This repository contains data related to the field experiments of the RESTORE project. This project is a collaboration between the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology (EMPA). It has received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. The overall objective of the RESTORE project was to assess the effects of green spaces as facilitators and noise as impediment to recover from stress in people's daily environments across Switzerland.
We conducted a randomized, controlled field study to compare the psychophysiological benefits of exposure to forests and urban built environments with different levels of road traffic noise in healthy adults during 30-minute walks in Zürich, Switzerland to explore:
1) The psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure
2) The effects of walking in urban forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure on repetitive negative thinking and connectedness with the non-human world
3) The effects of a mindful walking intervention in urban forests for healthy adults
Accordingly, this repository includes data and documentation for the 3 scientific articles:
Scientific article 1. “Psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial", BMC Psychology, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01720-x
Scientific article 2. "Psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure: A randomized controlled trial“. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2025.
Scientific article 3. “The effects of walking in urban forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure on repetitive negative thinking and connectedness with the non-human world: A randomized controlled trial". To be submitted to PLOS One, 2025.
Scientific article 4: "Effects of a mindful walking intervention in urban forests for healthy adults". To be submitted to Current Psychology, 2025.
