Agnes van den berg

University of Groningen | RUG · Department of Cultural Geography

This study considers how socio-demographic characteristics, mobility situation and attitudes explain current and potential e-bike use in rural areas. Due to longer distances between travel destinations, rural areas in most western societies are characterized by a high car dependence and low use of active modes like walking and cycling. Developing e...

This paper investigates the impact of greening schoolyards on children’s (age 7-11) play and non-play behavior during recess. Five primary schools in The Netherlands took part in a longitudinal prospective intervention study using a pre-post design with a baseline and two-year follow-up. At baseline, all schoolyards were paved. Between baseline and...

People tend to find natural environments more aesthetically appealing and restorative than human-made or built environments. It is widely assumed that this natural-built distinction in environmental preference and restoration stems to a large extent from bottom-up sensory processing of intrinsic characteristics of nature that may have signaled adap...

This research examined whether greening of a geriatric ward may reduce the hospital-induced decline in the independent functioning of elderly patients as measured by changes from admission to discharge in the KATZ-ADL6 and physician assessments at discharge. Using a quasi-experimental design with 4 months of pre- and post-tests, the functional decl...

Parental involvement is critical to the successful implementation of green schoolyards. This paper reports results from two surveys that asked a total of 402 parents of children in schools with green and paved schoolyards about their appreciation of the schoolyard, children’s behavior in the schoolyard, (dis)advantages of a green schoolyard, and wi...

With a growing number of primary schools around the globe greening their schoolyards, opportunities arise to realize outdoor learning in natural areas on the school’s premises. Despite their promising potential, green schoolyards as outdoor learning environments remain mostly unintegrated in teachers’ educational practices. In the current study, te...

The idea that contact with nature is healthy appears so intuitively valid, that for a long time, people felt no need to demonstrate or quantify nature's contribution to their health and well‐being. This chapter provides a brief introduction to the concepts of health and nature. Within environmental psychology, the term nature is generally used to d...

The environment in which we live influences people's lives in many ways, but reciprocally this environment is also a product of human activities. Environmental psychology studies the reciprocal relationship between humans and the environment. This chapter summarizes the main findings of each part of the book. It discusses some general trends and de...

This chapter provides an overview of theories on restorative effects of natural environments, along with a discussion of empirical findings and practical implications. Research into restorative environments has primarily been guided by two theoretical explanations: stress recovery theory and attention restoration theory. The chapter discusses three...

This introductory chapter gives a brief overview of the history of the field of environmental psychology, followed by a discussion of characteristics of the field and a description of the main methods used in research. It discusses four key features of environmental psychology that characterize the field as it stands today: a focus on human‐environ...

Increased e-bike use can potentially support a shift toward more sustainable and active transport systems. This paper outlines the potential of e-bikes for three user groups that have as yet not fully adopted this mode of transportation: commuters, rural residents and students. For each group, some group-specific advantages and limitations are iden...

Within the field of environmental psychology, a theoretical perspective on the health effects of nature has developed. This chapter begins with a discussion of theories on scenic beauty and environmental preference as a backdrop for understanding which environments are benign for human health and well-being. It then reports on theories on the resto...

There is increasing evidence that the quality of green space significantly contributes to neighborhood satisfaction and well-being, independent of the mere amount of green space. In this paper, we examined residents' perceptions of the quality and beneficial affordances of green space in relation to objectively assessed accessibility and usability....

The present paper addresses the question which visual features trigger people’s often more positive affective responses to natural compared to built scenes. Building on notions about visual complexity and fractal geometry, we propose that perceived complexity of magnified scene parts can predict the greater fascinating and restorative qualities of...

In the present research, we evaluated the restorative impacts of green walls with living plants in classrooms of two elementary schools using a controlled, prospective design with baseline measurements and follow-ups at 2 and 4 months. At each time of measurement, children’s (n = 170, age = 7-10) cognitive performance, well-being, and classroom eva...

