Search Results (135)

Cultural heritage faces accelerating threats from armed conflict and climate-induced disasters, generating emergency scenarios in which the window for documentation may be measured in hours. Traditional high-fidelity workflows such as Terrestrial Laser Scanning and survey-grade Structure-from-Motion campaign can be operationally incompatible with these constraints due to costly hardware and specialist-team requirements. Emergency image acquisition can be undertaken with consumer-grade equipment, while the same photographic dataset can subsequently support both an SfM-MVS mesh for metric and geometric analysis and a 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) representation for view-dependent visual interpretation. This paper evaluates an accessible, entirely graphical workflow for producing these complementary outputs, with particular attention paid to the 3DGS stage and without requiring programming or command-line expertise. We develop a theoretical case drawing on Brandinian restoration theory and the international conservation framework, introducing the concept of informational amnesia, the irreversible loss of a site’s documentary record, as a distinct and undertheorized category of heritage failure. We further argue that the democratization of 3DGS documentation cannot be measured by licensing cost alone: a tool distributed as open-source code but requiring command-line expertise presents an effective accessibility barrier functionally equivalent to a commercial paywall. True accessibility requires installable, graphical software operable by non-specialist practitioners in the field. We present a proof-of-concept application of this accessible pipeline, namely DJI Mini 5 Pro, RealityScan for photogrammetric reconstruction, and Lichtfeld Studio for 3DGS generation, to the Fontana d’Ercole at the Reggia di Venaria Reale (UNESCO World Heritage, Turin, Italy). Visual results show photorealistic, navigable 3DGS surrogates of architecturally complex heritage assets achievable by non-specialist operators within hours of acquisition and establish the empirical foundation for future quantitative evaluation. Full article

Design studio education requires sustained attention and prolonged occupancy of a shared workspace, making environmental opportunities for brief recovery potentially relevant to students’ well-being. This exploratory study used affordance theory as an interpretive lens to examine the environmental modifications students proposed from their assigned desk positions and the extent to which sketch content was associated with academic year, studio location, and desk-level window view access. The dataset comprised 71 structured sketches, geometric view metrics for 85 workstations that were linked to the 71 sketch participants for inferential analyses, and a nonmatched lighting survey administered to the same cohorts one year later (n = 57). Sketches were coded into 17 modification categories. Water and Collaborative/Social Space were retained descriptively but excluded from inferential interpretation because of quasi-complete separation. Fifteen ordinary logistic regression models were evaluated with Benjamini–Hochberg false-discovery-rate correction, together with a complementary specification omitting studio location. Plants (73.2%), natural shapes/patterns (52.1%), and electric light quality (52.1%) were the most frequent modifications. In the primary models, Technology (q = 0.033) and Plants (q = 0.047) retained FDR-supported omnibus fit; only the academic-year coefficient for Technology retained FDR support (OR = 0.17, 95% CI [0.06, 0.50], q = 0.021). The study identifies environmental preferences and hypotheses for future intervention in restorative learning environments research. Full article

Depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders continue to rise globally, with South Africa’s burden intensified by structural inequalities and a 91% mental health treatment gap, making accessible complementary interventions urgently needed. This exploratory mixed-methods pilot study examined the feasibility and acceptability of astronomy-based mental health support grounded in Attention Restoration Theory and awe research and sought a preliminary signal of change in psychological well-being. Two sequential retreat iterations combined guided naked-eye and telescope-based stargazing with nature immersion: a proof-of-concept peer camp (n = 19, Glencairn) and a family-focused retreat (n = 22 across nine family groups, Sutherland). The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was administered before (T1) and after (T2) the Glencairn retreat; qualitative data comprised the Most Significant Change focus groups (Glencairn) and asynchronous text-based interviews (Sutherland). Mean depression, anxiety and stress scores were lower at T2 than at T1. Because questionnaires were completed anonymously, individual T1 and T2 responses could not be linked. A valid paired analysis was therefore not possible, and inferential significance testing was not undertaken. These results represent descriptive cohort level patterns and should not be interpreted as evidence of within person change. Qualitative findings across both settings indicated calm, perspective shifts, and relational connection, while environmental novelty and family dynamics introduced competing cognitive demands at Sutherland. These preliminary findings suggest that astronomy-based interventions may support short-term psychological well-being and highlight three design considerations for implementation in African contexts, offered as provisional insights rather than established implementation principles with the design considerations being: cognitive spaciousness, contextual onboarding and relational anchoring. Full article

