Summary: The healthcare environments of the future are developing at a rapidpace, which is a built-in change for us visitors. Today's waiting rooms are often open rooms and can be a problem for users' privacy.This study intends to investigate how zoning can affect the visitor's sense of a safe and secure waiting room environment. The underlying interest in the study is about the research of environmental psychology, which shows that the design of the room can affect the users' perception of privacy and personal space. The visions of this study is that the work will become an aid to future waiting room plans where the aid is in the form of a spatial concept with focus on zoning and its colors. Research question: • Can a zoned waiting room affect the visitor's feeling of a safe and calm waiting environment? • What environmental psychological principles can affect the feeling in the different zones in the waiting room environment? • How can the zoning be shaped in color and form to give the visitor a sense of safety and calm? Purpose: The purpose of the report is to investigate how the waiting room environment in hospitals can be designed with a focus on the user's need for privacy and intimacy and how this can increase the feeling of security. The purpose is also to develop a concept for health care in Region Sörmland that will contain vital and decisive factors in spatial design that are important in a waiting room and which the local development unit can relate to for future renovations of waiting rooms. The waiting room should break the traditional waiting rooms and contribute to a sense of security and integrity. Methodology: Several different methods have been used to obtain the most credible result possible. The study has a qualitative approach where primary data is collected with the help of interviews and surveys. Conclusion: The respondents in the study generally felt that an open waiting room with chairs along a wall felt more insecure than a waiting room with separating walls with different types of seating. Because there were different seating options, the patient could control his or her desire to sit more or less securely and the control could affect safety. The design of the different zones through color and light also affected the room's feel in different ways. Strong colors felt stressful while more saturated, dull colors felt calm and safe. A stripped-down environment with few colors and impressions felt sterile and insecure. The method result resulted in a design proposal where different types of seating possibilities and other selectable activities were divided into zones in the room with the colors that according to results from method and theory create security. / Sammanfattning: Framtidens vårdmiljöer utvecklasi snabb takt, vilket innebär förändringar för oss besökare. Dagens väntrum är ofta öppna rum och kan vara ett problem för användarnas integritet. Denna studie har för avsikt att undersöka hur zonindelning med kan påverka besökarens känsla av en trygg och säker väntrumsmiljö. Det bakomliggande intresset för studien handlar om miljöpsykologins forskning som visar att rumsutformningen kan påverka användarens upplevelse av avskildhet och integritet. Visionen är att arbetet ska bli ett hjälpmedel för kommande väntrumsplaner där hjälpmedletär i form av ett rumsligt konceptmed fokus på zonindelning och dess färger. Frågeställning: •Kan ett zonindelat väntrum påverka besökarens känsla av en trygg väntrumsmiljö? •Vilka miljöpsykologiska principer kan påverka känslan i de olika zonerna i väntrumsmiljö? •Hur kan zonindelningen gestaltas i färg och form för att besökaren ska få en känsla av trygghet? Syfte: Syftet med rapporten är att undersöka hur väntrumsmiljönpå sjukhus kan gestaltas med fokus på användarens behov av avskildhet och intimitet och hur detta kan öka känslan av trygghet. Syftet är också att ta fram ett koncept för sjukvården i Region Sörmland som ska innehålla vitala och avgörande faktorer inom rumslig gestaltning som är av betydelse i ett väntrum och som lokalutvecklingsenheten kan förhålla sig till inför framtida renoveringar av väntrum. Väntrummet ska bryta mot de traditionella väntrummen och bidra till en känsla av trygghetoch integritet. Metod: Flera olika metoder har använtsför att får ett sågenomgripanderesultatsom möjligt. Studien har en kvalitativ ansatsdär primärdata samlats in med hjälp av intervjuer och enkäter. Resultat: Det respondenterna i studien upplevde generellt var att ett öppet väntrum med stolar längs en vägg känns mer otryggt än ett väntrum med avskiljande väggar med olika sorters sittmöjligheter. Genom att det fanns olika sittmöjligheter kunde patienten själv kontrollera sin vilja till att sitta mer eller mindre avskilt och kontrollen kan påverkar tryggheten. De olika zonernas gestaltning genom färg och ljus påverkade också rummets känsla på olika sätt. Starka färger kändes stressande medans mer mättande, dova färger kändes lugna och trygga. En avskalad miljö med få färger och intryckkändes steril och otrygg. Metodresultatet resulterade i ett designförslag där olika sorters sittmöjligheter och andra valbara aktiviteter delades in i zoner i rummet med de färger som enligt resultat från metod och teori skapar trygghet

