This study investigated the effects of nighttime lighting conditions and stress on the affective appraisal of a virtual environment (VE). The effective application of VEs in emotionally intense simulations requires precise control over their characteristics that affect the user's emotions and behavior. It is known that humans have an innate fear of darkness, which increases after exposure to stress and extrapolates to ecologically valid (immersive) VEs. This study investigated if the simulated level of illumination determines the affective appraisal of a VE, particularly after stress. Participants explored either a daytime or a nighttime version of a VE, after performing either an acute psychosocial stress task (Trier Social Stress Test, or TSST) or a relaxing control task. The affective qualities of the VE were appraised through the Russel and Pratt semantic questionnaire on the valence and arousal dimensions. Distress was assessed through free salivary cortisol, the state self-report scale from the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and heart rate. In addition, memory for scenic details was tested through a yes-no recognition test. Free salivary cortisol levels, heart rates, and scores on the STAI all indicate that participants who were subjected to the stress task indeed showed signs of distress, whereas participants in the control group showed no signs of stress. The results of the semantic questionnaire and the recognition test showed no significant overall effect of time-of-day conditions on the affective appraisal of the VE or on the recognition of its details, even after prior stress. The experiences of users exploring the VE were not affected by the simulated lighting conditions, even after acute prior stress. Thus, lowering the illumination level in a desktop VE is not sufficient to elicit anxiety. Hence, desktop VE representations are different from immersive VE representations in this respect. This finding has implications for desktop VE representations that are deployed for serious gaming and training purposes.
The continuously growing global demands on a finite land resource will require better strategic policies and management of trade-offs to avoid conflicts between different land-use sectors. Visions of the future can support strategic planning by stimulating dialogue, building a consensus on shared priorities and providing long-term targets. We present a novel approach to elicit stakeholder visions of future desired land use, which was applied with a broad range of experts to develop cross-sectoral visions in Europe. The approach is based on (i) combination of software tools and facilitation techniques to stimulate engagement and creativity; (ii) methodical selection of stakeholders; (iii) use of land attributes to deconstruct the multifaceted sectoral visions into land-use changes that can be clustered into few cross-sectoral visions, and (iv) a rigorous iterative process. Three cross-sectoral visions of sustainable land use in Europe in 2040 emerged from applying the approach in participatory workshops involving experts in nature conservation, recreation, agriculture, forestry, settlements, energy, and water. The three visions-Best Land in Europe, Regional Connected and Local Multifunctional-shared a wish to achieve a land use that is sustainable through multifunctionality, resource use efficiency, controlled urban growth, rural renewal and widespread nature. However, they differ on the scale at which land services are provided-EU-wide, regional or local-reflecting the land-sparing versus land-sharing debate. We discuss the usefulness of the approach, as well as the challenges posed and solutions offered by the visions to support strategic land-use planning.
The aspirations, motivations and choices of individual European citizens are a major driver of the future of global, European and local land use. However, until now no land use study has explicitly attempted to find out how the general public wants to live in the future. This paper forms a first attempt to survey European citizens to understand their desired future lives in relation to consequences for European land use. We used a crowdsourcing experiment to elicit visions from young Europeans about their lives in 2040. Participants completed a graphic novel around carefully selected questions, allowing them to create a story of their imagined future lives in pictures. The methodology worked well, and the sample seemed reasonably representative albeit skewed towards an educated population. In total, 1131 responses from 29 countries were received. Results show a strong desire for change, and for more sustainable lifestyles. There is desire for local and ecologically friendly food production, to eat less meat, to have access to green infrastructure and the ability to cycle to work. However, international travel remains popular, and the desire for extensive food production and owning detached houses with gardens will likely result in complex land use trade-offs. Future work could focus more specifically on quantifying these trade-offs and inform respondents about the consequences of their lifestyle choices. This was a first attempt to use crowdsourcing to understand citizen visions for their lives in the future, and our lessons learned will help future studies improve representativeness and increase responses.
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