Future Spaces Vision Lab
BGI & Mental Health
The Impact of Blue-Green Exposure on Mental Health and Wellbeing in Shenzhen’s High-Density Context: Towards a Healthy “Blue-Green Diet”
Team Leader: Li Jingyi
Supervisor: Zdravko Trivic, Associate Professor, NUS
Cosupervisor: Mirna Zordan, Assistant Professor
Discourses on the physical and mental health benefits of Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) — including streams, wetlands, lakesides, and riverfronts have grown significantly over recent decades. While research has considered concepts like the “Nature Pyramid” for mental health, the role of water elements and optimal "blue-green diet" patterns remain underexplored.
This PhD research comprehensively examines BGI’s multi-dimensional impacts on mental health and wellbeing in high-density urban areas, focusing on BGI characteristics and user interactions as determinants of a healthy “blue-green diet.” Key objectives include: (1) assessing how BGI scale and its proximity to residents affect their visitation motives, interaction preferences, visit pattern, and overall mental health; (2) investigating the threshold effects of passive vs. active interactions (e.g., observing vs. engaging with water) on attention restoration and stress relief; (3) analyzing how visit frequency to neighborhood and regional BGIs influences mental health and wellbeing outcomes; and (4) using VR experiments to evaluate how BGI attributes shape interaction patterns and psychological benefits.
METHODOLOGY: Research methods include on-site and online surveys, interviews, randomized controlled interactions, VR experiments, as well as physiological measurements such as skin conductance, electroencephalogram (EEG), and eye-tracking.
