An Empirical Study on the Promotion of Students’ Physiological and Psychological Recovery in Green Space on Campuses in the Post-Epidemic Era

Abstract

Human health is closely related to the environment; a relaxing and pleasant landscape environment can make people feel less stressed and more energetic. To investigate the restorative potential of landscape types and landscape elements in the post-epidemic era from the perspective of visual perception, this study selected Sichuan Agricultural University’s Laoban hill, Jiuqu bridge, and the ginkgo garden to carry out physiological and psychological measurement experiments with college students. Research results on the psycho-biological and perceptual recovery vary with the types of landscape spaces. The results of the physiological data showed that all three space types had no significant effect on the recovery of blood pressure and heart rate; Laoban hill and Jiuqu bridge had some impact on concentration, while the ginkgo garden had no significant effect; and all three space types had some effect on the relaxation of the subjects’ mental state. The results of the psychological data showed that the subjects’ emotions were significantly improved in the three different landscape space types. The space with the strongest restorative effect on negative emotions was the ginkgo garden, followed by Jiuqu bridge and Laoban hill. The spaces with the strongest restorative potential for positive emotions were Jiuqu bridge and the ginkgo garden, followed by Laoban hill. The results of the perceptual restoration data showed that the Laoban hill space had the most effective restorative potential on the human body, followed by Jiuqu bridge, with the ginkgo garden having the least effective restorative potential. The results of the study on the difference between the aesthetic preference of different landscape elements and the perception restorative effect of a space showed that “the harmony between artificial structures such as garden pieces and the environment”, “plant species”, “waterscape state”, and “boundary clarity” were identified as significant landscape elements with perception-restorative effects. These findings summarize campus landscape types and elements with optimal restorative potential. In the future, in campus landscape design—an active approach with a scientific combination and configuration of campus landscape types and elements—can provide a feasible solution to enhance the potential of campus landscape restorative effects.