This laboratory study explored buffering and recovery effects of viewing urban green and built spaces on autonomic nervous system activity. Forty-six students viewed photos of green and built spaces immediately following, and preceding acute stress induction. Simultaneously recorded electrocardiogram and impedance cardiogram signal was used to deri...

The positive relationships between urban green space and health have been well documented. Little is known, however, about the role of residents' emotional attachment to local green spaces in these relationships, and how attachment to green spaces and health may be promoted by the availability of accessible and usable green spaces. The present rese...

Among the many benefits provided by plants, “health” stands out as a benefit that is especially highly valued. Over the past decades, people-plant studies have increasingly focused on empirically demonstrating relationships between plants and health. However, there are as yet no consensual standards in the field as to which research findings qualif...

Op vier basisscholen, gelegen in Rotterdamse aandachtswijken, is het effect van het groen herinrichten van het schoolplein op de kinderen onderzocht. Een vijfde school fungeerde als controleschool. Het onderzoek bestond uit een voormeting en twee nametingen, waarvan de eerste direct na de herinrichting en de tweede een jaar later plaatsvond. Per me...

Over the past years our group has been working on a coherent research program on the relationships between greenspace and health. The main aims of this “Vitamin G” program (where G stands for green) were to empirically verify relationships between greenspace in residential areas and health and to gain insight into mechanisms explaining these relati...

In the last decade policy makers have increasingly recognized the need to include people's perceptions in methods for describing landscape quality. At the same time, a third wave of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has become available that make it technically possible to model landscape quality in a realistic manner. However, as there is often...

This chapter provides a brief historical overview of ambivalence towards nature. It presents a review of contemporary empirical research and theorizing on ambivalence towards nature and natural landscapes. Historically, ambivalence towards nature is closely linked with the concept of wilderness. A study among Dutch students provides some empirical...

WoesteLand is de landelijke jongerenwerkgroep van het IVN, Instituut voor natuureducatie en duurzaamheid. De werkgroep organiseert al vijftig jaar activiteiten in de natuur voor en door jongeren van 12 tot 30 jaar. Tijdens de kampen wordt vrijwilligerswerk in de natuur gedaan. Het enthousiasme van de deelnemers weerlegt de stelling dat jongeren van...

Within the field of restorative environments research, it is commonly assumed that restorative responses, triggered by exposure to natural elements and settings, are ultimately adaptive traits originating from our species’ long evolutionary history in natural environments. The aim of this article is to critically investigate the viability of this e...

Stress-relieving effects of gardening were hypothesized and tested in a field experiment. Thirty allotment gardeners performed a stressful Stroop task and were then randomly assigned to 30 minutes of outdoor gardening or indoor reading on their own allotment plot. Salivary cortisol levels and self-reported mood were repeatedly measured. Gardening a...

The present research examined individual differences in preferences for three basic garden styles: manicured, romantic, and wild. Building on theoretical insights from landscape preference research, it was hypothesized that preferences for garden styles are guided by psychological needs. This hypothesis was empirically tested in two studies that us...

A link has been suggested between children's disconnection from nature and the recent surge in childhood disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Research on benefits of nature for healthy children provides some support for such a link. However, only a few studies have directly examined the influence of contact with nature...

The potential contribution of allotment gardens to a healthy and active life-style is increasingly recognized, especially for elderly populations. However, few studies have empirically examined beneficial effects of allotment gardening. In the present study the health, well-being and physical activity of older and younger allotment gardeners was co...

In this chapter we consider how experiences of nature can affect human health and well-being. We first address the matter of 'what has been'; that is, we sketch the development of theory and research concerned with health benefits of natural environments, from ancient times to the current situation. This shows the current research to be a recent ex...

This study investigates whether the presence of green space can attenuate negative health impacts of stressful life events. Individual-level data on health and socio-demographic characteristics were drawn from a representative two-stage sample of 4529 Dutch respondents to the second Dutch National Survey of General Practice (DNSGP-2), conducted in...

