Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 55 (2020) 126846

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Urban Forestry & Urban Greening

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Window view and relaxation: Viewing green space from a high-rise estate
improves urban dwellers’ wellbeing
Mohamed Elsadek a, b, Binyi Liu a, *, Junfang Xie a
a
Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, China
b
Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Egypt

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Matilda van den Bosch The current challenges of urbanization and densification threaten the health of urban dwellers. Previous studies
have shown that contact with; or perception of green spaces has beneficial impacts on human psychological
Keywords: wellbeing. However, residents and employees who live or work in high-rise buildings have little opportunity to
Green space access green spaces during working hours. We do not know whether viewing green space through a high-rise
High-rise buildings
estate window can potentially contribute to the psychological wellbeing of urban dwellers. Thirty participants
Stress reduction
were randomly assigned to two offices, a window looking out onto urban space, or a window looking out onto
Urban space
Urbanization green space from a wide-angle of the 21st floor of the Jin-Mao Tower. During visual stimulation, sensors took
Window view physiological measures of their stress levels by measuring Electroencephalography, heart rate variability, and
skin conductance, while their psychological reactions were collected using Profile of Mood States and Semantic
Differential Questionnaire. Results showed that compared with the urban space view; viewing green space
through a high-rise window resulted in a significant increase in alpha wave power in the frontal and occipital
lobes, a significant increase in parasympathetic activity; and a significant decrease in the skin conductance.
Moreover; a significant increase in “comfortable”, “beautiful”, “attractive”, “relaxed”, and “cheerful’’ feelings,
and a significant improvement in mood states. Window views can significantly lead to better mental health and
psychological wellbeing for urban dwellers. The observed results highlight the significance of considering the
window views in urban high-rise neighborhood planning and design.

1. Introduction buildings globally, especially in emerging economies (Wray, 2018).

Over recent decades, urbanization has increased globally (Cohen,
2006), this is anticipated to continue as urban areas are expected to
absorb most of the future worldwide population growth (UNDESA,
2012). More than half of the world’s population now resides in cities,
and this proportion is expected to increase (Dye, 2008). The urban shift
over time has contributed to the emergence of the mega-city – a city with
more than 10 million residents. Most of the cities with a population of 10
million in recent years are located in Asia and Africa. In a list of the ten
most populated urban areas, Tokyo is the world’s largest city with 38
million inhabitants followed by Delhi with 25 million, Shanghai with 23
million, Mexico City, Mumbai and São Paulo, each with around 21
million and Cairo with 18.5 million inhabitants (United Nations, 2014).
The dramatic increase in the population and the land scarcity within
cities have implied an upturn in the building of high-rise and tall
High-rise residential buildings are usually seen as indicating less livable
settlements with no human scale and individuals separated from the
street life, which encourages social isolation (Cappon, 1971). Addi­
tionally, high-rise buildings construction has contributed to the isolation
of the residents from green spaces and reduced their chances of contact
with nature and green spaces (Olszewska-Guizzo et al., 2018). Un­
doubtedly, many people reside and/or work in high-rise structures,
many of which are severely deprived of green space, and the lack of
vegetation in urban areas is recognized as a global issue that needs to be
addressed through the development of a sustainable urban environment.
On the other hand, stress is one of the greatest obstacles to the
involvement of employees in the modern workplace. The adverse con­
sequences of stress are so great that it was declared a worldwide
epidemic the World Health Organization (WHO, 2010). Work stress can
lead to both physical and mental diseases (Nieuwenhuijsen and