Background/Objectives: Contemporary secondary students increasingly learn in technology-rich classrooms characterized by digital stimulation, multitasking demands, compressed pacing, platform switching, and persistent attentional competition. Established scholarship on cognitive load, multimedia learning, self-regulated learning, disciplinary literacy, attentional control, and environmental restoration identifies mechanisms relevant to these conditions, but these mechanisms are often examined at different levels of analysis. This conceptual review develops the Cognitive Ecology of Learning Framework (CELF) as an applied, classroom-level framework for examining how disciplinary cognitive demand, attentional fragmentation conditions, and restoration opportunities may interact during sustained secondary science learning. Methods: An integrative conceptual-review and theory-synthesis design was used. Iterative searches conducted from January through May 2026 identified theoretical, empirical, and review literature across education, psychology, attentional science, digital learning, environmental psychology, and secondary science education. Sources were selected purposively according to their relevance to the research questions and synthesized through cross-domain comparison. Results: The synthesis proposes CELF as a hypothesis-generating framework organized around three classroom-level dimensions: Disciplinary Cognitive Demand, Attentional Fragmentation Conditions, and Restoration Opportunities. The framework also proposes cognitive malnourishment and cognitive endurance as context-sensitive constructs requiring empirical validation. Cognitive malnourishment describes a possible ecological mismatch in which substantial informational or disciplinary demand coincides with persistent fragmentation and insufficient opportunities for elaboration, reflection, consolidation, and coherent reengagement. Cognitive endurance refers to the context-sensitive capacity to sustain attention, conceptual processing, and disciplinary reasoning during extended, cognitively demanding work. Preliminary indicators, measurement approaches, and testable propositions are presented for future classroom-based research. Conclusions: CELF organizes selected task-level, learner-level, disciplinary, attentional, and environmental constructs within a bounded framework for technology-rich secondary science classrooms. It does not revise or replace the foundational theories from which these constructs are drawn, nor does it claim causal validation. Instead, CELF provides a structure for investigating how classroom conditions may support or constrain attentional continuity, conceptual persistence, restoration, and sustained disciplinary engagement. Full article

This study addresses the limited campus-specific operationalization of attention restoration theory and the insufficient empirical validation of perceptual factors in university settings. It aims to identify key perceptual factors influencing attention restoration on campuses and to develop an evidence-based assessment framework for restorative campus design. An initial set of ten perceptual factors was synthesized from Attention Restoration Theory, Stress Recovery Theory, and Environmental Preference Theory. A two-round e-Delphi process involving 26 multidisciplinary experts from academia and design practice was conducted, followed by combination weighting to derive factor weights and construct a weighted assessment model. The model was validated through a student survey and tested for applicability in a representative campus space. The process achieved consensus on seven primary perceptual factors with the following weights: accessibility (0.187), comfort (0.150), visibility (0.143), sense of belonging (0.143), familiarity (0.142), peacefulness (0.118), and recognition (0.117). A practical assessment tool yielding a 0–10 restorativeness score was developed to quantitatively evaluate campus spaces. Student survey data confirmed the correspondence between model-derived scores and observed issues in the sample space. This study extends restorative environment theories to the hybrid natural-built contexts of university campuses and integrates an online Delphi procedure to develop a decision-support model. The resulting framework and tool enable planners and designers to diagnose deficiencies in campus environments and implement targeted interventions to enhance attention restoration. Full article

