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Buildings
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Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health
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Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2025 | Viewed by 8053

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiaohuan Xie

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Architecture & Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: green building; healthy building; sustainable landscape
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ling Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Architecture & Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: architectural behavior; architectural planning; elderly architectural design
Dr. Yiqi Tao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518061, China
Interests: health care building; university campuses; post-occupancy evaluation; biophilic design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the acceleration of the pace of urban life and the prominence of various urban problems (including environmental pollution, social inequality, adverse health consequences, etc.), more and more people are suffering from increased stress, emotional loss, decreased attention, anxiety, depression and other mental illness risks. People's mental health problems have also attracted increasing attention from researchers, government agencies and the public. The built environment can affect the mental health of users to a certain extent. In the development and optimization of buildings, the environment construction based on human health is an important measure to improve the living environment and promote the high-quality development of the built environment. At present, the measurement methods for mental health are constantly being updated, and various wearable portable EEG devices can record the changes in individual physiological indicators in real time. The emergence of new data and machine learning algorithms has also provided more refined, comprehensive databases and diverse empirical cases for built environment research. Therefore, this Special Issue “Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health” will focus on the relationship between the living environment and human mental health, outline new methods for measuring environmental and psychological indicators, and propose environmental optimization strategies for promoting mental health. We hope to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, social sciences, and computer science.

The objective of this Special Issue is to solicit high-standard literature reviews, original theory, experimental work, case studies, and comprehensive review papers. Relevant topics to this Special Issue include but are not limited to the following subjects:

(1) The relationship and influence path between living environments and mental health;

(2) Environmental strategies that promote mental health;

(3) Mental health assessment of living environments;

(4) The relationship between built environment characteristics, human perception, behavioral activities and mental health.

Dr. Xiaohuan Xie
Dr. Ling Zhang
Dr. Yiqi Tao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mental health
  • behavioral activity
  • human perception
  • living environment
  • built environment
  • environmental quality
  • environmental justice
  • health promotion strategy
  • design and evaluation of intervention strategies
  • interdisciplinary research