* Corresponding author at: Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, No. 1239 Siping Road, Yangpu
District, Shanghai, 200092, China.
E-mail address: byltjulk@vip.sina.com (B. Liu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126846
Received 2 January 2020; Received in revised form 16 July 2020; Accepted 31 August 2020
Available online 5 September 2020
1618-8667/© 2020 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
M. Elsadek et al.
Bruinvels, 2010). Moreover, current predictions indicate that stress will
be the world’s leading disease burden by 2030 (Board, 2011).
Although nature and green spaces have many positive impacts on
people, the current trend in the construction of compact cities does not
consider the ability of natural environments to contribute to improving
the quality of work and living environments that could promote the
health and wellbeing of residents (Tsunetsugu et al., 2013). Besides,
more people work and spend leisure time indoors, and studies have
shown that individuals may experience some adverse implications as a
result of a decrease in the amount of time spent in the natural envi­
ronment (Kaplan, 1995). Moreover, urban lifestyles, including longer
office hours, time limitations, and an unconscious separation from na­
ture, may have adverse effects on society and personal health and
happiness (Lewis, 1996). Additionally, distance is a dominant aspect;
access is generally determined by distance measures, for example,
measuring the distance from home to the closest natural and urban
green spaces. The frequency of using green spaces has decreased with
increasing distances (Ekkel and Vries, 2017).
Researchers are increasingly interested in how neighborhood green
spaces can affect human health and psychological wellbeing, pioneering
studies were conducted within the field of environmental psychology
(Kaplan, 1992, 1995). Since the early 1980s, scientific research has
shown the benefits of nature and green space for both people and
communities (Jennings and Bamkole, 2019; Lee et al., 2015; Ulrich,
1984). The potential advantages of interaction with nature and human
health including stress reduction and psychological restoration, the
promotion of physical activity, and immune system modulation have
been explored and proved to a considerable extent (Shao et al., 2020;
Elsadek et al., 2019b, 2019; Grinde and Patil, 2009; James et al., 2015).
Additionally, access to green spaces could enhance individual’ mental
health, and provide opportunities for social interactions and enhance
social cohesion (Jennings and Bamkole, 2019; Swierad and Huang,
2018). Moreover, walking in parks increases feelings of vigor, comfort,
and calmness and decreases tension, anger, fatigue, depression, confu­
sion, and anxiety (James et al., 2015; Ojala et al., 2018). So, there is an
immediate need to study the individual psychological and physiological
reactions when viewing green space from the window of a high building.
Several theories have been proposed that could explain the effect of
exposure to green space on individuals’ wellbeing, such as Attention
Restoration Theory (ART) (Kaplan, 1995), which suggests that exposure
to natural environments can help us improve our focus and ability to
concentrate. Stress Reduction Theory (SRT) (Ulrich et al., 1991) sug­
gests that exposure to nature may have a direct restorative effect on
cognition and may reduce stress.
As window views are the fastest and easiest way to view a neigh­
borhood, most people generally prefer an office with a window view and
when they have an option between a windowed or a windowless office,
most of them will choose the windowed one (Stone and Irvine, 1994).
Previous research in environmental psychology has shown a positive
association between window views and human’ mental health and
wellbeing. Ulrich, 1984 demonstrates that patients in hospitals with a
window view of green space recover faster than patients who were
exposed to a view of a brick wall. A study by Gilchrist et al., 2015
revealed that workers were pleased with their office views, particularly
of trees, grasses, and ornamental plants, which are linked to improve­
ments in mental wellbeing. Likewise, residential occupants who can see
trees from their homes are more contented with their lives (Vemuri
et al., 2011). A recent study by Olszewska-Guizzo et al., 2018 in a lab­
oratory environment investigated how photographs of window views
captured from different floor levels with different amounts of green
