It’s early morning in the city, the sun is shining, you feel delighted and you are ready for your day. You walk out your neighborhood; after 5 mins you turn right to the 5th avenue. Cars constantly pass around you; the exhaust and noise start to annoy you; the sun is also blocked by the buildings. Finally, you walk by a construction site, the threatening sound of the electric hammer completely takes the delight away from you.

Growing up in the city, I have always been annoyed by those negative effects of urbanization. The high density of people, the noise from the traffic, the polluted air, and the buildings which not only block the sun but also change the wind condition, these typical urban situations are not giving pedestrians a good experience [5]. Research shows anxiety appearing more often in cities than in rural areas [4]. Research also indicates nature areas having a restorative influence on stress, even for a short term visit [1, 2, 3, 6, 7]. Therefore, considering the well-being, people in the city should avoid those negative effects of urbanization and try to get in touch with more nature.

So, I came up with an idea of an application; I call it detour. Instead of letting people go the closest way to the destination, which might expose people to noise, air pollution, and other unpleasant situations in the city, the app Detour tries to bring people to a detour to get in touch with more trees, parks, river, and other natural environments. In the end, both emotional and physical well-being could be achieved.

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References

[1] Jesper J. Alvarsson, Stefan Wiens, and Mats E. Nilsson. 2010. Stress Recovery during Exposure to Nature Sound and Environmental Noise. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 7, no. 3 (Mar. 11, 2010), 1036–1046. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph7031036

[2] Christopher J. Gidlow, Marc V. Jones, Gemma Hurst, Daniel Masterson, David Clark-Carter, Mika P. Tarvainen, Graham Smith, and Mark Nieuwenhuijsen. 2016. Where to Put Your Best Foot Forward: Psycho-Physiological Responses to Walking in Natural and Urban Environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology 45 (Mar. 2016), 22–29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.11.003

[3] Melissa R. Marselle, Katherine Irvine, and Sara Warber. 2013. Walking for Well-Being: Are Group Walks in Certain Types of Natural Environments Better for Well-Being than Group Walks in Urban Environments? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 10, no. 11 (Oct. 2013), 5603–5628. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10115603

[4] J. Peen, R. A. Schoevers, A. T. Beekman, and J. Dekker. 2010. The Current Status of Urban-Rural Differences in Psychiatric Disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 121, no. 2 (Feb. 2010), 84–93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2009.01438.x

[5] C.W. Tsang, K.C.S. Kwok and P.A. Hitchcock. 2012. Wind tunnel study of pedestrian level wind environment around tall buildings: Effects of building dimensions, separation and podium. Building and Environment 49 (2012), 167-181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2011.08.014

[6] Liisa Tyrväinen, Ann Ojala, Kalevi Korpela, Timo Lanki, Yuko Tsunetsugu, and Takahide Kagawa. 2014. The Influence of Urban Green Environments on Stress Relief Measures: A Field Experiment. Journal of Environmental Psychology 38 (Jun. 2014), 1–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.12.005

[7] Roger S. Ulrich, Robert F. Simons, Barbara D. Losito, Evelyn Fiorito, Mark A. Miles, and Michael Zelson. 1991. Stress Recovery during Exposure to Natural and Urban Environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology 11, no. 3 (Sep. 1991), 201–30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(05)80184-7