Outsiding & Mingling

The weather is finally starting to recover from its winter slump.  Leaves are beginning to unfurl on tree branches and flowers are pushing through the soil to soak up some of the increasingly warm sunbeams coming our way.

So, soon we’ll be able to spend some time outdoors again without multiple levels of mittens and scarves—back to our gardens and yards we will go.

What does the neuroscience tell us about first-rate yard and garden design?

It turns out that when we’re outdoors, we’re particularly interested in sitting in seats where we feel comfortable and safe.  These are perches along the sidelines of our park or yard where we have a view out over the rest of the area—a view of the entrance to the garden or yard is a real plus.

If you can include only one sort of seat, make it one that allows the person in it to keep track of all that’s happening in the yard but still feel protected.  A bench under a trellis tucked up against a garden wall fits the bill, as does a seat in a fine old high-backed chair along the edge of a yard or a shady tree.    These are the sorts of seats we fill first in plazas, ones along the spaces edge where we can keep an eye on the other people in the space—as you’ve probably noticed.  Here, we’re talking, however, about how to put your yard or garden together, city planning is the topic for another time and place.

Our outside space

A yard or garden, or even a simple courtyard, are mentally refreshing places for us to be when they include some green leafy plants as well as gently moving water (if at all possible)—and that mental refreshment is particularly important when you’re trying to recover from a long week at work, whether at home or at the office.

We will break down the different elements of a successful “outsiding”, so go back to this month’s issue (April 2021) and click through all the different elements.

You might be interested in reading some more:

Bill Browning and Dakota Walker.  2018.  An Ear for Nature:  Psychoacoustic Strategies for Workplace Distractions and The Bottom Line, Terrapin Bright Green, LLC, https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/report/an-ear-for-nature/

Jan Gehl.  2010. Cities for People. Island Press: Washington, DC.

Vikas Mehta.  2013.  The Street: A Quintessential Social Public Space.   Routledge:  New York.

Stephen Kellert.  2012.  Birthright:  People and Nature in the Modern World. Yale University Press:  New Haven, CT.

Susan Silberberg, Katie Lorah, Rebecca  Disbrow, and Ann Muessig.  2013. Places in the Making:  How PlaceMaking Builds Places and Communities. MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, http://www.dusp.mit.edu.