cover affect the brain activity of individuals. They reported that viewing
high levels of green space cover through the window has the potential
for enhancing alpha waves associated with relaxation.
Knowledge of the positive effects of green spaces on urban design
should be properly integrated with the specific objective of maintaining
green spaces near buildings. Although many researchers have recently
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Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 55 (2020) 126846
extensively studied the positive impacts of contact with nature on the
wellbeing of urban dwellers, less attention has been paid to the positive
impact of viewing nature from high-rise windows. The present study
aims to investigate the relaxation impact of viewing greenery through a
high-rise building window compared with viewing urban space. To do
so, we measured Electroencephalography (EEG), heart rate variability
(HRV), and skin conductivity (SC), as well as the psychological reactions
by using the semantic differential (SD) and the profile of mood states
(POMS) questionnaires. Results may provide an understanding of how
seeing green space from high-rise buildings can affect the residents’
physiological and psychological states. We hypothesized that, compared
to viewing urban space; viewing green space from high-rise buildings
would positively affect the human physiological and psychological
states.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Visual stimulation
The experiments were conducted from the 21st floor of Jin-Mao
Tower, Lujiazui CBD, Shanghai situated at latitude 31◦ 14′ north and
longitude 121◦ 29′ east, on China’s east coast at the southeast end of the
Yangtze River. The participants were assigned to two conditions – a
window looking out onto urban space, or with a window looking out
onto green space. The green space was the Lujiazui Centre Park, a
65,000 m2 green spaces where residents and workers go to relax. It is the
largest unobstructed space in the high-rise buildings in the central area
of Lujiazui. The subjects were directed to view the green space scenery
(Fig. 1 A) or urban space from the window of the office (Fig. 1B).
2.2. Participants
To evaluate the physio-psychological relaxation effects of viewing
the green space from high-rise buildings on stressed people, a literature
review (Giorgi et al., 2017) has led our selecting participants dealing
with work-related stress in financial services industry. Thirty females
were recruited for the present study. Two ways were used to recruit
volunteers to the experiment: (1) An e-mail describing the study details
was sent to the company manager (2) the authors of the present study
met employees in person and asked them to participate in the experi­
ment. All participants were Chinese, aged 29.60 ± 0.47 years (mean ±
SE) (Table 1), with normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Furthermore,
no one reported a fear of heights or any psychiatric or neurological
conditions or the use of medication that could change the functioning of
the central nervous system during the experiment. Each participant was
notified of the study procedures at the beginning of the experiment, after
which each participant was asked to sign an informed consent form to
participate in the study. Consumption of alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco
was prohibited during the experiment. The research was carried out in
accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and the protocol was approved
by Tongji University’s Ethics Committees (no. 2019tjdx283).
2.3. Study protocol
During working days in summer 2018, the experiment began at 4 pm,
after a normal working day, to ensure that the participants needed
relaxation to promote the relaxation impacts. After explaining the pro­
cedure in detail in the waiting room, each participant was moved to one
of the two offices, 1- has a window looking out onto urban space, or 2-
has a window looking out onto green space with the same configuration
and consistent temperature, humidity, and illumination. The participant
was asked to sit on a chair and distance (50 cm) to the window, and
distance was adjusted according to the height of the participant. Then,
the Portable EEG electrodes and ErgoLAB sensors were installed for the
physiological measurements. Next, to ensure reliability/stability of EEG
recordings, the participant was asked to alternate between opening and
M. Elsadek et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 55 (2020) 126846