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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33 pages, 7431 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Landscapes and Soundscapes in Traditional Villages in the Hakka Region of Guangdong Province Based on Audio-Visual Interactions
by Dongxu Zhang, Hao Chen, Xinyi Zhang and Lingge Tan
Buildings 2025, 15(2), 259; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15020259 - 17 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 907
Abstract
Traditional villages in the Hakka region of Guangdong Province have attracted significant attention for their unique cultural heritage and traditional lifestyles. Their favourable audio-visual environments offer immersive and realistic experiences for both residents and visitors. Thus, we selected four representative villages and used [...] Read more.
Traditional villages in the Hakka region of Guangdong Province have attracted significant attention for their unique cultural heritage and traditional lifestyles. Their favourable audio-visual environments offer immersive and realistic experiences for both residents and visitors. Thus, we selected four representative villages and used semantic segmentation to extract the core visual elements (sky, vegetation, construction, and dynamic) from visual landscape images. Audio-visual interaction experiments and subjective surveys were conducted to investigate the participants’ evaluations of the visual landscape and soundscape to explore the mechanisms of audio-visual interaction. The results revealed that different audio-visual combinations significantly influenced the participants’ visual landscape satisfaction, acoustic comfort, and audio-visual harmony evaluations. Specifically, visual images of natural spaces with a high proportion of sky (24.54%) and vegetation (72.56%), matched with natural sounds (with a sound pressure level of approximately 55 dB) such as birdsong, wind, and flowing water, received excellent ratings for both visual landscape satisfaction and acoustic comfort evaluations. Moreover, the findings further revealed that coordination between visual and audio materials was crucial for enhancing the participants’ perceptions and assessments, highlighting the importance of audio-visual coordination in creating harmonious environments. These findings provide recommendations for spatial planning, landscape design, and soundscape optimisation in traditional villages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health)
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13 pages, 9508 KiB  
Article
Preliminary Study on Gender Differences in EEG-Based Emotional Responses in Virtual Architectural Environments
by Zhubin Li, Kun Wang, Mingyue Hai, Pengyu Cai and Ya Zhang
Buildings 2024, 14(9), 2884; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14092884 - 12 Sep 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1075
Abstract
In traditional cultural perceptions of gender, women are stereotyped as being more “emotional” than men. Although significant progress has been made in studying gender differences in emotional responses over the past few decades, there is still no consistent conclusion as to whether women [...] Read more.
In traditional cultural perceptions of gender, women are stereotyped as being more “emotional” than men. Although significant progress has been made in studying gender differences in emotional responses over the past few decades, there is still no consistent conclusion as to whether women are more emotional than men. In this study, we investigated gender differences in emotional responses between two groups of students (10 males and 10 females) in the same architectural environment, particularly in a digital cultural tourism scenario. Participants viewed the “Time Tunnel” of the ancient city of Qingzhou through VR simulation. Brainwave evoked potentials were recorded using wearable EEG devices. The results showed that females typically reported stronger emotional responses, as evidenced by higher arousal, lower potency, and stronger avoidance motivation. In contrast, males exhibited higher potency, lower arousal, and stronger comfort. The findings suggest that males have a more positive emotional response in virtual digital environments, whereas females are more sensitive and vulnerable to such environments, experiencing some discomfort. These findings can be used to guide the design and adaptation of virtual built environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health)
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14 pages, 5000 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Architecture for Future Climates: Optimizing a Library Building through Multi-Objective Design
by Yijia Miao, Zebin Chen, Yiyong Chen and Yiqi Tao
Buildings 2024, 14(6), 1877; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14061877 - 20 Jun 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1899
Abstract
In the context of the escalating challenge of climate change, optimizing buildings’ energy performance has become a critical research area, yet studies specifically targeting library buildings are scarce. This study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of multi-objective optimization on energy efficiency [...] Read more.
In the context of the escalating challenge of climate change, optimizing buildings’ energy performance has become a critical research area, yet studies specifically targeting library buildings are scarce. This study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of multi-objective optimization on energy efficiency and occupant comfort in educational library buildings under future climate scenarios. Utilizing the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), this research optimizes a range of building parameters, including the cooling and heating setpoints, air change rates, shading device depths, window visible transmittance, and window gas types. The optimization aims to balance energy consumption and comfort, using simulations based on future weather data for the years 2020, 2050, and 2080. The results indicate that the optimized solutions can significantly reduce the heating energy by up to 95.34% and the cooling energy by up to 63.74% compared to the baseline models, while maintaining or improving the occupant comfort levels. This study highlights the necessity for dynamic, responsive architectural designs that can adapt to changing environmental conditions, ensuring both sustainability and occupant well-being. Furthermore, integrating these building-level optimizations into a City Information Model (CIM) framework can enhance urban planning and development, contributing to more resilient and energy-efficient cities. These findings underscore the importance of sustainable design practices in the context of climate change and the critical role of advanced optimization techniques in achieving energy-efficient, comfortable educational spaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health)
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Review

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22 pages, 6869 KiB  
Review
Correlation between Vegetation Landscape and Subjective Human Perception: A Systematic Review
by Xiaohuan Xie, Qiao Jiang, Ruobing Wang and Zhonghua Gou
Buildings 2024, 14(6), 1734; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14061734 - 9 Jun 2024
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2807
Abstract
Environmental perception is a key indicator for evaluating green space preference and satisfaction. The shift in urban green space research towards emphasizing human benefits over functionality has caused a gradual increase in the number of articles on green space perception in recent years. [...] Read more.
Environmental perception is a key indicator for evaluating green space preference and satisfaction. The shift in urban green space research towards emphasizing human benefits over functionality has caused a gradual increase in the number of articles on green space perception in recent years. Studying the relationship between the vegetation landscape (a fundamental aspect of urban green spaces) and subjective perceptual dimensions have become a pivotal research topic. This paper delves into the correlations and influencing relationships between these two dimensions with the main focus being on vegetation landscape indicators and subjective perception. The perceived green benefits were categorized into four main groups in the 80 articles reviewed: perceived safety, visual aesthetics, restoration benefits, and preferences. In this study, green indicators were also defined and categorized. The results indicated that the guiding indicators had a higher frequency and that species diversity improved the perceived benefits in all aspects. Among the control indicators, plant color, plant height, and the vegetation composition structure received the most attention. Plant color accounted for the largest proportion of studies on perceived visual aesthetics. Vegetation characteristics related to perceived safety had a shared trait, and there was a lack of correlation studies between safety and aesthetics in perceptual dimensions. In the common methods for assessing human perception, a shift from subjective measurements to mixed measurements using emerging technologies is underway. As a pioneering scope review of how vegetation landscapes influence subjective human perceptions, this study has not only provided evidence of the perceived benefits of urban green spaces but also offers valuable insights and tools for future research and policymaking. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimizing Living Environments for Mental Health)
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