Landscape architects and urban ecology researchers have always been trying to bring people more to the outdoors, make the most of urban parks and gardens, calling the public attention to issues such as nature deficit disorder, mental health consequences from spending our time mostly indoors, looking at phones or monitors… Today, the situation is calling Read More
Author: Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo
President and Founder of NeuroLandscape. Ph.D. in Landscape Architecture and Urban Ecology, in her research she explores the relationship between the different features of the natural and built environment’s influence on human health and well-being. She has successfully incorporated neuroscience tools to investigate the changes in brainwave oscillation in people exposed to different types of scenery. She has introduced and operationalized the term contemplative landscape and proposed a quantitative assessment scale - a Contemplative Landscapes Model (CLM) - to identify most beneficial landscapes for mental health in terms of passive exposure. She is an author of "Neuroscience for Designing Green Spaces: Contemplative Landscapes", Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health. She is continuing her research on therapeutic landscapes under two ongoing Horizon Europe projects: GreenME and GreenInCities.
Connecting Social and Urban Studies with Health and Well-being of Communities – Speech at the National University of Colombia in Manizales
On January 29th 2020 NeuroLandscape’s Board Member Dr. Diana Benjumea was invited to give a talk in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia to the staff and students of the Department of Architecture and Built Environment in the city of Manizales. The talk aimed to share the multidisciplinary work that is conducted in NeuroLandscape with special Read More
Blue space and mental health report out for review!
As a contributor to Expert Working Group Biodiversity & Health of the 3rd French Plan on Health and Environment (PNSE3) – Ministry in charge of the Environment (MTES) France, since 2017 we have been working to answer the following question: Which types and components of urban and peri-urban blue/green spaces have a significant impact on human mental Read More
Pre-Conference Workshop, Urban Health, Xiamen, China
Date& Time: 5.11.2019, 9am Location: School of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SACE 5), Xiamen University, #182 Da Xue Road, Xiamen, China With the growing interest among researchers, practitioners, and urban decision makers in the influence of the quality of the built environment on peoples’ health, there is increasing emphasis on using scientific knowledge to inform urban design, Read More
Elizabeth & Nona Evans Restorative Garden, a Garden for Contemplation
I have recently found a great piece of literature about designing urban gardens for well-being. “Restorative commons: Creating health and well-being through urban landscapes” by Campbell, Lindsay; Wiesen, Anne published in 2009 under USDA – Forest Service. Here is the link to the online resource – available free pdf version! What specifically caught my attention there Read More
Where Government Listens to Scientists: Urban Sustainability R&D Congress, Singapore
Singapore is one of the most prominent examples of Urban Sustainability through new technologies, research and development. It is also one of the few countries where the government is actively supporting science and innovation in order to inform the practice of urban design and solve urban living issues. The Urban Sustainability R&D Congress is organized Read More
Maintenance of green in the city and health
Different initiatives undertaken by the urban authorities can contribute to the improvement of urban dweller’s contact with nature and the nature exposure These include: Leaving unmowed areas in the urban green spaces, for developing a small ecosystems for flora & fauna, (urban meadows) Promoting the spontaneous habitat creation Leaving the fallen leaves on the ground Read More
April – the World Landscape Architecture Month by ASLA
When I went to my first scientific conference, as a PhD candidate, I was surprised that the main topic of the post-conference discussion was about “what is the landscape architecture?”. For more than 1 hour landscape architects (teachers, academics, and proffessionals) were discussing vividly about what it is that what they do. I found it Read More
WHO to fund a systematic review about blue spaces and health
In our ongoing collaboration with the EKLIPSE mechanism, together with Expert Working Group from different European countries and representing various disciplines, we are trying to answer the question: Which types and components of urban and peri-urban blue / green spaces have a significant impact on human mental health and mental well-being? EKLIPSE is project funded Read More
Follow the awakening in urban green spaces for health!
Our newest publication XSection Journal features the process of evolution in perception of urban green spaces in terms of the health benefits they can deliver, through a popular “expanding brain meme. Check out this short article and how to interpret the image here: https://www.xsectionjournal.com/edition-8/2018/11/22/generations-of-urban-green-for-health-dr-agnieszka-olszewska-guizzo