DOI: 10.16904/envidat.646
title: Psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure

description: This repository contains data related to the field experiments of the RESTORE project. This project is a collaboration between the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology (EMPA). It has received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. The overall objective of the RESTORE project was to assess the effects of green spaces as facilitators and noise as impediment to recover from stress in people's daily environments across Switzerland.
We conducted a randomized, controlled field study to compare the psychophysiological benefits of exposure to forests and urban built environments with different levels of road traffic noise in healthy adults during 30-minute walks in Zürich, Switzerland to explore:
1) The psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure 
2) The effects of walking in urban forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure on repetitive negative thinking and connectedness with the non-human world 
3) The effects of a mindful walking intervention in urban forests for healthy adults
Accordingly, this repository includes data and documentation for the 3 scientific articles:
Scientific article 1. “Psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial", BMC Psychology, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01720-x
Scientific article 2. "Psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure: A randomized controlled trial“. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2025. 
Scientific article 3. “The effects of walking in urban forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure on repetitive negative thinking and connectedness with the non-human world: A randomized controlled trial". To be submitted to PLOS One, 2025.
Scientific article 4: "Effects of a mindful walking intervention in urban forests for healthy adults". To be submitted to Current Psychology, 2025.
description: Resource Title: 01_Studyprotocol_Locations of the starting points of the walking routes in the test settings.pdf
 Size: 68897 bytes
 Format: application/pdf
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/9e531b35-7406-4ffc-acd5-fd78757775ac/download/01_studyprotocol_locations-of-the-starting-points-of-the-walking-routes-in-the-test-settings.pdf
 Description: This document includes GPS coordinates of the starting points of the walking routes in the test sites.
description: Resource Title: 02_Studyprotocol_Data on Laeq from noise recordings of walking routes_Studyprotocol.sav
 Size: 6067 bytes
 Format: application/octet-stream
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/49d0a13e-5a9f-4809-a8cf-4468ea7050b9/download/02_studyprotocol_data-on-laeq-from-noise-recordings-of-walking-routes_studyprotocol.sav
 Description: This data file contains information on the LAeq levels recorded along the final walking routes between September 2021 and March 2022, prior to the commencement of data collection.
description: Resource Title: 03a_Studyprotocol_Data on evaluation of acoustic impression of the test settings_Studyprotocol.sav
 Size: 21982 bytes
 Format: application/octet-stream
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/2bbb96b2-6470-4f1a-8ef0-5b23c7d4c964/download/03a_studyprotocol_data-on-evaluation-of-acoustic-impression-of-the-test-settings_studyprotocol.sav
 Description: This data file includes information for an additional post hoc classification of the sound environment of the test sites. This evaluation was conducted in the afternoons of the same week in 2023 at two locations within each test site by a civil servant who was not familiar with the study's research questions.
description: Resource Title: 03b_Studyprotocol_Script_Analysis stationary noise evaluation.sps.sps
 Size: 7156 bytes
 Format: application/octet-stream
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/5e018e9b-3ef2-4946-a3fc-d95094e3a0ad/download/03b_studyprotocol_script_analysis-stationary-noise-evaluation.sps.sps
 Description: This SPSS syntax file contains a script for analyzing data related to the stationary evaluation of the acoustic impressions at the test sites, which is numbered 03a in this repository.
description: Resource Title: 04_Studyprotocol_Participant information sheet.pdf
 Size: 96790 bytes
 Format: application/pdf
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/7015619c-1cfc-4c66-a512-3a8b1c526f89/download/04_studyprotocol_participant-information-sheet.pdf
 Description: This file includes the information sheet provided to participants before they consented to take part in the study.
description: Resource Title: 05_Studyprotocl_Participant consent form.pdf
 Size: 103303 bytes
 Format: application/pdf
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/cca35a46-b79c-4d2e-8063-03ca1a7c52f4/download/05_studyprotocl_participant-consent-form.pdf
 Description: This file contains the informed consent document that participants signed to participate in the study.
