The perceived restorativeness of coastal landscapes by workers in a marine institute: a pilot experiment

The overall aim of this study was to develop a valid picture-rating experiment that was able to evaluate the perceived restorativeness of nine types of coastal landscapes (i.e. town centres, recreational harbours, docks, piers, dikes, sandy beaches, dunes, and green natural spaces) and to investigate the influence of ‘attributes’ of these landscapes (i.e. presence/absence of plastic, benches, cars, beach cabins, breakwaters, bars & restaurants, buildings, walking paths, and vegetation). A secondary aim was to identify important individual characteristics that influence the perceived restorativeness to assess which aspect of perceived restorativeness (being away, fascination, overall restorativeness) are affected most by the environments and attributes.