Fig. 1. Visual stimuli: (A) window opened onto a green space, (B) window opened onto urban space. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).

Table 1
Participant ages, heights, and body weights (n = 30).
Variable Mean Std. Error

Age (years) 29.60 0.47

Height (cm) 162.20 5.71
Body weight (kg) 56.70 4.82

closing their eyes for four one-minute intervals. Subsequently, each

participant was told to rest comfortably with the eyes closed for two
minutes in order to suit the mood to the experimental atmosphere. She
was then asked to open her eyes, minimize her body movements (to
eliminate the presence of irrelevant artifacts in the EEG recordings), and
to focus on either the green space or the urban space through the win­
dow for 3 min. The participant was then asked to complete both SD and
POMS questionnaires in order to measure her emotions and mood states.
All participants were exposed to the two visual stimuli in a randomly
assigned order to eliminate the order effect. Fig. 2 summarizes the
experiment procedure. A within-subject design experiment was used and
both visual stimuli were experienced by each subject. The overall
duration of the experiment was 30 min.
2.4. Physiological measures
2.4.1. EEG data collection, processing, and analysis
We have used a portable Emotiv EPOC EEG headset to measure the
electrical activity of the brain (see Fig. 3). This device has been used and
confirmed as a tool for emotional identification (Pham and Tran, 2012;
Elsadek et al., 2019a)as well as restorative experiences in urban green
spaces (Aspinall et al., 2015). Besides, EEG is generally accepted as a
good indicator of cortical arousal (Hagerhall et al., 2008). The Emotiv
Fig. 3. a): Emotiv EPOC, (b): channel locations.
EPOC is a non-invasive, high resolution, and enables the quick collection
of brainwave signals (Chiang et al., 2017). The headset has 14 channels
positioned at AF3, AF4, F3, F4, F7, F8, FC5, FC6, O1, O2, P7, P8 T7 and
T8 based on the international federation 10–20 electrode system. The
amplitude (10–100μV) and frequency (1–70 Hz) of brain waves have
been recorded (Klem et al., 1999) (Fig. 3). The device has an internal
sampling rate of 2048 Hz. Before use, all felt pads on top of the sensors
were thoroughly moistened with a salty solution. The electrodes capture
the participant’s brainwave signals. The brain signals were amplified to
levels suitable for electronic processing and then digitized and trans­
mitted to a computer via Bluetooth. They also were subjected to filtering
by using the EEG toolbox (< 0.5 Hz or >50 Hz) to remove electrical
noise or other undesirable signal characteristics, such as DC offsets,
low-frequency skin prospective artifacts, and high-frequency noise.
After collection, the data were loaded for further processing using
MATLAB (version 7.12.0.635 R2011a). The automatic independent
component analysis-based algorithm ADJUST was used to remove the

Fig. 2. Experiment procedure.

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M. Elsadek et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 55 (2020) 126846

