Campus Green Public Spaces as a Restorative Environment
Abstract
Campus green space is thought to support mental recovery and enhance the well-being of students. The aim of this research is to identify the activities in campus green space based on the type of attention required, the overall restorative value of campus green space for students, and the connection between users’ activity and the restorative experience they are having within the same environment. The perceived restorativeness scale (PRS), which is an analysis built on four components of attention restoration theory (ART) is used to evaluate the value and restorative experience of individuals. As ART determined the difference between direct attention and fascination, this article will evaluate whether there will be a significant difference in the PRS result between users engaging in direct attention activities and fascination activities. The findings of this study reveal the positive impact of campus green space on students’ mental and physical recovery. This research also showcased patterns on how the direct attention activity users appear to perceive the higher benefit of campus green space compared with the fascination activity users. This is indicated by the more dominant number of users doing direct attention activities in the campus green space and their higher PRS score.