CITY RESTorative areas Identification – which factors influence the restorative effect of urban spaces?

The HEAD-Genuit Foundation will fund a new research project, starting in March 2026, that investigates how various environmental and acoustic factors affect the perceived restorativeness of urban spaces. The aim is to optimize a methodology to identify the key environmental, psychoacoustic, and eco-acoustic parameters that determine the restorative quality of city environments. Based on this, predictive models will be developed to quantitatively estimate the perceived restorativeness of different urban settings. The project seeks to provide a practical tool to help cities design healthier and more restorative public spaces. The methodology will first be tested in Southern Italy and subsequently validated in other European cities.