Science Says Beautiful Architecture Makes Us Happy and Healthy

We all know exercise and being in close proximity to nature boosts our happiness and overall heath. However, the impact of the "environmental aesthetics" of our cities has never been studied, until now. 

A new study suggests that beautiful architecture is considered just as "scenic" and beneficial to our health and psyche as "greenery."

As The Telegraph reports, London residents were asked to rank the "scenicness" of more than 212,000 photos of Britain, resulting in over 1.5 million ratings. The findings confirmed architecture and design has a positive impact on the participants' overall wellbeing. 

“Just because a place is green does not compel us to feel better on its own. It seems to be that the beauty of the environment, as measured by scenicness, is of crucial importance," Chanuki Seresinhe, a PhD student in the Data Science Lab at Warwick Business School, told The Telegraph. 

You can read The Telegraph's full report and the complete study on Scientific Reports.

About this author
Cite: Karissa Rosenfield. "Science Says Beautiful Architecture Makes Us Happy and Healthy" 31 Dec 2015. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/779708/science-says-beautiful-architecture-makes-us-happy-and-healthy> ISSN 0719-8884

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