How Urban Areas Affect Students
The colleges and universities in major cities are melting pots for students coming from all over the globe. The places these young adults hail from can range from urban areas to rural towns, and, as such, the change in environment can have a large impact on students. Life in urban cities can be difficult to adjust to, and researchers wanted to observe how this type of environment would affect adolescent mental health.
To start, the research group devised a 1.65 km route through a city in Ontario, Canada that would consist of many common urban themes, such as a residential street, an urban bluespace (e.g. rivers and ponds), greenspace (e.g. parks), and the City Hall building. They then procured a sample of 23 adolescents of varied socioeconomic status, gender, and age. The group interviewed the subjects during the walk they would take on the route. The interview script would include questions that were linked contextually to the different areas visited during the walk. The researchers would alternate between asking broad questions followed by more specific ones that would probe the subjects more. All interviews were around an hour to an hour and a half long with the weather staying constant for each of the walks and each interview was transcribed for data analysis.
To start, the research group devised a 1.65 km route through a city in Ontario, Canada that would consist of many common urban themes, such as a residential street, an urban bluespace (e.g. rivers and ponds), greenspace (e.g. parks), and the City Hall building. They then procured a sample of 23 adolescents of varied socioeconomic status, gender, and age. The group interviewed the subjects during the walk they would take on the route. The interview script would include questions that were linked contextually to the different areas visited during the walk. The researchers would alternate between asking broad questions followed by more specific ones that would probe the subjects more. All interviews were around an hour to an hour and a half long with the weather staying constant for each of the walks and each interview was transcribed for data analysis.
Data shows that most people tend to get positive emotions around nature.
Image Source: Andrea Piacquadio
The data was analyzed by first creating different themes that described the places visited. An example of one of these themes would be “Imageability,” which would describe the views seen at each landmark, and whether it was natural or man-made. Each area would then be graded on how prominently it shows each theme. For example, the downtown street the subjects visited had high imageability because of all the buildings around it. By breaking down each site to its basic themes and looking at the responses to the questions and emotions, the group was able to elucidate some basic information on what garnered positive or negative emotions.
The first finding was that natural features always trumped artificial constructions. When it came to man-made buildings, complex building designs had much more of a positive impact on the adolescents. They favored buildings with plenty of colors, windows, and structural quirks over plain, rectangular buildings. Lastly, the adolescents liked to look at landmarks that seemed safe to be in, such as having railings or walls. It was not all positives, however. Mechanical noise, pollution, and littering distressed the participants. These qualities led to negative emotions due to them all having to do with lack of cleanliness. These qualities also show how an area might be underdeveloped or lacking safety features, which leads to an obvious reaction of distress. The biggest conclusion from this study is the idea that natural areas lead to more positive emotions than man-made ones.
The first finding was that natural features always trumped artificial constructions. When it came to man-made buildings, complex building designs had much more of a positive impact on the adolescents. They favored buildings with plenty of colors, windows, and structural quirks over plain, rectangular buildings. Lastly, the adolescents liked to look at landmarks that seemed safe to be in, such as having railings or walls. It was not all positives, however. Mechanical noise, pollution, and littering distressed the participants. These qualities led to negative emotions due to them all having to do with lack of cleanliness. These qualities also show how an area might be underdeveloped or lacking safety features, which leads to an obvious reaction of distress. The biggest conclusion from this study is the idea that natural areas lead to more positive emotions than man-made ones.
Featured Image Source: Lukas Kloeppel
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