signal artifact for each channel. ADJUST uses specific characteristics of

TMD = ((T − A) + (D) + (A − H) + (F) + (C) − (V))
stereotypical spatial and temporal artifacts to identify independent ar­
tifacts automatically and then delete them (Shan et al., 2018). The data A lower TMD score represents a better emotional state.
analysis is then performed using the cleaned data. The electrical activity The semantic differential (SD) consisted of competing adjectives:
of the brain can be measured by power densities in different wavebands. “comfortable to uncomfortable”; and “relaxed to awakening”. Each
Sanei a Chambers, 2007 reported that there are five main brain waves question was scored on a 5-point Likert scale format (-2, -1, 0, 1 and 2)
with different frequency ranges: alpha, beta, delta, theta, and gamma, in according to the degree of emotion (Osgood, Charles, 1952). A higher
the frequency ranges of 8− 13 Hz, 13–30 Hz, 0–4 Hz, 4–8 Hz and >30 Hz score indicates a strong emotional state.
respectively. In this study, alpha wave has been considered in four
channel locations i.e., two frontal locations (AF3 and AF4) and two
2.6. Data analysis
occipital locations (O1 and O2). These were selected because the pre­
frontal cortex regulates cognition and thinking (Bak, 2011), while the
All data were expressed as mean ± SE (standard error). SPSS 24.0
occipital cortex is primarily responsible for processing visual informa­
(IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA, 2011) was used to perform T-test and
tion (Carter and Frith, 1998). Alpha wave power is more prominent at
Wilcoxon signed-rank test for statistical significance between the visual
these locations (Fink et al., 2005), and it is the major rhythm seen when
stimuli data. The level of significance was set at p<0.05.
human subjects are relaxed (Sanei and Chambers, 2007; Shan et al.,
2018). Fig. 3 shows the EEG headset and channel placement.
3. Results
2.4.2. Heart rate variability (HRV) and skin conductance (SC)
3.1. Physiological responses
The heart rate variability and skin conductance signal sequences
were obtained and processed using the ErgoLAB “Human­
3.1.1. Electroencephalography (EEG)
–Machine–Environment” synchronization platforms (Zhang et al.,
The paired t-test demonstrated significant alterations in alpha waves
2018). For non-invasive measurements of alterations in blood perfusion
in the prefrontal and occipital lobes while viewing the two visual
in the microvascular tissue below the skin, a portable wireless detector
stimuli. Results are illustrated in Fig. 4. That is, the alpha relative power
of photoplethysmography based on the Ergolab platform was connected
in (AF3) was higher when participants viewed the green space (2.50 ±
to the participant’s earlobe. To eliminate white noise and heart rate
0.12) than when they viewed the urban space (1.90 ± 0.10, p< 0.05). It
interference, the bad signal was first removed, and the signals of the
was also higher in AF4 (3.10 ± 0.10 and 1.41 ± 0.14, respectively,
entire ordered waveform were filtered and corrected separately. The
p<0.01). In addition, similar results were found in the left hemisphere
cardiac signal was analyzed with the frequency domain assessment.
(O1) when the participants viewed the green space (2.45 ± 0.18)
Frequency domain analysis evaluates the activities of sympathetic and
compared to the urban space (1.38 ± 0.11) (p<0.05) as well as in the
parasympathetic systems. The following frequency domain measure­
right hemisphere (O2) while viewing the green space compared to
ments were evaluated: low-frequency oscillatory power (LF) (0.04–0.1
viewing the urban space (2.72 ± 0.17 and 1.21 ± 0.11, respectively,
Hz), symptomatic activity indicator, high-frequency power (HF)
p<0.01). These results show that alpha relative power was significantly
(0.15–0.4 Hz), parasympathetic activity indicator, and the LF/HF ratio.
increased in the prefrontal and occipital lobes when participants viewed
In particular, these measures demonstrate sympathetic activity in
the green space, indicating relaxation, awareness, and a positive attitude
particular. A higher LF/HF value indicates a hyper-sympathetic nervous
toward the presented view.
system that is associated with increased stress and anxiety (Malik et al.,
1996). Frequency domain measurements were transformed to log values
3.1.2. Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
before analysis. The current study has used the natural logarithmic value
Results are illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. Fig. 5 shows that the mean ln
of the HF power and the ratio of LF/HF power.
(HF) was significantly higher while viewing the green space than when
In addition, an Electrodermal Activity-based (EDA) wearable detec­
viewing the urban space (6.88 ± 0.14 vs. 6.12 ± 0.15, p<0.05).
tor was used to measure skin conductance caused by the stimulation of
Furthermore, Fig. 6 shows that the mean ln (LF/HF) when viewing the
the sweat gland secretions between two reusable electrodes which are
urban space was significantly higher than when viewing the green space
linked to two fingers on one hand (Hanson et al., 2009). Data of skin
conductivity was collected using the ErgoLAB platform. The EDA signal
was discriminated and subjected to filtering procedures and image
deconvolution processing to remove noise, and the signal was then
subjected to time domain evaluation. Skin conductance has been
commonly used for the assessment of psychological stress, and it may
also indicate sympathetic activity (Blascovich and Kelsey, 1990).

2.5. Psychological measures

During the experiment, two self-reporting questionnaires were used

to assess the psychological reactions associated with each visual stim­
ulus. The English version of each questionnaire was translated into the
Chinese language. A 25-item version of POMS was used to evaluate the
mood of the participants following visual stimuli using a 5-point scale
(definitely negative to definitely positive). Standard scoring of the POMS
yields a global distress score referred to as Total Mood Disturbance
(TMD) as well as scores for six subscales: Tension-Anxiety (T-A), Fig. 4. Mean of alpha relative power while viewing the green space and urban
Depression (D), Anger-Hostility (A–H), Fatigue (F), Confusion (C), and space, in the prefrontal lobe AF3 and Af4 electrodes, and in the occipital lobe
Vigor (V). The lower scores of T-A, D, A–H, F, and C reflect a better O1 and O2 electrodes. n = 30, mean ± SE. *p<0.05, **p<0.01 determined by
emotional state, as does a higher score for (V). The total mood distur­ paired t-test. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend,
bance score was measured using the following equation. the reader is referred to the web version of this article).

