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NeuroLandscape @ IFLA World Congress

Yesterday marks the end of the 2 day IFLA World Congress 2018.

Here at NeuroLandscape, we can't wait to update everyone with all the exciting events that happened over the 2 days. There will be more detailed spotlights in the weeks to come, but here is a quick glimpse of NeuroLandscape @IFLA.

The IFLA Congress venue was truly impressive this year, acomodated almost entire top floor of Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center. Invited keynote speakers   included Minister of National Development, Mr. Lawrence Wong and even Prof. Timothy Beatley,  researcher and writer who first introduced the green urbanism concept and introduced the biophilic cities network. He stressed the importance of LIVING IN NATURE for health, instead of just visiting the nature from time to time.

The following session was lead by  Dr Cheong Koon Hean, the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Housing & Development Board (HDB) announcing the updated Biophillic Town Framework. In many ways, the Biophillic Town Framework is especially critical of an achievement to us .  At times, it can be easy to question ourselves. While members of NeuroLandscape were directly involved in its inception, the significance of HDB adopting this framework is far greater than just that.  This is absolute proof of the value of our research and the potential of a better tomorrow that it can bring. It shows that we are not alone in what we strive to do.

Interview with Gayle Souter - Brown

Gayle is a Principle  of Greenstone Design UK & Ecological Victoria, landscape architect, writer and researcher. She is one of our esteemed Advisory Board Members. Be sure to check out our exclusive interview with her as she shares her extensive insight with us!

Living Landscape and Brain Reactions
Prof. Chang, Chun-Yen from Taiwan National University, "Healthy Landscapes Healthy People's Lab" shares his current research interests in this special interview brought to you by Nicolas Escoffier. Coming up soon on out youtube channel!

 

Student Competition and Design Award

Dr. Agnieszka O. Guizzo had the privilege of being one of the design facilitators for this student design competition.  Below is a picture of her taking a group photo with one of the student teams. The students were greatly intrigued by the idea of contemplative landscapes and even incorporated it into their design!

The IFLA World Congress 2018 concluded with a Paper Presentation Session. Dr. Agnieszka O. Guizzo, joined by several other presenters like Prof. Liao Kuei-Hsien, they shared their findings with an attentive crowd and ended the day with a fruitful discussion.  More details about Dr. Agnieszka O. Guizzo's Window View and the Brain and Prof. Liao Kuei-Hsien's Landscape Design with Ecosystem services in High Density Cities will be coming soon.

 

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A Place for Yourself Everywhere.

Research has proven that time alone in outdoor nature is beneficial for our mental and physical health.  One of the Contemplative Landscape characteristics is the “sense of solitude” that one can experience when immersed in the landscape.

Yet, the urban high stress pace of life “enjoyed” by many across the globe makes finding such a spot difficult. While it is common for cities to increase their foliage, it is often hard to measure how effective their efforts are.

However, here at NeuroLandscape, our research allows up to strive further in incorporate nature into our own everyday surroundings. Creating a seamless experience that can be enjoyed by all who inhabit the same space.

You can also assess the link from here: https://www.universal-sci.com/headlines/2018/6/9/-spending-time-alone-in-nature-is-good-for-your-mental-and-emotional-health

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14th International Conference on Urban Health / Coimbra, PT, 26-29 Sep 2017

NeuroLandscape wholeheartedly embraces a multi-disciplinary approach, so it is quite challenging to establish one discipline which we most represent, one type of a scientific journal to publish in, or one area of conferences to participate in. Believe me when it comes to choosing keywords for our studies or key areas of expertise, it is even more challenging!

 

Fortunately things are changing and new approaches emerge around the world that look in the same direction as us and welcome multiple methods. One such initiative is this conference. Participation in the conference has made us realize how important the topics of urban health are right now—not so much to academic community, but rather to urban governing bodies and public health entities.

Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo, our delegate to the conference, participated in the one day brainstorming and workshop on “How to implement and scale up community best solutions for improving urban health “

It definitely was a chance to network with experts from around the world on what currently is being done, and can be done in the future, in order to improve and scale up community initiative for urban health.

Despite the great concern for the mental health problems that todays’ cities are challenged with, most scientific methods applied to this issue are almost entirely limited to self-reported surveys and questionnaires. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with these methods, using only this approach can be somewhat limiting, because social and cultural conventions influence how likely someone is to self-report symptoms of mental illness to an interviewer. Moreover, studies often report that depression among the poorest in society is not as severe simply because respondents tend to associate their problems more with their poverty when there are many other factors that may be at play, such as their physical environment [link].

At NeuroLandscape we provide an alternative to the self-reported approach, which is continuously improved upon. Instead of asking people about their mental health, we want to "ask" their brains, giving us a chance to capture the most subtle nuances of their perception that they may not even be aware of...

Our delegate gave a speech on Window View and the Brain Can Floor Level and Amount of Green within the View Have any Effect on Our Well-Being? to present the findings from a recent EEG experiment undertaken within the Biophilic Town Project at NUS Singapore. The presentation was met with great interest, which shows that the traditional methods of self mental-health assessment can already be challenged.

To sum up, it was a great conference, NeuroLandscape has found its people and the box where it fits (or rather a corridor connecting multiple boxes together)! We are very excited and looking forward to more events like this one!