The aim is to develop guidance for indoor design that inspire a desire to read. The background is that there is dissatisfaction with the work environments in open offices. The starting point for the thesis is that "Prospect-Refuge" theory is atttracting interest among architects working with outdoor environments. The theory's basis is that the natural selection has resulted in a preference for places where one can "see wihout being seen". The case study builds on 77 questionnaire answers and 14 interviews. The contacts have included dialogue about lighting design and reading dogs. The librarians would like their libraries to invest in reading recesses, but they also worry about risks with not visible areas. There is interest in stimulating, intelligible library layouts with cosy seating's where the readers feel safe to have their "back free", i.e. that nobody will approach (from behind) without being detected. However, almost all library investments in indoor environments are restricted to faults and risks, usually related to physical accessibility. None of the interviewees' are aware of any policy document that promote library investments in comfortable circumstances for reading. The library persons view is that the Reading-Refuge concept has the potential to be useful as a guide for development of settings for reading. The concluding part make use of theories about restorative recovery. There is a need for reading environments that match people's inherited and acquired abilities to build and manage mental energy. The thesis concludes with tangible recommendations for design of reading-promoting library layout, reading refuges and lighting design. This is a two years master's thesis in Library and information science.

There is a large body of empirical evidence that nature delivers benefits to people. In the face of progressive urbanisation, urban nature and its design are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, climate change endangers biological diversity and consequently ecosystem functioning. Thus, for urban landscape planners who consider both ecosystem health and residential well-being, it is attractive to simultaneously increase plant diversity and the recreational value of urban nature. The present dissertation investigates the role of tree parameters for perception, preference, and recreation and elucidates how findings can contribute to human and ecosystem health in cities. In a first study, the following tree parameters were identified to be relevant to perception: Conifers versus deciduous trees, crown height to crown width ratio, crown size to trunk height ratio, and crown density. These results add to previous studies, as they are based on more realistic-looking images. Furthermore, the parameters are metric, were generated by study participants and represent a hierarchy. Two further studies demonstrated that the greater the crown relative to trunk height, the more pleasant and the more beautiful a tree is perceived and the denser a crown, the heavier and the more rugged a tree is perceived. Both parameters predict tree preference. This is consistent with theories and previous findings on landscape perception and adds more precise parameters for tree preference prediction to the literature. A fourth study revealed no effects of tree characteristics’ diversity in urban green spaces on how fascinating and coherent they are perceived. This suggests that species diversity in green spaces can be increased without reducing restorativeness. The identified tree parameters can be used to select various, similar-looking species to increase both human well-being and ecosystem health. Furthermore, the knowledge on the tree parameters’ semantic meaning can facilitate expert-lay communication. The preferred tree characteristics can be used to increase residential satisfaction. Finally, tree species diversity in urban green spaces can be increased without mitigating the recreational value. / Die positiven Wirkungen von Natur auf den Menschen sind empirisch gut belegt. Angesichts steigender Urbanisierung wird Stadtnatur und ihre Gestaltung wichtiger. Gleichzeitig stellt der Klimawandel eine Bedrohung der biologischen Vielfalt und somit der ökosystemaren Funktionalität dar. Für urbane Landschaftsplanung, welche sowohl die ökosystemare Gesundheit als auch das Wohlbefinden der Stadtbewohner berücksichtigt, ist es daher attraktiv, zugleich die Pflanzenvielfalt und den Erholungswert von Stadtnatur zu erhöhen. Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht die Rolle von Baumparametern bei der Wahrnehmung, Präferenz und Erholungswirksamkeit und erläutert, wie die Ergebnisse zur Gesundheit von Mensch und Natur in Städten beitragen können. In einer ersten Studie wurden die folgenden Baumparameter als wahrnehmungsrelevant identifiziert: Nadelbäume versus Laubbäume, Verhältnis von Kronenhöhe zu Kronenbreite, Verhältnis von Kronengröße zu Stammlänge und Kronendichte. Diese Ergebnisse ergänzen bisherige Literatur, da sie auf realistischer aussehenden Bildern basieren. Zudem sind die Parameter metrisch, wurden von Probanden generiert und bilden eine Hierarchie ab. Zwei weitere Studien zeigten, dass je größer die Krone im Verhältnis zur Stammlänge desto angenehmer und schöner wird ein Baum wahrgenommen und je dichter die Krone desto schwerer und robuster wird ein Baum empfunden. Beide Parameter sagen die Baumpräferenz vorher. Dies stimmt mit Theorien und bisherigen Studien zur Landschaftswahrnehmung überein und ergänzt die Forschung um präzisere Parameter zur Vorhersage von Baumpräferenz. Eine vierte Studie ergab, dass sich die Vielfalt an Baumeigenschaften in städtischen Grünräumen nicht darauf auswirkt, wie faszinierend und kohärent sie wahrgenommen werden. Dies legt nahe, dass die Artenvielfalt in Grünräumen erhöht werden kann ohne die Erholungswirkung negativ zu beeinflussen. Die Baumparameter können dazu verwendet werden, verschiedene, ähnlich aussehende Arten zur Pflanzung auszuwählen, um das menschliche Wohlbefinden sowie die ökosystemare Gesundheit zu erhöhen. Des Weiteren kann das Wissen um die semantischen Bedeutungen der Baumparameter die Experten-Laien-Kommunikation erleichtern. Beliebte Baummerkmale können dazu herangezogen werden, die Zufriedenheit von Stadtbewohnern zu erhöhen. Schließlich kann die Baumartenvielfalt in städtischen Grünräumen erhöht werden ohne den Erholungswert zu mindern.