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M. Elsadek et al.
Fig. 5. Ln (HF) during 3-min viewing of a green space or urban space; n = 30,
mean ± SE. *p < 0.05, determined by the paired t-test. (For interpretation of the
references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web
version of this article).
Fig. 6. Ln (LF/HF) during the 3-min experience period; n = 30, means ± SE,
**p < 0.01, determined by the paired t-test.
(1.07 ± 0.21 vs. 0.29 ± 0.24, p<0.01). This indicates that sympathetic
nervous activity was significantly lower during exposure to the green
space than when viewing the urban space.
3.1.3. Skin conductance (SC)
Fig. 7 illustrates the skin conductance of the participants during 3-
minute visual stimulation. When viewing urban space, the mean skin
conductance was significantly higher compared with viewing the green
space (1.29 ± 0.11 vs. 0.64 ± 0.12, p<0.05). Results indicating that the
green space influenced the participants’ positively, as demonstrated by
noticeable declines in their skin conductance.
3.2. Psychological responses
3.2.1. Reliability of the questionnaire scales
Cronbach’s α is a measure used to estimate the internal consistency
across the experiment. As shown in Table 2, POMS has good internal
consistency, while, SD has relatively high internal consistency.
3.2.2. POMS
Fig. 8 summarizes the results of the POMS questionnaire, showing
5
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 55 (2020) 126846
Fig. 7. Mean of skin conductance during the 3-min visual stimulation; n = 30,
means ± SE.
Table 2
Strength of internal consistency.
Scales Cronbach’s α
POMS 0.79
SD 0.97
the mean scores for the six subscales and TMD scores after viewing the
green space and the urban space. Three negative subscales rating after
viewing the green space were significantly lower than those after
viewing the urban space, “tension and anxiety”, p<0.01; “fatigue”,
p<0.01; and “confusion”, p<0.01, whereas feelings of vigor were
significantly higher (p < 0.01). However, “depression-dejection”, and
“anger-hostility” did not differ significantly between the two visual
stimuli. The TMD score was significantly lower after viewing the green
space than after viewing the urban space (p<0.01).
3.2.3. Semantic Differential (SD)
Fig. 9 illustrates the results of the participants’ feelings assessment,
as assessed by the SD survey, after viewing the green space vs. viewing
the urban space. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that after
viewing the green space and the urban space, all the SD question scores
showed significant changes. Compared to viewing urban space, green
space was assessed as being significantly more “comfortable”, “relax­
ing”, “cheerful’’, “beautiful”, “colorful”, and “attractive”, (p<0.01).
Participants also reported that it was more favorable to view green space
from a high-floor window than to see urban space (p<0.01). Thus,
viewing the green space from the high buildings evoked more
comfortable, relaxed, and positive feelings than viewing the urban
space.
4. Discussion
Our results showed that viewing green space through a window on
the 21st floor compared with viewing the urban space has different
impacts on cerebral functioning. In particular, alpha wave amplitudes
were consistently higher when the participants saw the green space
rather than the urban space, which is particularly associated with pro­
moting a sense of calm and relaxation (Aspinall et al., 2015; Elsadek
et al., 2019a). The analysis of prefrontal and occipital alpha waves
showed significantly higher alpha relative power in subjects viewing the
green spaces from the 21st floor. Consistent with the study by Olszew­
ska-Guizzo et al., 2018, which found that photographs of higher levels of
green coverage taken from the 12th floor could induce the
M. Elsadek et al.
Fig. 8. (a) POMS subscales: Tension-anxiety (T-A), depression-dejection (D), anger-hostility (A-H), fatigue (F), confusion (C), and vigor (V); (b) Total mood
disturbance (TMD) score. Mean ± SE, n = 30. ** P< 0.01 using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
Fig. 9. Comparison of subjective scoring for “like” “comfortable”, “beautiful”,
“attractive”, “relaxed”, “colorful”, and “cheerful” feelings between viewing a
green space and the urban space. n = 30, mean ± SE, ** p<0.01 determined by
the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. (For interpretation of the references to colour in
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).
higher-amplitude alpha rhythms associated with relaxation. A possible
explanation is that participants had a positive attitude and feeling of
pleasure when they saw the green space (Davidson et al., 1979), in line
with the results of Klimesch et al., 1993 which clarified the important
key role of alpha waves in the neuronal network connectivity as well as
their high association with perceptual and cognitive processes. More­
over, increasing alpha waves can stimulate creativity and reduce
depression (Bergland, 2015).
