Investigating oppressiveness and spaciousness in relation to building, trees, sky and ground surface: A study in Tokyo

This article investigates views of buildings, trees, sky, and ground surface in Tokyo and associations with oppressiveness, spaciousness, and other variables. Oppressiveness, a perception that can be experienced when surrounded by high-rise buildings, can cause stress. Earlier research that measured oppressiveness was conducted in an experiment room and this research was conducted in the field with ground surface perception added. For this pilot research, 20 participants assessed 15 urban views on one typical street in Tokyo through a questionnaire. Overall, oppressiveness was perceived less with views of trees (-1.13; p<0.01); sky (-0.43; p<0.01); and ground surface (-0.33; p<0.05). Perceived spaciousness of the environment decreased with dominant views of ground surface (-0.45; p<0.05) but increased with more views of trees (0.43; p<0.01). This study corroborates the findings in the experiment room that views of trees lower perception of oppressiveness and adds the finding that additional ground also lowers perception of oppressiveness. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.