the driving mechanisms of historical environment restoration across different cultural contexts.

According to Attention Restoration Theory (ART), environments that provide “being-away,” soft fascination, compatibility, and extent facilitate the restoration of directed attention resources [53]. A historically built environment with explicit historical narratives can satisfy these four components much like natural landscapes do: the storytelling elements create a sense of “being away,” cultural details engage effortless fascination, coherent site design ensures extent and alignment with visitors’ interests provides compatibility [17]. Empirical evidence shows that historical-artistic features correlate strongly with perceived restorative benefits, particularly in the fascination dimension [54].

Beyond ART, the concepts of place attachment and Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) further explain convergence. Historical built environments with explicit historical narratives often deliver non-material CES such as aesthetic enjoyment, heritage appreciation, and education, which align with CES studies demonstrating that higher perceived cultural and aesthetic values predict stronger attention restoration and stress reduction [23]. At the same time, the emotional attachment to the place established through meaningful story narration will enhance the sense of security and comfort, thus promoting physical and mental relaxation and recovery. Therefore, a historically built environment with explicit historical narratives has some similar effects to the natural environment in restoring attention and reducing stress through mechanisms such as “soft fascination” and “place attachment” [55].

4.3. Integrated Effects of Physiological and Psychological Restoration

The physiological and psychological indicators were ranked separately based on restorative effects. The ranking of physiological recovery effects was as follows: P1 < P4 < P3 < P2, indicating that P2 (natural landscape environment) exhibited the highest physiological recovery potential, while P1 showed the lowest. Similarly, the ranking of psychological recovery effects was P1 < P4 < P3 ≈ P2, with P2 demonstrating slightly better results than P3. When integrating both physiological and psychological indicators, it can be concluded that P2 and P3 exhibited the most effective restorative effects in terms of attention restoration and stress alleviation. Although P3 (a historically built environment with intentional historical narratives) demonstrated slightly lower physiological recovery effects compared to P2, it showed a notable improvement over P4 (an environment lacking explicit historical information), highlighting the potential benefits of historical elements in environmental design.

The findings indicate that environments incorporating explicit historical information positively contribute to attention restoration and psychological stress reduction, with restorative effects approaching those of natural environments. Previous studies have suggested that culturally significant artificial elements may exert stronger psychological restorative effects than purely natural elements [56]. This perspective provides a compelling explanation for the observed results in this study, where P3 demonstrated significantly superior attention restoration and stress reduction effects compared to P4, and exhibited restorative outcomes comparable to those of P2. A potential explanation for this phenomenon is that historical environments with explicit historical information incorporate culturally and historically meaningful artificial elements into their design. For instance, the presence of historical information boards allows participants to engage deeply with historical narratives while reading. This immersive cognitive engagement fosters a sense of fascination, capturing attention while simultaneously providing a psychological sense of “being away,” enabling individuals to mentally detach from academic pressures. Consequently, this contributes to improved attention restoration and psychological relaxation, ultimately enhancing the restorative benefits in such environments.

Moreover, the incorporation of cultural and artistic design elements into historical environments imbues these spaces with deeper symbolic and emotional significance compared to purely natural environments. Although natural environments provide a direct pathway for physiological and psychological restoration, historical environments may offer unique cognitive and affective benefits by fostering cultural identity, emotional attachment, and a sense of continuity with the past. To further strengthen these benefits, historical environment renovation should enhance information dissemination (e.g., digital guides and scene restoration) to reinforce cultural identity, allowing users to establish a deeper connection with the historical context and foster a stronger sense of place attachment. These factors collectively strengthen the overall restorative potential of historical environments, consistent with the findings of Scrima et al. [57]. Furthermore, by providing a layered and meaningful experience, such environments extend beyond mere aesthetic appreciation and instead facilitate deeper engagement with historical and cultural narratives, further enhancing their roles in stress reduction and attention recovery.

