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Balikci, Giezen, and Arundel evaluated how sustainable city development may influence resident experiences.  Their work “focusses on the dilemma between compact city and urban greenspace policies and their influence on actual land-use change in Amsterdam and Brussels. . . . The results show that densification indeed decreases the quantity (Amsterdam: −4.7% Brussels: −11.9%), average size (A: −3.1% B: −25.6%) and connectivity of urban greenspaces. . . . . the identified trends in loss of greenspace and the inability of green land-use policies to reconcile urban development pressures has substantial negative implications on the livability and sustainability of cities. Compact city development can contribute to sustainable urban development by lowering energy use, implementing more environmentally friendly transport and conserving greenspaces outside the urban boundaries. . . .  greenspace plays crucial roles toward the local ecosystem, biodiversity and the mental and physical well-being of urban dwellers.”

Stella Balikci, Mendel Giezen, and Rowan Arundel.  2022. “The Paradox of Planning the Compact and Green City:  Analyzing Land-Use Change in Amsterdam and Brussels.” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, vol. 65, no. 13, pp. 2387-2411, https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2021.1971069

Sun and colleagues studied the experiences of pregnant people in green spaces.  They had “pregnant women between 8 and 14 weeks’ gestational age . . . view one of three, 5-min, VR [virtual reality] videos of an urban scene with different green space levels (i.e., non-green, moderate, and high) after a laboratory stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test. . . .  We found that visual exposure to a green space environment in VR was associated with both physiological and affective [mood] stress reduction among pregnant women, including lower systolic blood pressure . . . reduced salivary alpha-amylase concentration . . .  improved overall positive affect . . . and decreased negative affect of anxiety . . . compared to non-green space environment. Exposure to high green space environment in park-like setting had the strongest impacts on stress recovery.”

Yi Sun, Fu Li, Tao He, Yaohan Meng, Jie Yin, Ilona Yim, Liyan Xu, and Jun Wu.  2023. “Physiological and Affective Responses to Green Space Virtual Reality Among Pregnant Women.” Environmental Research, vol. 216, 114499, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114499

Sadek and Willis investigated how the design of oncology centers influences patient experiences by interviewing patients and former patients.  During the course of their research they “examine[d] key aspects of built environment that shape the experience of patients undergoing intravenous anti-cancer treatment within outpatient settings. . . . four themes highlighting the main contributions of contemporary healthcare design to patients’ experiences were synthesized. This ranged from the role of built environment in shifting negative expectations and inducing positive impressions, to its role in breaking up the intensity of treatment when feeling overwhelmed and provoking engagement in activities beyond treatment and being sick.”

Ahmed Sadek and Julie Willis.  “Forms of Environmental Support:  The Roles That Contemporary Outpatient Oncology Settings Play in Shaping Patient Experience.”  Building Research and Information, in press, https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2022.2124945

Motoki and co-workers analyzed the impressions created by the sound of brand names.  They learned that “Phonetic elements of brand names can convey a range of specific meanings. . . . The presence of higher-frequency sounds (front vowels, fricative, and voiceless consonants) in brand names tends to be associated with concepts linked to higher evaluation and lower potency, whereas lower-frequency sounds (back vowels, stop, and voiced consonants) tend to be more strongly associated with concepts linked to lower evaluation and higher potency.”

Kosuke Motoki, Jaewoo Park, Abhishek Pathak, and Charles Spence.  2022. “The Connotative Meanings of Sound Symbolism in Brand Names:  A Conceptual Framework.”  Journal of Business Research, vol. 150, pp. 365-373, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.06.013

Mendoza and colleagues studied links between urban design and suicide mortality.  They report that “Surrounding greenness was measured using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within a 300 m and 1,000 m buffer around the residential address at baseline. . . . We observed a 7% . . . and 6% . . . risk reduction of suicide mortality for an . . . increase in residential surrounding greenness for buffers of 300 m and 1,000 m, respectively. . . . After stratification, the inverse association was only apparent among women, and residents of Belgian origin, and that it was stronger among residents aged 36 or older, those with high level of education, and residents of most deprived neighbourhoods. Our results suggest that urban green spaces may protect against suicide mortality, but this beneficial effect may not be equally distributed across all strata of the population.”

