Architectural variation, building height, and the restorative quality of urban residential streetscapes

With increasing urban densification, built environments that can promote restoration will become more important. Well-designed residential streetscapes might support restoration, but little research has considered the physical attributes that matter in this context. Taking guidance from research on environmental preferences, the present study considers the effects of entropy (aggregate architectural variation) and building height on judgments of restoration likelihood for urban residential streetscapes. Physical attributes of buildings (roofline silhouette, surface ornamentation, number of floors) were systematically manipulated in 145 computer-generated images of residential streetscapes. In a web-based procedure, participants (N = 263) in each of several independent groups rated the streetscapes on one of several psychological variables, including being away, fascination, restoration likelihood and preference. Multiple mediation analysis used the images as units of analysis, with the respective group mean scores on the psychological variables as the data for the images. The effect of entropy on restoration likelihood was positive, whereas the effect of building height was negative. Being away and fascination together fully mediated the effects of entropy on judgments of restoration likelihood. The effect of building height was only partially mediated, and then by being away and not fascination. The results provide guidance for the design of more psychologically sustainable urban residential environments. ► Physical features of blocks of buildings on both sides of a street were manipulated in digital images. ► Greater architectural variation (entropy) increased rated restoration likelihood. ► Greater building height decreased rated restoration likelihood. ► Being away and fascination mediated the effect of entropy on restoration likelihood. ► Being away mediated the effect of building height on restoration likelihood.