Given these findings, in the context of high-density urban campuses, the intentional design and maintenance of environments with explicit historical information, such as the strategic integration of historical and cultural elements, the optimization of environmental storytelling, and the enhancement of cultural landscape interactivity, can serve as an effective strategy to foster students’ mental well-being, improve attention restoration, and mitigate academic stress. These insights not only provide valuable theoretical support for future campus environmental planning but also expand the applicability of Attention Restoration Theory (ART) by demonstrating its relevance in cultural and historical settings. Consequently, the integration of historical and cultural elements within campus design should be regarded as a critical consideration for promoting students’ mental health and optimizing campus environments for cognitive recovery.

4.4. Limitations

This study focused on the exam-week period by selecting South China Agricultural University—the largest and most ecologically diverse campus in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China—to ensure that participants could be precisely compared within a single site. To guarantee data accuracy and validity, we conducted multiple measurements on 38 students within a uniform time frame. Although the sample size is modest, it is enough to reveal the preliminary relationship between environmental types and psychological state and meet the limited research problems of this round of exploration in the context of exam week.

While our current design is well aligned with our specific research objectives, its generalizability and diversity remain constrained by the lack of multi-site implementation, limited seasonal coverage, insufficient environmental and vegetation-density variability, modest sample size, restricted participant diversity, and unverified cross-cultural reliability of the instruments. With adequate funding, future studies should integrate multi-site comparative research, longitudinal designs, and mixed-methods approaches to better capture subjective experiences and long-term psychological benefits:

• Increase sample size and conduct parallel studies across different universities to incorporate diverse campus cultures.
• Implement repeated measurements across the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—to assess seasonal fluctuations.
• Perform stratified analyses by academic year, major, and geographic background to explore dynamic differences and interaction effects of environmental influences.
• Conduct cross-cultural field investigation or cross-border cooperative research to examine how variations in the interpretation of heritage symbols among different cultural groups affect the mechanisms and outcomes of restoration.
• Incorporate objective psychophysiological measures. Employ eye-tracking and neuroimaging techniques (e.g., EEG, fMRI) to objectively assess attentional restoration and underlying neural correlates elicited by natural versus historical environments.
• Adopt factorial experimental designs that systematically vary vegetation density and heritage-building features independently to disentangle the unique and interactive contributions of vegetation versus built heritage to restorative outcomes.

4.5. Practical Implications for Urban Planning and Research

This finding also provides more actionable recommendations for urban planners, architects, and policymakers. The following discussion will elaborate on three key aspects: urban green spaces, cultural heritage policies, and therapeutic environment design.

About Optimization of Urban Green Space Planning, traditional green space planning often focuses on quantitative metrics of natural spaces (e.g., per capita green area). However, this study highlights that “the restoration and revitalization of historic districts can equally contribute to citizens’ mental health”. We recommend integrating historic environments into urban “restorative space network” assessment frameworks. For instance:

(1)

In old urban areas with insufficient green spaces, priority should be given to “cultural-ecological composite restoration” (e.g., converting historical building courtyards into gardens or relic sites into parks) to compensate for natural space shortages [58];

(2)

Establishing “cultural restorative service zones” for historic districts, analogous to the “service radius” standards for natural environments, to ensure residents’ convenient access to culturally therapeutic scenes [59].

To transform Cultural Heritage Policies, current cultural heritage conservation policies predominantly emphasize physical preservation. This study reveals their public health value, urging policymakers to:

(1)

Introduce psychosocial benefit indicators (e.g., place attachment intensity, visitor mood enhancement) into heritage evaluation systems, shifting the focus from “preservation” to “active utilization”;

(2)

Incorporate historical environment restoration into Social Prescribing (SP) frameworks, collaborating with healthcare institutions to develop “cultural therapeutic pathways,” such as designing historic district walking therapies for anxiety patients.