In this study, attitudes and perceived implications for quality of life of environmentalists were explored, with a specific focus on the domestic use of renewable energy sources. A systems theoretical approach was followed in conjunction with a qualitative methodology in order to place the attitudes and perceived implications for quality of life in context with the systems in which they exist. The in-depth data that was collected by means of face-to-face interviews was analysed in a qualitative and systems theoretical framework. The three stages of analysis of the data are described and this culminates in a discussion of the six identified pattern categories. The conceptual discussion that follows are based on these six pattern categories. The participants' learned attitude toward the environment, the role of responsibility and its influence on perceived quality of life, risk perception as inhibitor of action, renewable energy and the perception of self, renewable energy as available medium and the possibility of change of attitude toward renewable energy sources are discussed in depth. The interaction between the energy-consumer system and the energy-environment system is explored and placed within the larger context. The recognition of a difference in a system, the interactive parts thereof, the transactional process between the systems and the collateral energy added by either or both of the systems, transactional processes and the required feedback loops, the difference that makes a difference and the description of transformation processes expose a hierarchy of logical types inherent in the system. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / MA (Research Psychology) / unrestricted

Our societies are changing towards more privatization and exclusion; issues of social life in public spaces and the relation of urban form vis-à-vis social life has not been given too much attention in urban planning and design, especially including issues of environmental psychology. However, the importance of public life is not deniable. High qualified public spaces are prerequisite for cities to become further inviting and more sustainable. This thesis raises the questions of if our public places are created by their physical setting or by social relation. It addresses the socio-physical characteristics of public spaces (squares) from human perspective. The aim of the work is to understand how it might be possible to improve social life and behavior in public spaces, where not only the center of attraction are the people but also the urban form that surrounds it. The study investigates sociability of the two squares in Stockholm, Norrmalmstorg and Nytorget, and analysis the contribution of physical and social attributes in creating sense of place and enriching social behavior. It draws from theories about environmental psychology, place identity and sense of place, likewise socio-physical elements of public spaces. Qualitative approach has been applied for data collection of case studies through combination of empirical methods such as observation, interviews and conceptual mapping. Through analysis of results, it is argued that strong sense of community at Nytorget is the consequence of people’s involvement in urban environment; whereas the lack of people’s engagement in urban setting at Norrmalmstorg, which is the result of place identity, affects the sense of attachment and social interaction in the square accordingly. The thesis debates that it is crucial to evaluate sociability of an urban environment by initiating human perspective and revealing the relationship between physical attributes and social activities. / Urban Form and Social Behaviour Research Project

