Analysis of students' positive emotions around the green space in the university campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in China

Abstract

Green space around the university campus is of paramount importance for emotional and psychological restorations in students. Positive emotions in students can be aroused when immersed in green space and naturalness. However, to what extent can perceived naturalness influence students' positive emotion remains unclear, especially in the context of COVID-19 countermeasures. This study, therefore, attempts to investigate in-depth the nature and strength of the relationships between students' positive emotion and their perceived naturalness, place attachment, and landscape preference, which are potentially varying across universities in different social and environmental contexts and different restrictions policies regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. A course of questionnaire-based surveys was administered on two university campuses in Heilongjiang and Hunan Provinces, China, resulting in 474 effective samples. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the hypothetical conceptual framework of latent variables and the indicators. The findings indicate that the higher students' perceived naturalness results in greater positive emotion. Students' perceived naturalness in green spaces of campus has a positive effect on their place attachment and landscape preference. Moreover, the difference between mediate effects of place attachment and landscape preference were addressed, which verifies the contextual influences.

Generating students’ loyalty towards the sustainable university during the later COVID-19 pandemic

“…The existing vegetation on campus contributes to a university’s sustainability not only by landscaping (Liu et al , 2022) but also due to its role in diminishing the temperature by providing shade and reducing carbon emission (Lauder et al , 2015). It maintains healthy soil and cleaner air (Pouya and Pouya, 2018).…”

“…There are other factors that come into play, such as environmental protection, the usage of ecological products, green transport and sustainable landscaping. Green spaces on a campus include the lawns, gardens and forests that contribute to a better environment, ensuring a good climate to diminish high summer temperatures (Liu et al , 2022), or planning recreational areas dedicated to sport (Fachrudin, 2020). Campus landscaping contributes to the environmental comfort of the buildings (Hami and Abdi, 2021) and to improving areas in their proximity with existing plants and trees in unused spaces (Srivanit and Hokao, 2013).…”

Social impact of green roofs

“…It is intriguing that place identity was predicted only by frequency and not duration of visit. Again, much research has explored the connection between green spaces and attachment to place, and it is common across such studies for place attachment to be higher both among those who spend more time in the space amongst nature and who visit it more frequently (Zhang et al, 2015;Arnberger et al, 2022;Dasgupta et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2022). As Raymond et al ( 2010) assert, developing a strong bond or connection with a natural space requires visits of longer duration and consistency.…”

“…For instance, users of green spaces have been observed to have improved social wellbeing (Ward Thompson et al, 2016;Holt et al, 2019), physical outcomes (Gigliotti and Jarrott, 2005;Orr and Wilkinson, 2017;Harris and Trauth, 2020), and mood (Fjeld et al, 1998;Gray, 2017). Beyond this, green spaces also create greater collective identity (Zhou et al, 2021), attachment to place (Liu et al, 2022), have economic benefits on the surrounding area (Keniger et al, 2013) and advance progression towards addressing the sustainable development goals (Manso et al, 2021). Yet, individuals use green roofs differently to green spaces, as they are often smaller and more difficult to access or undertake exercise on (Manso et al, 2021).…”

Research and evaluation on students’ emotional attachment to campus landscape renewal coupling emotional attachment scale and public sentiment analysis: a case study of the “Heart of Forest” in Beijing Forestry University

“…Among them, the renewal of public landscape space on campus as the main place for students’ extracurricular activities, rest and socialization is closely related to the physical and mental health of college students, and the design of good natural landscape and cultural landscape has also been proved to enhance students’ emotional attachment and satisfaction with the campus environment ( Lau and Yang, 2009 ; Andre et al, 2017 ; Vella-Brodrick and Gilowska, 2022 ). During the outbreak of COVID-19 in the past 3 years, the campus landscape space has especially become an important psychological healing space and emotional anchor point for students whose life, recreation and learning activities are confined to the campus space ( Biswas and Sen, 2020 ; Lai et al, 2020 ; Rousseau and Deschacht, 2020 ; Liu et al, 2022 ). Therefore, the research and evaluation of the landscape space transformation on campus from the perspective of emotional attachment are of great value to both the improvement of students’ wellbeing and the future campus construction in the context of stock renewal in China.…”