description: Resource Title: 06_Studyprotocol_GPS tracks of the walking routes.zip
 Size: 30328 bytes
 Format: application/zip
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/1f04524c-c476-4fa7-9ca0-6707c86b1966/download/06_studyprotocol_gps-tracks-of-the-walking-routes.zip
 Description: This folder contains the GPS tracks of the walking routes in the test sites.
description: Resource Title: 07_Studyprotocol_Test site pictures.zip
 Size: 39574345 bytes
 Format: application/zip
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/ccb268cb-692e-4051-8710-59add9c23e68/download/07_studyprotocol_test-site-pictures.zip
 Description: This folder includes two pictures of each test site. The locations for the two pictures on each route were chosen to be as characteristic as possible in terms of the visual and acoustical impressions of the walk.
description: Resource Title: 08_P2P3_Restore_WP2_P2P3_used_variables.sav
 Size: 198944 bytes
 Format: application/octet-stream
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/b4fd276d-bd46-4917-b0cb-b44c4ff73beb/download/08_p2p3_restore_wp2_p2p3_used_variables.sav
 Description: This SPSS data file includes the data used for analysis in paper 2 (Psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure: A randomized controlled trial) and paper 3 ("The effects of walking in urban forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure on repetitive negative thinking and connectedness with the non-human world: A randomized controlled trial").
description: Resource Title: 09_P2_Fotos Noise ROS paper.zip
 Size: 6219160 bytes
 Format: application/zip
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/b356ecb1-c0b6-4bb5-8df6-61a6295696e1/download/09_p2_fotos-noise-ros-paper.zip
 Description: This folder included the example pictures of the conditions included in paper 2 ("Psychophysiological effects of walking in forests and urban built environments with disparate road traffic noise exposure: A randomized controlled trial“).
description: Resource Title: 10_P2P3_Questionnaire_t1.pdf
 Size: 925030 bytes
 Format: application/pdf
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/f23f8436-97d5-47c8-8ef4-788b85d77149/download/10_p2p3_questionnaire_t1.pdf
 Description: This document includes the questionnaire for Papers 2 and 3, administered at the first measurement time point (before the walk began).
description: Resource Title: 10_P2P3_Questionnaire_t2.pdf
 Size: 1190943 bytes
 Format: application/pdf
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/e666658c-7a4b-459c-8194-265e76b140a4/download/10_p2p3_questionnaire_t2.pdf
 Description: This document includes the questionnaire for Papers 2 and 3, administered at the second measurement time point (after the walk).
description: Resource Title: 10_P2P3_Questionnaire_t3.pdf
 Size: 1174475 bytes
 Format: application/pdf
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/6c4eca4c-4221-4681-a1f1-bba704aa9c60/download/10_p2p3_questionnaire_t3.pdf
 Description: This document includes the questionnaire for Papers 2 and 3, administered at the third measurement time point (10 days after participation on site).
description: Resource Title: 11_P4_S1_Instructions for individual mindful walking.pdf
 Size: 26444740 bytes
 Format: application/pdf
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/85bc4150-32f9-480b-bbfb-d158b3dc74ac/download/11_p4_s1_instructions-for-individual-mindful-walking.pdf
 Description: This document contains the booklet with instructions for mindful walking, which participants in the mindfulness condition were encouraged to take with them and use during their individual walks over the 10 days following on-site participation.
description: Resource Title: 12_P4_S2_Description of mindful walking intervention on site.pdf
 Size: 20117 bytes
 Format: application/pdf
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/de768dda-757a-451f-a331-e247dea5ee45/download/12_p4_s2_description-of-mindful-walking-intervention-on-site.pdf
 Description: This file includes the guided mindful walking instructions provided to participants in the mindfulness condition during the on-site walks.
description: Resource Title: 13_P4_Data mindful walking.sav
 Size: 514314 bytes
 Format: application/octet-stream
 URL: https://www.envidat.ch/dataset/dfd6af83-8ea8-4914-a18f-bb1e6ca3d533/resource/f47540a6-0876-46df-b9a1-49385dfee573/download/13_p4_data-mindful-walking.sav
 Description: This file contains data for the manuscript "Effects of a mindful walking intervention in urban forests for healthy adults".