Natural environments have been shown to promote health, and are, therefore, important for achieving social sustainability in cities. As cities grow and become denser, it is important to develop knowledge about the characteristics of natural environments that work to promote health. Perceived Sensory Dimensions (PSDs) is a tool that defines eight different cultural ecosystem services. They correspond to different human needs (rest, exercise, socialising, pleasure, or security) resulting in rehabilitation and health and well-being promotion. An experiment was conducted to study the potential of PSDs to restore people who experienced stressful accidents. One hundred and fifty-seven participants were recruited and asked first to watch a film clip of serious accidents, then to look at the pictures, depicting one particular type of PSDs, while listening to its respective audio recording. Their stress levels were measured before exposure to the stressor (baseline), after exposure to the stressor (pre-test), and after exposure to a particular type of PSDs (post-test). The results show that all eight PSDs effectively provide mental recovery, but there are statistical differences in their potentials. As such, it is proposed that the combined potential of the PSDs is needed, and should be used to increase the capacity and supply of health-promoting urban green areas.

A significant majority of the literature on natural environments and urban green spaces justifies the preferences that people have for natural environments using four predictors defined by Kaplan’s preference matrix theory, namely coherence, legibility, complexity, and mystery. However, there are no studies implicitly focusing on the visual attributes assigned to each of these four predictors. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the influence of nine visual attributes derived from the four predictors of Kaplan’s matrix on people’s preferences in the context of urban parks. A discrete choice experiment was used to obtain responses from a sample of 396 students of Golestan University. Students randomly evaluated their preferences towards a set of potential scenarios with urban park images. The results of a random parameter logit analysis showed that all of the attributes of complexity (variety of elements, number of colors, and organization of elements) and one attribute each of coherence (uniformity), mystery (visual access), and legibility (distinctive elements) affect students’ choices for urban parks, while one attribute each of mystery (physical access) and legibility (wayfinding) did not affect the choices. Furthermore, the results indicated a preference for heterogeneity of the attributes. The findings of this study can provide instructions for designing parks.

Building façades not only play an important role in users’ perception of buildings and urban spaces, but they also have a significant impact on visual qualities in this domain. Thus, the purpose of this study was to shed light on the relationships between urban building façade visual elements and people’s preferences in the city of Gorgan, Iran. A photo-questionnaire survey was administered on a total number of 124 students enrolled in three faculties of Golestan University. Each participant measured 24 pictures of building façades based on eight independent variables of urban building façade visual elements (shape, color, decorations, materials, texture, roof, openings and windows, and proportions) and their preferences as the criterion variable. The results revealed that 3 variables of shape, color, and proportions were positive and significant variables and color was reported as the most influential positive predictor accounting for people’s preferences. Furthermore; complexity, color selection, and composition-association were identified as influential positive predictors explaining shape, color, and proportions. In general, the findings could be of assistance to designers in evaluating building façades in order to optimize quality and to bring closer together users’ views and tastes.