Street Design Elements That Influence Mental Well-Being: Evidence from Southern Chile

Antonio Zumelzu (), Cristóbal Heskia, Marie Geraldine Herrmann-Lunecke, Gastón Vergara, Mariana Estrada and Constanza Jara
Additional contact information
Antonio Zumelzu: Instituto de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5091000, Chile
Cristóbal Heskia: Instituto de Neurociencias Clínicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5091000, Chile
Marie Geraldine Herrmann-Lunecke: Departamento de Urbanismo, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8331051, Chile
Gastón Vergara: Instituto de Estadística, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5091000, Chile
Mariana Estrada: Instituto de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5091000, Chile
Constanza Jara: Instituto de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5091000, Chile

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: The aim of this article is to assess which elements of street design impact subjective well-being in the central area of a city in southern Chile, based on residents’ perceptions. Fifty-six semi-structured walking interviews were conducted to obtain records of pedestrians’ self-reported perceptions of their environment. To categorize the emotions reported in the interviews, the Circumplex Model of Affect was used to organize and classify the declared emotions. The results revealed that street design elements such as heritage buildings with well-maintained facades with intense colors in their coatings, spacious front gardens, wooden facades, low fences, wide sidewalks, soft or rubberized floors, and trees with colorful fruits and leaves promote a greater dominance of high-intensity positive emotions such as enjoyment, joy, happiness, liking, and pleasure. In contrast, neglected or abandoned building facades, blind fronts with graffiti or murals, high fences, tall buildings, treeless or vegetation-free sidewalks, untrimmed bushes, and narrow and poorly maintained sidewalks promote negative emotions of both high and low activation such as fear, anger, dislike, rage, unsafety, discomfort, and stress. The article concludes with the development of an emotional map of momentary experiences, identifying places of well-being and discomfort in public spaces. The value of this map is discussed as a tool to inform urban design in the promotion of healthier pedestrian environments in Latin American cities.

Keywords: street design; mental well-being; emotions; urban design; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/9/1398/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/9/1398/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:9:p:1398-:d:1467778

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().