Viewing the green space from the 21st floor increased alpha power,
indicating reduced depression and enhanced internal attention, calm­
ness, and brain consciousness (Başar, 2012). A possible explanation for
the relative increase in alpha waves when seeing green space is that the
green color is the most effective color to provide mental comfort
(Bloomfield, 1998). Additionally, viewing the green spaces stimulates
several emotions, such as psychological wellbeing, pleasure, and calm­
ness as proved by brain blood flow (Elsadek et al., 2013; Elsadek and
Fujii, 2014). Therefore, our findings showed that while viewing the
green space through a high-rise window compared to viewing the urban
6
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 55 (2020) 126846
space, the participants felt more relaxed and that the two visual stimuli
had different impacts on brain signals of neuronal activity.
As mentioned in a study by Malik et al., 1996, HRV reflects the state
of sympathetic activation which is related to stress and anxiety, while
parasympathetic activation reflects states of relaxation and calmness. It
is interesting to note that viewing the green space from the window of
the high-rise estate significantly increased the parasympathetic nerve
activity, which induces a state of relaxation, and significantly decreased
the sympathetic nervous activity thereby alleviating the stress state
compared to viewing the urban space. The results showed that window
views from high buildings could enhance relaxation and reduce stress.
Increased activation of parasympathetic nerve activity in this study
corroborates these earlier findings (Lee et al., 2014) and decreased
sympathetic nerve activity consistent with Elsadek et al., 2019.
As a further indicator to determine the participants’ relaxation and
stress states, skin conductance has been measured. A wide range of
studies has shown an association between the individual’s emotional
state and skin conductance (Kreibig, 2010). Previous literature has re­
ported that skin conductance increased in response to mental stress and
emotional arousal (Andreassi, 2007; Setz et al., 2010). Compared to
viewing green space, participants’ skin conductance was significantly
increased when they had viewed the urban space, suggesting that the
participants felt stressed while looking at the urban space. This also
accords with the study by Ulrich, which confirmed that interaction with
nature had positive impacts on the parasympathetic nervous system
(Ulrich et al., 1991). Hedblom et al., 2019 investigated the impact of
visual stimuli, 360-degree virtual photos of an urban area, forest, and
park on physiological stress recovery. Results revealed that skin
conductance levels were significantly higher for the urban space than for
the park and forest environments.
Consistent with previous research, the present study confirmed that
viewing the green space through a high-rise estate window has a positive
impact on the participants’ mood states. Three negative subscales of
POMS, including T–A, F and C significantly decreased after viewing the
green space. Meanwhile, the positive index of mood status (V) was
significantly increased. The low scores of the negative mood subscales
have many positive results, supporting that viewing a green space
through a high building window can successfully reduce the stress and
boost the vigor of employees and urban dwellers that work or live under
high levels of stress. The therapeutic effect of nature and green spaces is
well documented (Elsadek et al., 2017; Kondo et al., 2018), but a novel
element in our study is the high level from which the observations were
made.
M. Elsadek et al.
The semantic differential questionnaire found that the green space
stimuli scored high on the emotion “like’’, and the participants felt more
“comfortable’’, “relaxed’’, and “cheerful’’. Therefore, viewing the green
space through a 21st floor window stimulated feelings of comfort,
relaxation, and cheerfulness in comparison with viewing the urban
space. These findings are consistent with those of previous studies,
which reported that green plants are strongly associated with feelings of
comfort (Grinde and Patil, 2009; Tsunetsugu et al., 2013). These results
are also in agreement with earlier observations investigating the impacts
of different landscape designs, for example, forests (Yu et al., 2017);
gardens (Elsadek et al., 2019); and parks (Lee et al., 2014).
The present study outcomes are significant in recognizing how
looking at a green space through a high-rise window can contribute to
improving the viewer’s psychological wellbeing, notably by reducing
stress. The findings of the alpha waves correlate strongly with the out­
comes of HRV, skin conductance, and self-reported emotion suggesting
that the green space has stimulated positive effects on participants’
wellbeing. Looking at the green spaces from the high building appears to
be a good way to stimulate calmness and minimize residents’ stress
symptoms compare with looking at urban space. This research provides