In dit veldexperiment zijn de effecten van deelname aan een driedaags natuur¬belevingsprogramma op de natuurbeleving, topervaringen en de gezondheid van allochtone en autochtone kinderen onderzocht. Er deden in totaal 58 kinderen uit groep 5/6 van drie openbare basisscholen in Hilversum mee aan het onderzoek. Ongeveer de helft van alle leerlingen w...

Hoe het stedelijk weefsel gestresste stadsmensen gelukkig kan maken. De evolutie van de menselijke soort vond plaats in een natuurlijke omgeving. Er kan dan ook worden aangenomen dat het menselijke brein speciale mechanismen heeft ontwikkeld om te overleven in de natuur. De studie van deze evolutionaire mechanismen levert inzicht in hoe moderne men...

The character of a landscape can be seen as the outcome of people's perception of their physical environment, which is important for spatial planning and decision making. Three modes of landscape perception are proposed: view from a viewpoint, view from a road, and view of an area. Three sampling methods to calculate visibility measures simulate th...

Urbanicity presents a challenge for the pursuit of sustainability. High settlement density may offer some environmental, economic, and social advantages, but it can impose psychological demands that people find excessive. These demands of urban life have stimulated a desire for contact with nature through suburban residence, leading to planning and...

The present research investigated visual preferences for nature development landscapes among 500 residents from six plan areas in The Netherlands. Significant differences in relative preferences for wild versus managed scenes were found between landscape types and respondent groups. Development of wild nature was evaluated less positively in a fore...

Looking out on and being in the green elements of the landscape around us seem to affect health, well-being and feelings of social safety. This article discusses the design of a research program on the effects of green space in the living environment on health, well-being and social safety. The program consists of three projects at three different...

This article describes two studies that examined people's emotional responses to threatening encounters with nature. In Study 1, participants from The Netherlands were asked to describe a fearful experience with nature in their home country. We identified four broad categories of fear-relevant situations, named Close Encounters, Forceful Situations...

The authors propose that wilderness is intrinsically associated with death, and, consequently, terror management concerns may promote more negative evaluations of wilderness. Consistent with this, wilderness inspired more thoughts about death than either cultivated nature or urban environments (Study 1), and death reminders reduced perceived beauty...

Oe positieve betekenis van natuur voor mensen staat volop in de belangstelling. Natuur kan echter ook angst in mensen oproepen en dat aspect lijkt een 'blinde vlek' in beleid en onderzoek. Dit artikel geeft een overzicht vaneerdere theorievorming en onderzoek naar angst voor natuur. Ook worden de resultaten besproken van een verkenend onderzoek naa...

Does the widely documented tendency to prefer natural over built environments owe to the perception of greater restorative potential in natural environments? In the present experimental study we tested the mediating role of restoration in environmental preferences. Participants viewed a frightening movie, and then were shown a video of either a nat...

This reports contains the results of an exploration of research and expertise activities on the theme of landscape perception and quality in France. The research was carried out by a French agronomy engineer. The objectives of this research project were to inform French researchers about Alterra's work on landscape perception and quality, and to op...

Wat betekent natuur in de stad voor mensen? Belevingswaarde (leefbaarheid), gebruikswaarde (recreatie) en gezondheidswaarde (fysiek en psychisch) van natuur in de stad vergeleken met die van alternatieve omgevingen, namelijk de stad zonder natuur en natuur buiten de stad

In the present study, two models were tested that can improve understanding of the link between participation in decision-making and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). In Model 1, it is assumed that perceived supervisory support mediates the link between participation in decision-making and OCB. In Model 2, organizational commitment is pre...

The influence of planned-change context on evaluations of natural landscapes was examined in an experimental setting. Five landscape photographs, depicting one agrarian landscape and four natural landscapes with varying degrees of human influence, were either presented as `five existing Dutch landscapes', or as `one existing landscape and four plan...

In this chapter, we argue that people's interactions with nature are closely associated with some of their most basic existential struggles. Human-nature relations thus provide a window on how people cope with matters of life and death. Conversely, a consideration of people's ultimate concerns may illuminate some of the deeper grounds of modern civ...