The present paper discusses the evaluation and description of the landscape characteristics of a sample of healing gardens from the USA and England. Healing gardens are designed in such a way as to influence the visitor by provoking positive emotions and to help relieve the symptoms of stress or depression. The aim of the paper is to analyse a sample of healing gardens on the basis of eight characteristics that, according to the literature, should be present in a garden for it to be classified as a healing garden and that may also be considered some of the fundamental building blocks of parks and gardens in general. The term "room" is used to convey a sense that each garden consists of a set of distinct spaces that are separated from each other and which are experienced by visitors as part of a sequence. Rooms can be generally described using a specific name to which a set of characteristics is attached. Each room type (Serene, Wild, Rich in Species, Space, the Common, the Pleasure garden, Festive, Culture) was evaluated in terms of the degree to which the characteristics were present using the following scale: 0 -not present, 1-weak, 2 -medium, 3 -strong. Following this a description of the design characteristics was carried out from the point of view of landscape design elements and structure, including an assessment of presence of the sense of the personal/impersonal. The purpose of the investigation is to determine which characteristics are mostly frequently used in the design of healing gardens, which characteristics most strongly feature and to analyse the main design elements. In total, 40 healing gardens were visited, 20 from England (summer 2005) and 20 from various states in New England in the USA (summer 2006). There were no apparent differences between the characteristics of healing garden rooms between the countries (t-test). Correlations were found between the types "Rich in Species" and "Festive" (0.85) and "Culture" (0.85) which tends to be found together in the gardens. The types "Space" and "The Common" had a high correlation (0.8) in England. "Rich in Species" and "Festive" had a correlation (0.9) in the USA. Of the gardens studied, the types "Rich in Species" and "the Common" are distinguished by the strongest presence. The personal characteristic was found to be present less than the impersonal. The characteristic "The Pleasure garden" does not exist in most of the gardens -it is possibly an expensive solution. The existence of the characteristics in the gardens does not depend on the idea of the design as a whole, and the strength of the characteristics will tend to influence the users the most.

The greeneries on city maps are usually covered in large green areas, but that does not reveal much. The important factors to be considered in relation to greenery are, for example, distance, visiting frequency and accessibility. In the current study, all of the 92 urban green spaces (UGS) of the Estonian city Tartu are explored from a health perspective along with the landscape characteristic. The main purpose is to prove statistically how the parks are influenced by landscape elements using Searles' theory (1960) and main aspects. The CAD maps are represented by topics and graphs illustrating the situation in Tartu. Green room elements are found using Searles' theory: water/stone, plants, animals and other people. The main aspects are trees/plants, peace/openness, senses and visual elements. The health-promoting landscape characteristics are serene, wild, rich in species, spacious, prospective, refuge, festive and cultural. The parks were assessed by an expert group in the summer of 2011. The work is unique, thanks to the fact that the information is gained from greenery -albeit can be found and felt (information from the surrounding environment and direct reflections of consciousness through the senses). Green spaces characterised by serenity have a statistical correlation (Pearson) with peace/openness (r=0.459, p<0.01) and with senses (r=0.486, p<0.01). Wilderness characteristic and trees/plants are also in correlation (r=0.423, p<0.01). According to literature, design is the least influential aspect in landscape. The author can statistically prove that design is strongly correlated with user influence through the senses (r=0.501, p<0.01), and not visual aspects, as was expected in the case of Tartu. Landscape characteristics are the attributes that landscape architects can use for design work.

Estonian parks are well known for their history and dendrology. Usually, city maps show no nuances of the green areas, they could be for example abandoned areas, parks, green squares, usable/non-usable areas for the community. In this study ALL 92 parks and urban open green spaces (UGS) of the Estonian city Tartu are explored using a PRS method tool for evaluating open green spaces. Due to the densification of cities, which is also a current issue in Estonia, it is important to provide a variety of knowledge of UGS to support the everyday life of city dwellers. We know a lot about the connections between nature and human well-being, but how do we really evaluate the greenery? Tartu's parks and UGS were analysed by an expert in the summer of 2013, by using the Perceived Restorative Scale (PRS) through tools like Being away, Fascination, Coherence, Compatibility. PRS method is used to evaluate the green areas along these lines: 0-do not exist, 1-low existence, 2 -medium existence, 3-high existence. The study includes 92 UGS, of which 24 are located in the city center, 11 in Tähtvere borough,

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For the past one hundred years American style automobile oriented urban development has swept the world. Estonia has adopted free market capitalism and is on the verge of adopting American style automobile dominated development patterns. The tradition of Nordic style planning has ameliorated the American style automobile domination. Small town Pennsylvania, USA as exemplified by the college town of State College, PA is still firmly in the grip of the traffic oriented transportation planner. The big city innovations of pedestrian priority areas and new urbanism have not penetrated to the American hinterlands.