As green building concepts continue to expand into public cultural spaces, green concert halls not only serve functions of cultural communication and artistic services, but also play an important role in shaping urban residents’ psychological experiences and well-being. However, existing studies on green buildings have mainly focused on energy performance and technical indicators, while limited attention has been paid to how green cultural buildings are associated with residents’ well-being through environmental perception. In the Chinese context, research specifically examining green concert halls remains scarce. Based on environmental psychology and restorative environment theory, this study takes the Chengdu City Concert Hall, which has received China’s Three-Star Green Building certification, as the research object. A conceptual model of “green concert hall design perception–perceived nature connectedness–perceived restorativeness–residents’ well-being” was constructed to explore the underlying mechanisms linking green concert hall design perception and residents’ well-being. Green concert hall design perception was conceptualized as a second-order construct consisting of four dimensions: green design legibility, eco-environmental comfort, green aesthetic integration, and green cultural symbolism. Perceived nature connectedness and perceived restorativeness were introduced as mediating variables. A survey was conducted among 879 Chengdu residents with concert-hall attendance experience, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for empirical analysis. The results indicate that (1) green concert hall design perception is significantly and positively associated with residents’ well-being; and (2) perceived nature connectedness and perceived restorativeness both play significant mediating roles in the relationship between green concert hall design perception and residents’ well-being, while also forming a significant sequential mediating effect. The findings suggest that green concert halls are associated with more positive environmental experiences through ecological and aesthetic characteristics, and that residents’ well-being may be further linked to strengthened nature connectedness and restorative perceptions. This study extends research on green public cultural buildings from the perspective of residents’ psychological perception, and provides theoretical support and practical implications for human-centered green concert hall design and the development of urban green cultural spaces. Full article

Urban parks, as essential urban green infrastructure, contribute significantly to public health, psychological restoration, and socially sustainable urban living. However, existing research has primarily emphasized landscape aesthetics while paying comparatively limited attention to routine landscape maintenance as an important component of sustainable urban park governance. Drawing on Stress Recovery Theory (SRT), this study examines how landscape maintenance quality influences perceived well-being through perceived safety and restorative experience. Survey data were collected from 278 urban park users in Wangjianglou Park, Chengdu, China, and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that maintenance quality positively affects perceived well-being both directly and indirectly through perceived safety and restorative experience, which serve as significant mediators. Multi-group analysis further reveals demographic differences, with female users demonstrating stronger safety-related responses and older users exhibiting stronger restorative and perceived well-being benefits associated with maintenance conditions. The findings highlight the importance of routine park maintenance in supporting perceived safety, psychological restoration, inclusiveness, and the long-term usability of urban public spaces. The study advances understanding of how maintenance practices shape psychological restoration and urban perceived well-being while providing empirical support for sustainable urban green space management and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 11. Full article

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has become an increasingly important public health concern among adolescents, yet the potential protective role of restorative environmental experiences (nature exposure) remains insufficiently understood. Under the perspective of Stress Reduction Theory (SRT) and Attention Restoration Theory (ART), this cross-sectional study examined the association between nature exposure and adolescent PSU, with anxiety and self-control tested as potential mediators. The sample comprised 700 high school students recruited from several high schools in Qinghai Province, China (52.00% female; M age = 17.01 years, SD = 0.78). Nature exposure, anxiety, self-control, and PSU were assessed using self-report measures. The results showed that nature exposure was negatively associated with PSU; anxiety and self-control significantly mediated this association both independently and sequentially. Specifically, more nature exposure was associated with lower anxiety and higher self-control, which, in turn, were associated with lower PSU. These findings suggest that restorative environmental experiences may be associated with reduced vulnerability to PSU through interconnected affective and self-regulatory processes. The present study extends existing literature by integrating emotional and attentional restoration perspectives within a unified framework linking nature exposure to adolescent PSU, and provides implications for the prevention and intervention of PSU. Full article

