Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore used Virtual Reality (VR) to examine whether vertical greenery has a stress-buffering effect in urban environments. Using VR headsets, 111 participants were asked to walk down a virtual street for five minutes.
Participants were randomly assigned to either a street that featured rows of planted greenery or one with only buildings that had green painted walls in place of green plants.
To match a real-world experience, heavy traffic noise was played as the participants walked through the virtual street. Heart rate variability, which is a physiological indicator of stress, was continuously monitored using a portable electrocardiogram (ECG) device.
The study found that those who viewed buildings which only had green paint experienced a significant increase in stress as recorded by one measure of heart rate variability, while those who viewed the buildings with the green plants did not experience...