Yang and associates studied responses to urban spaces. They report that “Of the seven environment attributes [tested], grass and trees have the most positive influence on all perceptions. Building height and bike parking both have negative effects on safety. . . . Outdoor dining, benches, and arcade space also enhance liveliness. . . . Trees and grass have strong positive effects on all perceptions. . . . The other two attributes with large positive effects are benches, which increases comfort and liveliness, and the arcade space, which increases liveliness and legibility. . . . the presence of bike parking and cyclists is found to have a positive impact on liveliness.” Findings are consistent with “arousal theory which states that when people are more aroused [energized], they may pay more attention to positive stimuli and may prefer environments that offer more variety, complexity or novelty . . . which make them perceive the surroundings as more comfortable and livelier.”
Senqi Yang, Gamze Dane, Pauline van den Berg, and Theo Arentze. 2024. “Influences of Cognitive Appraisal and Individual Characteristics on Citizens’ Perception and Emotion in Urban Environment: Model Development and Virtual Reality Experiment.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 96,102309, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102309