Enhance Satisfaction/Quality of Life

Dang and team studied how people spend time on green roofs.  They report that their research focused on a green roof space in Sydney, Australia which included “a garden, a concrete open space and a raised grass area amounting to 1,200 m2, [that] is above parts of the university’s library and classrooms, and is easily accessible by staff, students, and members of the public. . . . users, most commonly, relaxed or socialised on the green roof, with exercise a far less frequent activity.

Barron and Rugel argue that greenspace planning needs to better reflect the usage-related needs of young adults.  The pair state that “The voices of young adults (15−24) ring faintly in the conversation around nature-based solutions (NBS). . . . NBS clearly shape young adults — including their connections with nature, engagement in pro-environmental behaviours, and social and psychological health — but the dramatic reshaping of urban areas via rapid growth, densification, and technological innovation means today’s young adults have fewer opportunities to benefit from NBS.

The Facilities Guidelines Institute has released an important new whitepaper, “Design of Behavioral Health Crisis Units,” available at https://fgiguidelines.org/resource/design-of-behavioral-health-crisis-units/.   As the website at which the whitepaper is provided explains, “This white paper supports the minimum requirements for behavioral health crisis units included in the 2022 Hospital and Outpatient Guidelines documents.

Anyone who is familiar with Ulrich’s work in the 1980’s won’t be surprised by a study presented at the 2022 Scientific Forum of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress.

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. . . . .