One of the main problems with dementia is a failing communication ability, creating misunderstandings between the experiential and emotional world of the person with dementia and the guidance by the care providers in a neuro clinic or in a residential care facility. Secondly, the emotional heaviness and depression that accompanies the illness is an additional burden for people with dementia and their loved ones. These two aspects: communication failure about the emotional life and the depressing forces of the disease, are addressed in the present design. Who am I today? is a set of badges depicting a range of characters representing emotions. The intention is that persons with dementia express their feelings and state of mind by selecting a suitable badge. Thus making an opening to gain insight into their emotional world in a humorous yet respectful way so care providers can respond better to the experiences of the people suffering from dementia, with well-being as a result.

2 ABSTRACT The thesis deals with ethics-relevant thinking and attitudes of workers at animal rescue stations, with the way they perceive nature as a phenomenon, and aims at discovering the various reasons that lead to the workers' choice for their job. Animal rescue stations are an example of protection of nature via voluntary work; thus, discovering the attitudes of workers at these facilities might lead to better understanding of their motivations for this job. The theoretical part of the thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter introduces concepts of environmental ethics focused on ethical behaviour of humans towards animals. The second chapter discusses the approach to nature, presented in the book Contested Natures by Phil Macnaghten and John Urry, together with that of environmental psychology. The last chapter is focused on animal rescue stations themselves and their activities. The practical part of the work presents a research on the topics above that took place at animal rescue stations and was done by interviewing their staff. The data acquired from these interviews are set in a theoretical framework, accordingly elaborated on and further categorized. It can be seen how the statements of the respondents correlate with the concepts presented in the theoretical part. Key words: animal...

Around the globe, sensitive nature destinations suffer from media-mediated mass tourism. Especially, the social media network Instagram is often made responsible for these events as its emphasis on visuals is claimed to foster people’s ambition to reproduce photographs of themselves in the epic sceneries they see online. Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) face a particularly big challenge in using Instagram. While they aim at attracting enough tourists to satisfy the local tourism industry’s needs, they need to apply a careful promotion to avoid attracting more tourists than the natural environments can cope with. Focusing on Sweden as case study, this thesis aims at identifying and exploring how Swedish DMOs currently promote vulnerable nature destinations on Instagram and what significance these economically driven communication agencies thereby attribute the protection of the natural resources. Theoretical implications from sustainable destination management and environmental psychology are employed to develop different communication strategies that enhance the destination’s sustainable image as well as attempt to encourage pro-environmental behavior among tourists. A mixed method design is applied which is dominated by an extensive quantitative content analysis and complemented by a more limited qualitative semiotic analysis. The findings reveal that the implementation of sustainable communication strategies is of varying importance for the six Swedish DMOs considered in this study. In general, their effort of using communication tools to enhance sustainable nature-based tourism is still very low. Future research is advised to investigate in the production as well as audience site to gain further insights in how economic interests might hinder a more sustainable branding and to examine how effective the developed communication strategies actually are in influence people’s behavioral intentions.