a complementary concept to the growing scientific proof concerning the
potential benefits of viewing green space through a high-rise window.
The findings of this research indicate that green spaces should be
close to high-rise buildings to improve the life quality of modern soci­
eties that are constantly experiencing different types of stress in an
artificial environment. Moreover, as new cities focus on policies for
urban greening to boost their residents’ access to nature, they have
received important support from the findings of this research. The re­
sults suggest that individuals who have to stay indoors for a long time,
for example, employees, urban dwellers, and hospital patients who have
not been able to take advantage of the green spaces by going outside can
also take advantage of nearby greenery by looking at it through a win­
dow. Previous studies have shown that short walks in parks and forests
could reduce stress and promote physiological and psychological
relaxation (Hassan et al., 2018; James et al., 2015; Janeczko et al., 2020;
Ojala et al., 2018). We do not yet know the extent of health benefits from
viewing a park from a high-rise building compared with walking in it;
further research is needed in this regard. The localization of green spaces
could have the mutual benefit of viewing it from the buildings, as well as
offering the possibility to walk through them. The results show that
there is a need for urban planners and architects to account for the need
to include green space access and/or view in their urban and architec­
tural designs.
Our research has some strength, such as its being the first evidence-
based proof that viewing a green space through a real window on the
21st floor in an office setting can improve human health both physio­
logically and psychologically compared with viewing an urban space, as
well as our recruitment of office workers experiencing stress as partic­
ipants. Our study results are based on multiple measures, integrating
brain electrical alpha waves, HRV, skin conductance, and self-reported
emotion. Despite these findings, there are a number of limitations
associated with our study. First, focused on healthy young females,
which restricted the generalizability of these results. Future studies
should include individuals of different ages and gender. Second, to
reduce the load on the participants, we used only short-time measure­
ment, theoretically, long-term exposure is needed. More studies are
needed to investigate different vegetation types, floor heights, and dis­
tance to vegetation.
5. Conclusion
The objectives of the present study were to investigate whether
viewing green space through a 21st floor office window could affect an
individual’s brain activity, heart rate variability, skin conductance, and
psychological reaction. That is, whether having a window in high-rise
buildings overlooking a green space is beneficial to human
7
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 55 (2020) 126846
psychological wellbeing. To this end, subjective physiological and psy­
chological relaxation assessments have been conducted. Viewing green
spaces from high-rise buildings induced (1) a significant increase in
alpha waves in the prefrontal and occipital lobes, (2) a significant in­
crease in the high-frequency (HF) component of parasympathetic ner­
vous activity, and (3) a significant increase in perceptions of feeling
“comfortable,” “relaxed,”, “colorful,” and “cheerful” as well as positive
mood states. The study suggestion is that in terms of promoting in­
dividuals’ physiological and psychological wellbeing, green space close
to tall buildings and accessible through a window view can be beneficial
to inhabitants. The outcomes provide particularly promising support for
beneficial associations between viewing green space through a high-rise
window and urban dwellers’ psychological wellbeing. Attention should
be paid by urban planners to the presence of green spaces close to high-
rise buildings.
Financial support
This research was supported by key project of National Nature Sci­
ence Foundation of China (NSFC) “Research on the Design Theory and
Method of Landscape Architecture Responses to Microclimate Suit­
ability in Urban Livable Environment” (No. 51338007), Urban Land­
scape Visual Spaces Network Perception and Reaction Assessment (No.
51678417).
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Mohamed Elsadek: Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodol­
ogy, Software, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft,
Visualization, Validation. Binyi Liu: Supervision, Project administra­
tion, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Junfang Xie:
Investigation, Methodology, Data curation, Visualization, Resources.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors report no declarations of interest.
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our deepest appreciation to the participants
for their kind help during the experiment days.
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