For Innovation in Therapeutic Environment Design, building on the emerging paradigm of Neuroarchitecture. Urban planners should pay attention to the “narrative restoration” of historical environments, such as enhancing the readability of architectural symbols (e.g., information signage, and interactive exhibitions) to improve their psychological healing value [60]. This study offers empirical validation from a historical perspective. Architects are advised to:

(1)

Enhance “narrative-driven design” in historical building retrofits (e.g., using AR to reconstruct artisan construction processes), leveraging cultural resonance to amplify users’ sense of belonging and relaxation [61];

(2)

Integrate “biophilic design principles” (e.g., fractal patterns, organic geometries) with historic contexts by fusing traditional motifs with plant-inspired forms, achieving synergistic cultural-natural restoration [62].

Furthermore, the rapid advancement of digital technologies—such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and metaverse platforms—has expanded new possibilities for restorative environmental design [63]. This field is progressing toward interdisciplinary integration, personalized needs, and systematization [64]. In the revitalization of historical environments, AR technology can overlay dynamic reconstructions of historical scenes (e.g., virtual restoration of architectural original forms, and narratives of historical events), enhancing the immersion and interactivity of cultural symbol interpretation. This strengthens the regulatory role of “cultural resonance” on the autonomic nervous system (see Section 4.1). For instance, AR-guided systems could activate context-aware historical information delivery based on users’ real-time locations, leveraging multisensory stimuli to amplify the positive impact of environmental narratives on emotional regulation (e.g., alleviating depression and anger, as discussed in Section 4.2).

The restorative potential of virtual natural environments also warrants exploration. Addressing the scarcity of natural spaces in high-density urban areas, VR technology can simulate biophilic virtual landscapes (e.g., forests, water bodies), offering alternative nature exposure through visual-auditory multimodal interactions. Virtual reality (VR) provides a secure and practical solution to enhance nature exposure [65]. Empirical studies have demonstrated that daily exposure to virtual natural environments alleviates anxiety symptoms among university students [66]. Although its efficacy remains weaker than that of real natural environments, it could serve as a supplementary tool for ecological restoration in urban historic districts. For example, embedding “VR healing pods” within renovated historical buildings could provide users with portable, stress-relieving restorative spaces.

The rise of the metaverse further propels the creation of hybrid “physical-virtual restorative environments” [67]. By replicating historic district spaces via digital twin technology, users can engage in customized cultural narratives through avatar interactions (e.g., role-playing historical events) or transcend physical constraints to integrate cross-cultural elements (e.g., juxtaposing architectural styles from different eras). Such blended environments not only expand the generative dimensions of “place attachment” (see Section 4.3) but also amplify the synergistic effects of collective cultural identity on psychological restoration through social connectivity. Additionally, adjusting dynamic environmental parameters in the metaverse (e.g., lighting, vegetation density) could establish controlled experimental scenarios for investigating the restorative mechanisms of historical-natural elements.

5. Conclusions

This study explored the effects of different campus environments on physiological and psychological restoration through empirical analysis, leading to the following conclusions:

• Historical built environments exhibit greater psychological restorative potential than ordinary built campus environments, as indicated by significantly higher HRV and PRS scores (p < 0.01). This finding suggests that environments containing historical information can contribute to attention restoration and psychological stress relief, to a certain extent.
• Environments with intentionally and explicitly conveyed historical information demonstrated stronger restorative effects than general historical environments, although the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.17). This result implies that information transmission should align with participants’ cultural cognition. This study indicates that when historical environments contain intentionally articulated historical information, they facilitate cognitive engagement and immersive experiences with historical narratives, thereby enhancing psychological stress alleviation and attention restoration.
• Natural landscape environments exhibit the strongest psychological restorative effects; however, environments that explicitly convey historical information can partially replicate these effects. Consequently, such environments can promote attention restoration and psychological stress relief to a comparable extent, supporting the “culture-nature” synergistic design concept.

Future research could expand to compare multiple urban campuses and explore the dynamic mechanisms of historical environmental restoration in cross-cultural contexts.