Ziel der dargestellten Arbeit ist es, aus psychologischer Perspektive Erfolgsfaktoren der Kundenbindung der neuen Mobilitätsdienstleistungen DB Carsharing (DBCS) und Call a Bike (CAB) zu identifizieren. Für die Diffusion dieser Dienstleistungen wurde untersucht, ob für „frühe Kunden“ bestimmte Produkteigenschaften wichtiger sind als für später hinzukommende Kunden. Hierfür war von Interesse, ob es Unterschiede in der Bewertung zentraler Produkteigenschaften von Carsharing bei innovativen und weniger innovativen Nutzern gibt. Als Grundlage der Arbeit wurde ein theoretisches Orientierungsmodell für eine Psychologie der Mobilitätsdienstleistung entwickelt. In diesem Modell wurden Forschungsergebnisse verschiedener Disziplinen in Bezug auf psychologische Faktoren zu Bedarf, Nutzung, Kundenbindung und Kündigung von Mobilitätsdienstleistungen integriert. Mit Expertenbefragungen wurden aus diesem Orientierungsmodell zwei vereinfachte Einflussmodelle für Einflussfaktoren auf Kundenbindung bei Carsharing und Call a Bike (CAB) entwickelt (Basismodell und erweitertes Modell). Eine zentrale Vermutung dieser Einflussmodelle war, dass die Varianz der Kundenbindung mit Prozessen der Wahrnehmung und Bewertung zentraler Eigenschaften der Dienstleistungen DB Carsharing und Call a Bike erklärt werden kann. Diese Eigenschaften sind: wahrgenommene Nutzerfreundlichkeit, Preiswahrnehmung, wahrgenommene Autonomie durch die Nutzung von Carsharing / Call a Bike und wahrgenommene Umweltfreundlichkeit. Ferner wurde ein Einfluss der bisherigen PKW-Nutzung vermutet. Zur Überprüfung der entwickelten Einflussmodelle wurden Strukturgleichungsmodelle berechnet. Alle Skalen der untersuchten Modelle wurden in enger Anlehnung an bestehende Untersuchungen und unter Zuhilfenahme von Expertenurteilen neu entwickelt bzw. an den Untersuchungsgegenstand angepasst. Insgesamt waren die untersuchten Modelle gut an die Daten angepasst (gute Fit-Statistiken) - es ließen sich in den verschiedenen Stichproben jeweils über 50% der Varianz des Faktors Kundenbindung über die Variablen wahrgenommene Nutzerfreundlichkeit und Preiswahrnehmung erklären, als vermittelnde Variable wirkte jeweils die Kundenzufriedenheit: a) Ein vereinfachtes Basismodel konnte an zwei unabhängigen Stichproben von DB Carsharing-Nutzern (n=166 bzw. n=151) bestätigt werden (wahrgenommene Nutzerfreundlichkeit und Preiswahrnehmung als Einflussfaktoren). b) Dieses vereinfachte Modell konnte ferner an einer geteilten Stichprobe (n=248 und n=255) von CAB-Nutzern validiert werden. c) Ein exploratives Modell (Erweitertes Modell) mit den zusätzlichen Variablen PKW-Nutzung, wahrgenommene Autonomie und Ökologische Einstellungen konnte in einer Stichprobe von n=151 Carsharing-Nutzern nur teilweise bestätigt werden. Zwei der angenommenen Einflussfaktoren – Umweltbewusstsein und PKW-Nutzung – zeigten nicht die erwarteten Zusammenhänge. In einem weiteren Schritt wurde untersucht, ob innovativere Nutzer DB Carsharing anders bewerten als weniger innovative Nutzer. Mit dem vorab entwickelten Modell wurden Unterschiede in der Gewichtung der einzelnen Einflussfaktoren auf Kundenbindung bei innovativeren und weniger innovativen Nutzern untersucht. Die hierfür genutzten Innovatoren-Skalen wurden in einer Studie mit hochmobilen Verkehrsteilnehmern entwickelt (n=562) und in drei unabhängigen Stichproben überprüft (n=144, n=151 und n=292). Es konnten in einer Stichprobe von n=166 DBCS-Nutzern signifikante Unterschiede in der Bewertung des Basismodells zwischen innovativeren und weniger innovativen Nutzern nachgewiesen werden. In einer anderen Stichprobe mit n=151 Nutzern von DB Carsharing konnten ebenfalls signifikante Unterschiede in der Bewertung des explorativen Modells durch innovativere und weniger innovative Nutzer gezeigt werden: Während bei innovativeren Nutzern wahrgenommene Autonomie und Nutzerfreundlichkeit entsprechend den Modellannahmen einen stärkeren Einfluss auf Kundenbindung hatten, war es bei weniger innovativen Nutzern die Preiswahrnehmung.

Threat perception related to environmental issues such as air pollution may be a determinant of pro-environmental behaviors. Among the potential threats of air pollution, include the perceived impacts on the psychological, social, and economic wellbeing of a community. Because of rapid increases in population growth, urbanization, and the mountainous landscapes, the American West is extremely susceptible to the adverse impacts of air pollution. A secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the Air Quality Perception Survey conducted in Cache County, Utah. The survey focused on the public perception of air pollution in Cache County and perceived impact on personal and community life. From a sample of 289 returned surveys, the data were examined to determine the possible link between threat perception and the decision to engage in specific pro-environmental and avoidance behaviors. The analysis found that threat perception predicted some pro-environmental and avoidance behaviors.