This study examines how aquarium visitors’ perceived restorative environmental attributes influence leisure life satisfaction, positive emotional experience, and visit intention. Drawing on Attention Restoration Theory, aquariums are conceptualized not merely as indoor exhibition facilities but as restorative indoor blue space leisure settings. Using survey data from 452 Korean adults who had visited major aquariums within the previous 12 months, this study employed structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis. The results show that being away, fascination, and compatibility positively affected leisure life satisfaction, while fascination and compatibility significantly enhanced positive emotional experience. Both leisure life satisfaction and positive emotional experience were found to increase visit intention. Multi-group analysis revealed a significant difference only in the relationship between compatibility and positive emotional experience. Specifically, compatibility had a stronger effect on positive emotional experience among repeat visitors. In this study, Attention Restoration Theory is extended to aquarium-based indoor blue space settings, and restorative environmental perceptions are shown to influence and shape visitor responses through both cognitive and affective pathways. Although the outcome variable primarily captures visitors’ intention to revisit and recommend aquariums rather than direct pro-environmental behavior, the findings offer implications for sustainable marine leisure by showing how restorative and emotionally meaningful aquarium experiences can support conservation-oriented communication and longer-term visitor engagement. Practically, the findings suggest that aquarium managers should move beyond short-term price-oriented strategies and design restorative experiences that enhance fascination and compatibility, thereby strengthening emotionally meaningful and longer-term visitor engagement in sustainability-relevant leisure contexts. Full article

This article examines how Ecuadorian national digital newspapers represented adolescents and youth-coded young adults associated with crime during 2025, with particular attention to lexical labeling, moral attribution, visual framing, editorial prominence, news values and the near-presence or absence of educational discourse. The study is based on qualitative content analysis of Spanish-language digital press coverage published in El Universo, El Comercio, Extra, La Hora, GK, Primicias, Vistazo, El Mercurio and Expreso across seven journalistic genres: news, note, feature article, report, editorial, interview and chronicle. The article argues that media discourse does not merely describe youth violence; it actively constructs public intelligibility about who young people are, how danger is recognized and whether social responses are imagined in punitive, preventive or restorative terms. Grounded in media framing theory, news values, moral panic studies, child-friendly justice, critical sociology, school push-out scholarship and philosophies of education and human development, the article shows the inferential route from media representation to educational reintegration: when coverage individualizes adolescent violence, minimizes school interruption and masks structural conditions, it narrows the policy imagination through which young people are understood as educable, rights-bearing and recoverable subjects. The paper ultimately argues that the long-term reduction of violence in Ecuador requires not only security responses but also an integral reintegration agenda centered on education, dignified work, child-sensitive justice and restorative social policy. Full article

With the rapid development of immersive digital technologies, location-based entertainment (LBE) exhibitions have emerged as a new medium for cultural dissemination, particularly in cross-cultural contexts. While prior research on immersive experiences has predominantly emphasized immersion and virtual presence, limited attention has been paid to how audiences develop a sense of place within digitally constructed, culturally foreign environments. Drawing on sense of place theory and environmental psychology, this study develops the concept of cross-cultural virtual sense of place and proposes an S–O–R framework to examine the psychological mechanisms underlying immersive experiences. Specifically, entertainment, education, aesthetics, and escapism are conceptualized as stimuli (S), perceived restoration and place attachment as organism states (O), and continued engagement intention as the behavioral response (R). Data were collected from 383 participants who experienced an LBE immersive digital exhibition in China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results indicate that escapism has the strongest effect on perceived restoration, followed by education, entertainment, and aesthetics. Perceived restoration significantly enhances place attachment and continued engagement intention, and place attachment partially mediates the effect of perceived restoration on continued engagement intention. The findings contribute to the literature by reframing immersive digital exhibitions as processes of experiential place-making rather than mere content delivery, and by identifying perceived restoration as a critical psychological pathway linking immersive stimuli to sustained engagement in cross-cultural digital environments. Full article

This study explores experiences of spending time in immersive virtual reality with a natural environment among individuals with type 2 diabetes, aiming to enhance perceived wellbeing and reduce perceived stress. Seventeen participants with type 2 diabetes took part in a multimodal lifestyle education program and used immersive virtual reality with natural environment over a six-month period, selecting from a number of 30 min serene natural environments. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Participants described immersive virtual reality with a natural environment experience as providing tranquility, inspiration, and a sense of transcending time and space (A). Feelings of calm and mental withdrawal from everyday demands were often reported (A2), and memories were evoked (A2). Some participants experienced these effects as extending beyond the immersive virtual reality with natural environment sessions themselves (A3–4). At the same time, several factors were identified that could disrupt the restorative experience (A5), including technical issues, individual preferences for specific environments, health- or situation-related constraints, and difficulties establishing a regular routine for headset use. Immersive virtual reality with natural environment was generally viewed as a valuable complement to real-world nature experiences, particularly for individuals with limited access to outdoor environments (B1–2). Overall, the findings suggest that immersive virtual reality with natural environment experiences may offer a supportive resource for enhancing emotional wellbeing and managing stress in people with type 2 diabetes, while not replacing the benefits of actual nature exposure. Full article

