Factors affecting tranquillity in the countryside

Abstract

Previous work on elucidating the tranquillity of various environments has largely focussed on prediction and validation in urban environments. The setting for the latest phase of research was an English country park and surrounding moors on the urban fringe located 8 miles west of Bradford. Within the area selected there were a number of environments and man-made features and sounds that were thought to significantly affect tranquillity and which were not covered in earlier studies. The experiment extended over a number of months and utilised a jury technique for evaluation involving leading small groups of walkers to different locations in quasi-random order. At each location participants were asked to complete a short questionnaire and measurements of the physical soundscape and landscape images were used to interpret the results and give insights into the importance of the various factors affecting tranquillity. Such data will be useful for effective environmental management and conservation in the countryside. (154 words)

Tranquillity in the Scottish Highlands and Dartmoor National Park – The importance of soundscapes and emotional factors

“…The equation TRAPT was successful in predicting rated tranquility in these mainly wildland areas and extends the range of validation from urban and country parks previously studied [9,10]. It was found that precision could be improved by taking into account those situations where there was perceived to be a measure of personal threat.…”

“…It extends beyond tranquillity studies of city parks and country parks [8,9,10] and includes wildland areas in the Scottish Highlands and Dartmoor National Park. It can be argued that these regions contain some of the most tranquil spaces in the UK.…”

Influence of soundscape and interior design on anxiety and perceived tranquillity of patients in a healthcare setting

“…Previous work on elucidating the tranquillity of environments has largely focused on prediction and validation using the Tranquillity Rating Prediction Tool, TRAPT [8,9,10,11]. This prediction method includes two important factors: the level of man-made noise and the percentage of natural and contextual features in the visual scene.…”

Validation of the Tranquillity Rating Prediction Tool (TRAPT): comparative studies in UK and Hong Kong

“…Averaged across all groups the effect of scattering litter in the Peace Garden was to depress ratings by 1.96 scale points. Another study in a country park where litter had been dumped showed an adverse effect of 1.20 scale points [10]. Clearly the amount and type of litter will influence the size of the effect.…”

“…Examples of such features are: listed buildings, as these have already undergone a value assessment, religious and historic buildings, landmarks, monuments and man-made elements of the landscape that are geographically and aesthetically in keeping with the natural environment of woods, fields, lakes, hills or parkland. In addition, it was found that the presence of litter and water sounds can decrease or increase ratings, respectively [10,11]. Equation (1) gives the final model [12], where TR = Tranquillity Rating, L Aeq the equivalent continuous sound pressure level of anthropogenic noise and NCF, the percentage of natural and contextual features in the scene (excluding the sky).…”