LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE


The positive impact of getting landscaping right


Mark Stefan, director of landscape architecture and planning practice, Design with Nature, outlines the principal characteristics of each of the component parts of the Contemplative Landscape Model (CLM) which forms the core of the book, Neuroscience for Designing Green Spaces, by Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo, published in May 2023. He examines the relevance of each element, and discusses each’s application in relation to the design of therapeutic landscapes and external spaces associated with the various types of mental healthcare facilities.


The COVID-19 lockdown experience shared by us all highlighted the benefits of an increased level of contact with the natural world – something which was enveloped, at least in the early days, by relative peace and serenity. We all have our own individual preferences in relation to which type of semi-natural and man-made landscapes we find appealing, based on cultural exposure and personal predilections. However, landscape architect and neuroscience researcher, Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo, has undertaken in her book to identify the principal elements of a contemplative landscape, to provide fellow professionals with the tools they need when seeking to maximise the potential mental health benefits of existing and new green spaces. She references the fact that for the


vast majority of the last 10,000 years, homosapiens has lived in close proximity to nature, and so arguably mental health impacts are one of the principal costs of the relatively recent adaptation to the densely populated, sensory overloaded, urbanised environments in which the majority of people now reside. She quotes a study involving 900,000 participants (ranging from adolescents to adults) carried out by Engemann et al in 2019 that ‘showed that the relative risk of developing any psychiatric disorder (borderline type, personality disorder, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, neurotic and stress-related disorder, depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, mood disorder, schizophrenia, and substance abuse) was higher among those that grew up further away from green spaces’.


Health benefits of a ‘more naturalised’ environment According to research (Clayton 2012), a person’s environment shapes approximately 10% of their overall health, and the benefits of contact with a more


THE NETWORK | FEBRUARY 2024


naturalised environment have been recognised since the 1960s. Research undertaken in recent years has recorded increased lower frequency brainwaves (Alpha and Theta) arising from exposure to landscapes, which encourage a contemplative state of mind. Agnieszka Olszewska- Guizzo states in her book that ‘exposure to contemplative landscapes amplifies the mental health benefits of so-called nature exposure’, although it is acknowledged that the level of an individual’s sensitivity


to their environment will inevitably vary. The author highlights that ‘A particularly interesting group for contemplative landscape is adolescents’. In research


undertaken by Orejudo et al (2022), those who scored highly for statements like ‘Every now and then I like to admire landscapes’ had better self-control, life satisfaction, and family activity. The brain science behind this effect is something discussed extensively in Chapter 2 of Neuroscience for Designing Green Spaces.


Contemplative Landscape Model and the underlying research evidence The CLM developed by Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo consists of seven principal components, ranked here in order of importance: Character of Peace & Silence, Layers of the Landscape, Archetypal Elements, Biodiversity, Colour and Light, Landform, and Compatibility. This hierarchy of


At Khoo Tech Puat, dubbed ‘Singapore’s greenest hospital’, the plants in the green roof gardens now attract up to 35 different species of butterfly, and the carefully selected tree species are visited by 24 species of bird.


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