This paper concerns people's assessment of their neighborhood of residence in a Chinese urban context. The aim of the study was to verify the factorial structure and the reliability of two instruments originally developed and validated in Italy (the full versions of the Perceived Residential Environment Quality Indicators [PREQIs] and of the Neighborhood Attachment Scale [NAS]) in a different cultural and linguistic context. The instruments consist of 11 scales measuring the PREQIs and one scale measuring neighborhood attachment (NA). The PREQIs scales include items covering four macroevaluative domains of residential environment quality: architectural and urban planning aspects (three scales: Architectural and Town-planning Space, Organization of Accessibility and Roads, Green Areas), sociorelational aspects (one scale: People and Social Relations), functional aspects (four scales: Welfare Services, Recreational Services, Commercial Services, and Transport Services), and contextual aspects (three scales: Pace of Life, Environmental Health, Upkeep and Care). The PREQIs and NAS were included in a self-report questionnaire, which had been translated and back-translated from English to Chinese, and was then administered to 340 residents in six districts (differing along various features) of a highly urbanized context in China, the city of Chongqing. Results confirmed the factorial structure of the scales and demonstrated good internal consistency of the indicators, thus reaffirming the results of previous studies carried out in Western urban contexts. The indicators tapping the neighborhood's contextual aspects (i.e., pace of life, environmental health, and upkeep) emerged as most correlated to NA.

Persuasive communication campaigns are often used to promote proenvironmental actions, even though their effectiveness has been mixed. Previous research has tested cognitive-based models in explaining proenvironmental choice, but few studies have examined the potential impact of emotional dimensions. This experimental study tests the persuasive effect of argument quality, source expertise, and emotions on the implicit attitudes toward sustainable travel choices. This was a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects research design with an additional measured variable of involvement with the topic of sustainable transport. A video including the experimental manipulations was presented, followed by the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Consistent with the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), in the case of high involvement, implicit attitudes were more positive in the condition of high-quality arguments, while in case of low involvement, implicit attitudes were more positive in the condition of high source expertise. In addition, the main effect of anticipated negative emotions was significant.

This systematic review focused on the effect of the educational environment design on students’ and teachers’ performance, satisfaction, and wellbeing. Starting from a bulk of 1307 articles, a set of N = 68 empirical papers was selected and organized on the basis of four different content clusters, i.e., architectural building design and aesthetic features, indoor environmental features, classroom design, and school green spaces/outdoor spaces. From the analysis of research findings, the key role of pleasant, warm, and flexible learning environments emerged, for promoting both wellbeing and performance of users. More specifically, the presence of charming colors and pictures, ergonomic furniture, and adequate acoustic, thermal comfort, ventilation, and natural lighting have emerged as important features that school designers should care for. Furthermore, an integration of both indoor and outdoor learning situations showed to be effective for improving students’ learning and wellbeing.

The progressive development of mass communication has allowed the understanding and management of the persuasion process in a more systematic way. However, nowadays, persuasive campaigns still hardly result in behavior changes, particularly around concerns of the promotion of more sustainable lifestyles. Thus, it appears essential to investigate which dimensions are more effective in influencing people’s pro-environmental actions. Relying on the conceptual frameworks provided by the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and the model of goal-directed behavior (MGB), a questionnaire study (n = 380 urban residents) was carried out on the psycho-social antecedents of the intention to use sustainable means of transport. Structural equation modeling showed the mediating role of attitudes toward sustainable transport between ELM persuasion features (i.e., source reliability and argument reliability) and behavioral intention. Positive and negative anticipated emotions, derived from MGB, predict source reliability (the former) and argument reliability (the latter), respectively.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of residential facilities' design features on older adults' psychosocial responses. Participants ( = 192) were over 65-year-old residents who were randomly exposed to different experimental scenarios concerning a hypothetical residential facility for older adults, using a 3 × 2 between-subjects design (i.e. home-like vs. hotel-like vs. usual-standard architectural style; presence vs. absence of green spaces). After the experimental session, participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire that measured their attitudes towards short- and long-term relocation, anticipated residential satisfaction with the facility, and feelings of broken home attachment. The results showed (1) more positive responses to "home-like" and "hotel-like" architectural styles than the usual-standard type and (2) the positive impact of green spaces on the assessment of the facilities. These design features should thus play a role in both reducing the stressful impact of leaving home and promoting beneficial patterns, hence fostering "successful ageing".