Hilbert Mendoza,  Lucia Loureiro, Sylvia Gadeyne, Wouter Lefebvre, Charlotte Vanpoucke, and Lidia Casas.  “Urban Green Spaces and Suicide Mortality in Belgium (2001-2011):  A Census-Based Longitudinal Study.” Environmental Research, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114517

Orcun and Desmet studied how design can support wellbeing via a case study conducted during the pandemic with young adults and produced a related toolkit which they named “Unravel.” The researchers report that “The current project adopted a humanistic perspective, which starts from the idea that all people have a natural drive for personal growth, and that the ultimate goal of living is to realize one’s full potential—to be all one can fully be (see, Tay & Diener, 2011). Central to this perspective is that all human activity is (directly or indirectly) motivated by innate needs, and that there is a strong association between need fulfillment and subjective well-being. For the current project, we adopted a typology of 13 Fundamental Psychological Needs developed by Desmet and Fokkinga (2020) to provide a practical understanding of psychological needs as a resource for user-centered design practice and research with a focus on user experience and well-being. These 13 needs are universal and form the basic requirements for a person’s survival, optimal functioning, and well-being.”  The 13 fundamental psychological needs identified by Desmet and Fokkinga in their 2020 paper are:  autonomy, beauty, comfort, community, competence, fitness, impact, morality, purpose, recognition, relatedness, security, and stimulation.

S. Orcun and Pieter Desmet.  2022. “Positive Design During a Pandemic:  Rediscovering Enjoyment Through Daily Activities.”  Base Diseno e Innovacion, vol. 7, no 6, pp. 12-29, https://revistas.udd.cl/index.php/BDI/article/view/776/608

Chu, Tok, Zhou, and Chen found that the typeface used in a charitable appeal advertisement influences the effectiveness of that appeal.  They share that “We propose that the typeface's simulation of a handwritten note creates a sense of connectedness to the information sender (e.g., organization, brand), which subsequently increases consumers' willingness to engage in the advertised charitable activities. Six experiments, including laboratory and field studies, provide support for the typeface effect and . . . a handwritten typeface creates a more positive effect when the viewer is not strongly connected to the brand (vs. having a strong brand attachment). . . . when used for targeting consumers who are already strongly attached to the brand (i.e., regular customers, VIP customers, etc.), handwritten and typewritten typefaces are both suitable for marketing communication. However, displaying messages using a handwritten typeface also increases other social feelings such as warmth. If the main purpose of the marketing communication is to promote the brand or the organization's image, using a handwritten typeface is still a better choice.”

Xing-Yu Chu, Dickson Tok, Xiaoyu Zhou, and Xi Chen.  “How Companies Use Typeface Design to Engage Consumers in Charitable Activities.”  Psychology and Marketing, in press, https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21732

Research by Pfeiffer, Sundar, and Cao indicates links between language used and the effectiveness of charitable appeals; it is possible that their findings can be extended to design’s effects on appeals experienced.  The investigators report that “Charitable appeals generally address relatively serious topics. Since formal language style is more context congruent in communicating this seriousness, it should be more effective in expressing the emotional arousal or the effort of the communicator, which we expected to result in greater charitable support. . . . We find that formal language style (vs. colloquial) results in greater charitable support.”

Bruce Pfeiffer, Aparna Sundar, and Edita Cao.  “The Influence of Language Style (Formal Vs. Colloquial) on the Effectiveness of Charitable Appeals.”  Psychology and Marketing, in press, https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21729

Spence and teammates studied how what food looks like influences its appeal.  They report that “In recent years, a growing number of academic researchers, as well as many marketing and design practitioners, have uncovered a variety of factors that would appear to enhance the visual attractiveness, or deliciousness, of food images to the typical consumer. This review, which contains both narrative and systematic elements, critically evaluates the literature concerning the various factors influencing the eye appeal of food images, no matter whether there is an edible food stimulus physically present in front of the viewer or not. . . . The wide range of visual attributes that help to enhance food attractiveness include symmetry, shape, freshness, glossiness, dynamic-presentation, etc.”

Charles Spence, Kosuke Motoki, and Olivia Petit.  2022. “Factors Influencing the Visual Deliciousness/Eye-Appeal of Food.”  Food Quality and Preference, vol. 102, 104672, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104672

Stone-Ferrier studied paintings depicting 17th-century Dutch neighborhoods and her findings highlight how art can convey important social information.  A press release related to Stone-Ferrier’s work reports that “The importance of knowing what’s going on in your neighborhood and upholding its honor is at least as old as comparable societal expectations in 17th-century Netherlands, according to a new book by a University of Kansas art historian. Numerous Dutch paintings of an array of subjects — scenes of streets, domesticity, professions and festivity — conveyed and reinforced those values to contemporary viewers. That is Linda Stone-Ferrier’s conclusion after analyzing a range of 17th-century Dutch Golden Age paintings in a new context: that of the neighborhood. . . . And it's clear, from an analysis of that art and an array of documents, that what was going on down the street and around the corner was important to Dutch people of that time – just as it is to people in neighborhoods around the world today.”

“Neighborhood Provides New Understanding of 17th- Century Dutch Art.”  2022.  Press release, University of Kansas, http://news.ku.edu/2022/09/08/neighborhood-provides-new-understanding-1…