The underground workspaces questionnaire (UWSQ): Investigating public attitudes toward working in underground spaces

Lee, Eun Hee; Luo, Chengwen; Sam, Emma Yoke Loo; Roberts, Adam Charles; Kwok, Kian Woon; Car, Josip; Soh, Chee Kiong; Christopoulos, George I.

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.02.017

Cited by 23 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Underground Workspaces Questionnaire (UWSQ) is a validated 16‐item scale that measures general attitudes toward underground environments 44 . All items were answered on a seven‐point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of air quality for underground spaces: An international survey of public attitudes

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Space is a resource that is constantly being depleted, especially in mega‐cities. Underground workspaces (UGS) are increasingly being included in urban plans and have emerged as an essential component of vertical cities. While progress had been made on the engineering aspects associated with the development of high‐quality UGS, public attitudes toward UGS as work environments (ie, the public's design concerns with UGS) are relatively unknown. Here, we present the first large‐scale study examining preferences and attitudes toward UGS, surveying close to 2000 participants from four cities in three continents (Singapore, Shanghai, London, and Montreal). Contrary to previous beliefs, air quality (and not lack of windows) is the major concern of prospective occupants. Windows, temperature, and lighting emerged as additional important building performance aspects for UGS. Early adopters (ie, individuals more willing to accept UGS and thus more likely to be the first occupants) across all cities prioritized air quality. Present results suggest that (perceived) air quality is a key building performance aspect for UGS that needs to be communicated to prospective occupants as this will improve their attitudes and views toward UGS. This study highlights the importance of indoor air quality for the public.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of air quality for underground spaces: An international survey of public attitudes

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tunnels have predominantly been constructed in urban area to solve heavy traffic congestion (Dong et al, 2018;Lee et al, 2019). The length of newly built long tunnels has increased exponentially in some large cities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of technical installations on evacuation performance in urban road tunnel fires

Zhang

Zhu

Guo

et al. 2021

Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tunnels are separated from the ground by structural linings, and are enclosed and unfamiliar for occupants. In tunnel fires, occupants are faced with a dangerous environment and they need to evacuate. Conveying and obtaining information about the evacuation is the key issue for evacuees. Since tunnels typically have low lighting and little connection outside the tunnel, technical installations are the only approach to deliver information to occupants in order to guide their fast and safe evacuation. This is particularly an issue for urban road tunnels with large occupants' flow in a large underground space. The present study explores the effect and role of technical installations (alarms, information signs, and lighting) on people's evacuation performance in urban tunnel fires, through field experiments, questionnaires and interviews. Theory of affordance (sensory affordance, cognitive affordance and functional affordance) is taken into consideration and provides an integral evaluation for technical installations. Technical installations are useful in helping occupants notice the emergency, find exits and guide path, and information signs are regarded as the most powerful among those three. Besides, this experiment points out some side effect from alarms and ambiguity of signs which will result in serious consequence potentially. This study leads to guidance on improvement of technical installations on evacuation planning and procedures on urban road tunnels.

show abstract

“…With the expansion of underground environments, more people are likely to work in such spaces, thus additional research has been called for on the psycho-social and health aspects of underground spaces [20]. Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters are reported to be of concern to occupants in underground workspaces [21][22][23]. Previous research has demonstrated that workers perceive the environment to be too noisy and consisting of unpleasant lighting [21], while also expressing concern about air quality [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of psychological distress and its association with perceived indoor environmental quality and workplace factors in under and aboveground workplaces

Dunleavy

Bajpai

Tonon

et al. 2020

Building and Environment

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Developing underground spaces serves a range of common urban functions, including workspaces. However, underground workplaces, work-related factors and the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters within them may negatively affect worker's mental health. This study assessed the prevalence of psychological distress with repeated measures over time in aboveground and underground workspaces, and assessed the association between perceived IEQ parameters and work-related factors with psychological distress. A total of 329 workers in similar aboveground and underground workspaces were followed-up in three assessments over 12 months in Singapore. Psychological distress was assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and defined as a GHQ-12 score ≥2. Perceived IEQ (air quality, temperature, noise, light) in the workplace were collected using the OFFICAIR questionnaire. We used generalised estimating equation models to assess the association between working underground, perceived IEQ, and work-related factors with psychological distress. The overall prevalence of psychological distress was 21.9%, 26.1% and 21.9%, at baseline, 3-and 12-months follow-up, respectively. The fully-adjusted multivariable analysis did not show any association between working underground and psychological distress however, perceived IEQ parameters and longer working hours were significantly associated with psychological distress. Regardless of working in under or aboveground workplaces, perceived IEQ was associated with psychological distress. Future studies are needed in order to examine the relationship between objective measures of IEQ and psychological distress and the impact of healthy building policies and improved IEQ on psychological distress.

show abstract

The underground workspaces questionnaire (UWSQ): Investigating public attitudes toward working in underground spaces

Cited by 23 publications

References 34 publications

The importance of air quality for underground spaces: An international survey of public attitudes

The importance of air quality for underground spaces: An international survey of public attitudes

The effect of technical installations on evacuation performance in urban road tunnel fires

Prevalence of psychological distress and its association with perceived indoor environmental quality and workplace factors in under and aboveground workplaces

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About