The Influences of Landscape Features on Visitation of Hospital Green Spaces—A Choice Experiment Approach

Abstract

Studies have suggested that visiting and viewing landscaping at hospitals accelerates patient’s recovery from surgery and help staff’s recovery from mental fatigue. To plan and construct such landscapes, we need to unravel landscape features desirable to different groups so that the space can benefit a wide range of hospital users. Using discrete choice modeling, we developed experimental choice sets to investigate how landscape features influence the visitations of different users in a large regional hospital in Taiwan. The empirical survey provides quantitative estimates of the influence of each landscape feature on four user groups, including patients, caregivers, staff, and neighborhood residents. Our findings suggest that different types of features promote visits from specific user groups. Landscape features facilitating physical activities effectively encourage visits across user groups especially for caregivers and staff. Patients in this study specify a strong need for contact with nature. The nearby community favors the features designed for children’s play and family activities. People across user groups value the features that provide a mitigated microclimate of comfort, such as a shelter. Study implications and limitations are also discussed. Our study provides information essential for creating a better healing environment in a hospital setting.

The Impacts of Tourism Development in Rural Indigenous Destinations: An Investigation of the Local Residents’ Perception Using Choice Modeling

“…The elicited choice allows researcher to quantitatively examine the effect of each testing aspect through the developed choice experiment. This model has been used to estimate choice behavior in a wide range of research field, e.g., tourism development [29,30], transportation planning [31,32], and landscape management [19,[33][34][35].…”

Greening Blocks: A Conceptual Typology of Practical Design Interventions to Integrate Health and Climate Resilience Co-Benefits

“…Some indicators and metrics will be more relevant than others, and case studies can be used for further research and evaluation of health and/or climate change situations. Different priorities and different locations within urban areas will require a particular and context-specific suite of green space and urban tree planting responses [43,96]. For example, it has been shown that positive mental health impacts may depend on spatial scale and type of green space [91].…”

COVID-19 and the Need for More Accessible and Designed Hospital Outdoor Spaces in Developing Countries

“…Similarly, the relevant government organizations should promote programs and initiatives to promote evidence-based research in the area of healthcare environments and connection to nature, specifically in the context of developing countries like Pakistan. Understanding the various psychological and physical states of hospital users and their characteristics, the focus should be on spaces that engage people (Chang & Chien, 2017). Specific landscape design interventions may be introduced which respond to the behavioral factors of the local people.…”