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Urban Public Spaces as Restorative Environments: The Case of Ljubljana

In this study, we used a survey to examine how urban residents in Ljubljana, Slovenia, value and use distinct urban public spaces. Specifically, we were interested to assess if urban public spaces in the city are used/perceived as restorative environments. To do this, we addressed the question: To w...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Polajnar Horvat, Katarina, Ribeiro, Daniela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9916178/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36767524
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032159
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author Polajnar Horvat, Katarina
Ribeiro, Daniela
author_facet Polajnar Horvat, Katarina
Ribeiro, Daniela
author_sort Polajnar Horvat, Katarina
collection PubMed
description In this study, we used a survey to examine how urban residents in Ljubljana, Slovenia, value and use distinct urban public spaces. Specifically, we were interested to assess if urban public spaces in the city are used/perceived as restorative environments. To do this, we addressed the question: To what extent do restorative dimensions differ in nine selected urban public spaces, varying in size, design, amenities, number of visitors, and, most importantly, degree of naturalness? Results from survey allowed to determine to what extent the selected urban public spaces in Ljubljana differ in terms of their perceived degree of restoration. We hypothesized that urban public spaces with a higher degree of naturalness in the city have a higher restoration value than urban public spaces with a lower degree of naturalness. Surprisingly, the urban public space that was above average on most restorative dimensions was the Old Town. These results are somewhat at odds with the attentional restoration theory, which states that the combination of dimensions is most typical of natural environments. However, this could be an indicator of the effectiveness of the city’s current policies to improve the quality of life for its citizens.
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spelling pubmed-99161782023-02-11 Urban Public Spaces as Restorative Environments: The Case of Ljubljana Polajnar Horvat, Katarina Ribeiro, Daniela Int J Environ Res Public Health Article In this study, we used a survey to examine how urban residents in Ljubljana, Slovenia, value and use distinct urban public spaces. Specifically, we were interested to assess if urban public spaces in the city are used/perceived as restorative environments. To do this, we addressed the question: To what extent do restorative dimensions differ in nine selected urban public spaces, varying in size, design, amenities, number of visitors, and, most importantly, degree of naturalness? Results from survey allowed to determine to what extent the selected urban public spaces in Ljubljana differ in terms of their perceived degree of restoration. We hypothesized that urban public spaces with a higher degree of naturalness in the city have a higher restoration value than urban public spaces with a lower degree of naturalness. Surprisingly, the urban public space that was above average on most restorative dimensions was the Old Town. These results are somewhat at odds with the attentional restoration theory, which states that the combination of dimensions is most typical of natural environments. However, this could be an indicator of the effectiveness of the city’s current policies to improve the quality of life for its citizens. MDPI 2023-01-25 /pmc/articles/PMC9916178/ /pubmed/36767524 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032159 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Polajnar Horvat, Katarina
Ribeiro, Daniela
Urban Public Spaces as Restorative Environments: The Case of Ljubljana
title Urban Public Spaces as Restorative Environments: The Case of Ljubljana
title_full Urban Public Spaces as Restorative Environments: The Case of Ljubljana
title_fullStr Urban Public Spaces as Restorative Environments: The Case of Ljubljana
title_full_unstemmed Urban Public Spaces as Restorative Environments: The Case of Ljubljana
title_short Urban Public Spaces as Restorative Environments: The Case of Ljubljana
title_sort urban public spaces as restorative environments: the case of ljubljana
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9916178/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36767524
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032159
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