Colorful urban environments may promote well being even if created with the help of virtual reality

Drab urban environments tend to increase our stress, whereas nature can soothe the soul, but how do you get the best of both? One option is to increase color and vegetation in cities, but finding the best approach can be tricky. A new study in Frontiersin Virtual Reality tested the effects of vegetation and colorful patterns in an urban environment. Employing virtual reality, the study found that green vegetation caused volunteers to walk more slowly, while also increasing their heart rate, indicating a pleasurable experience. Meanwhile, colorful patterns increased alertness, fascination and curiosity. The study illustrates the potential of simple interventions to improve the lives of urbanites, and also the power of virtual reality to test such interventions.

The cityscape can bring you down

Crowded streets, noise and drab grey buildings can lead to stress and fatigue. In short, cities can be bad for your health and emotional wellbeing. An antidote to such problems may lie in nature, which can have calming and restorative effects. After all, humans evolved in natural surroundings, and city life is a relatively new phenomenon.

One way to make cities more hospitable may be to introduce patches of vegetation or colorful patterns. However, installing plants or covering buildings in paint to test these approaches is expensive and inconvenient. Moreover, studying these phenomena outdoors can be tricky, as a huge array of factors can affect the final results.

Using virtual reality, the team created an immersive urban environment with either no vegetation or some green vegetation. They also introduced colorful patterns onto a path in the virtual environment.

The researchers invited students at their universities to participate in the study. Each wearing a VR headset and walking on the spot, the student volunteers spent time exploring the virtual environment. To determine where the volunteers were looking, and for how long, each headset included an eye tracker.

The study found that the students walked more slowly when there was green vegetation present in the simulation and their heartrate increased. They also spent less time looking at the ground and more time observing their surroundings. These results, which indicate a pleasurable experience, have also been found when people spend time near vegetation in the real world.

Reference: Batistatou A, Vandeville F and Delevoye-Turrell YN (2022) Virtual Reality to Evaluate the Impact of Colorful Interventions and Nature Elements on Spontaneous Walking, Gaze, and Emotion. Front. Virtual Real. 3:819597. doi: 10.3389/frvir.2022.819597.