Workplace irritation is a prevalent phenomenon in the hospitality industry and has detrimental effects on both individual and organisational outcomes. Whereas prior research has examined this toxic phenomenon, how irritated employees recover from such status has received limited attention. Based on the principles of attention restoration theory, the current study conceptualises the recovery process from workplace irritation as the restoration of attention and develops a dual-path, moderated-mediation model. Irritated employees may engage in dual parallel recovery paths: positive solitude and social interactions, which thereby enhance their subjective well-being. Furthermore, we employ extraversion as a moderator to regulate engagement across the dual paths. Using a multi-wave survey data collected from 356 hotel employees in China, our findings reveal that both positive solitude and social interactions mediate the relationship between workplace irritation and subjective well-being. Furthermore, our findings also support the moderating role of extraversion within the social interactions path. However, this study does not support a moderating role for this variable within the positive solitude path. Full article

The psychological benefits of waterfront public spaces have become an important topic in environmental design and architectural research. However, existing studies have primarily focused on the direct relationship between physical environmental attributes and user satisfaction, with limited attention to the psychological mechanisms through which architectural design influences residents’ well-being. This study examines waterfront concert halls as a type of cultural architectural space and develops a theoretical model integrating environmental restoration theory and place attachment theory. In this model, waterfront design perception is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct including water visibility, water accessibility, water harmony, and water interactivity, while perceived restorativeness and place attachment are treated as mediating variables, and residents’ well-being as the outcome variable. Based on questionnaire data collected from 1345 urban residents across six Chinese cities and seven waterfront concert hall cases, and analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling, the results show that waterfront design perception has a significant positive effect on residents’ well-being. Perceived restorativeness and place attachment both play mediating roles and jointly form a sequential pathway through which environmental perception is translated into psychological and emotional benefits. These findings extend the understanding of waterfront design from objective spatial attributes to subjective experiential processes and provide empirical support for the design of waterfront cultural architecture aimed at enhancing the well-being of urban residents. Full article

As global urbanization accelerates, biophilic urbanism has emerged as a key nature-based strategy for enhancing public health. While plants are critical active agents for psychological restoration, the specific pathways through which vegetation characteristics influence human–environment interactions remain fragmented. This knowledge gap hinders the evidence-based translation of biophilic principles into actionable urban design and governance. This study conducts a systematic bibliometric analysis of 443 peer-reviewed articles (2000–2025) at the intersection of restorative landscapes, urban settings, and plant-based interventions retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Employing multiple visualization tools (VOSviewer, bibliometrix, and CiteSpace), we map publication trends, international collaborations, and thematic evolution. The results demonstrate a significant shift in the field, moving beyond the validation of foundational restorative theories (e.g., ART and SRT) to a more precise, implementation-oriented framework. This shift is characterized by the operationalization of vegetation attributes as controllable design variables, increasingly relating biophilic principles to broader nature-based solutions (NbS) agendas and evidence-informed urban governance. Thematic clustering analysis identified three core knowledge domains: (1) the role of plants as active exposure agents and behavioral mediators in psychological restoration; (2) the impact of specific plant characteristics—such as canopy structure, species diversity, and seasonal variation—on therapeutic outcomes; and (3) the integration of urban green spaces into broader governance frameworks to promote health equity and inclusive well-being. Our analysis highlights that plant-based interventions are evolving from aesthetic ornaments into precision design levers for fostering human–nature interactions. This study provides a science-based foundation for developing practical design guidelines and policy frameworks, shifting biophilic urbanism toward a robust governance strategy for creating equitable, restorative, and resilient cities. Full article