Research has been exploring the various revenues streams produced from the benefits of biophilic elements. As discussed earlier, the literature suggests that the role of economics predominately governs the decision making process. For this reason, placing a monetary value on biophilic elements facilitates the communication of benefits to stakeholders and the community and can therefore be fed into the policy decision-making process.144 Although, it is readily understood that valuing natural assets it notoriously difficult.
This section will summarise the literature exploring the impact of biophilic elements across various sectors of the economy, namely workplace environments, healthcare industry, retail industry and education.
Workplace environment
A 2012 report by Terrapin Bright Green recognised benefits of nature on building occupants, particularly employees in the workplace.145 Employees are recognised as a company’s biggest asset, with an estimated 90 per cent of a company’s money is channelled towards employees, while only around nine per cent is channelled towards rent and mortgage and less than one per cent is paid towards energy costs.146 147
Socially, American psychologists discuss the five strongest necessities for employees to be:148
1. Change in environment (fluctuating air, temperature, etc.)
2. Able to engage with the environment and see results
3. Meaningful stimuli (changing atmospheres as opposed to stagnant environments which can trigger chronic stress)
4. A sense of security, identity and protection
5. Views of nature.
With such implications, biophilic elements in the work environment have the potential to have a significant impact in any workplace. Hence, the following sections will overview the benefits of these elements in terms of measurable indicators: absenteeism, presenteeism and overall employment generation. These measurable indicators are recognised to only capture a part of the picture. However given the complexity of measuring the economic benefits of biophilic elements this offers a starting point to begin to understand some of the quantifiable benefits. Natural
design features in the workplace can decrease employee absenteeism over a long period of time. A study by Elzeyadi investigated the impact of nature on employees in an administrative office building at the University of Oregon in the United States.149 The results showed that employees with physical views of nature from their office took an average of 57 hours of sick leave per year, as opposed to 68 hours per year taken by employees with no view. Another study explored ING Bank’s office in Amsterdam, Netherlands.150 The directors at ING ensured maximum natural light and water features were integrated in the building design. The result was an absenteeism reduction by 15 per cent.
Efforts to reduce sick day leave across all sectors with biophilic design can yield considerable benefits for any organisation including the significant costs caused by absenteeism. Another comparative examination of an old office space characterized by poor lighting and air quality versus a healthy, brightly day lit office showed greater activation of hormonal stress in occupants of the former and significantly less headaches of occupants in the latter.151 Appreciating that high levels of hormonal and cranial stress are strongly associated with advancing coronary heart disease — a disease that costs Americans over US $108 billion a year — the physical environment of the workplace can play a role in better health in both short- and long- term situations.
Investing in employee satisfaction positively impacts overall company profit margin. Biophilic elements in an office space enhance workplace satisfaction, which in turn increases productivity and reduces psychological stress.152 According to the study by Terrapin Bright Green,153 a company of 1000 employees and an average wage of US $33.24 per hour could increase its profits by US $3.9million per year simply by increasing overall productivity by as little as 6 per cent. They also state that in the United States, unproductive time at work costs employers US $1,250 per employee per year in the public sector and US $938 per employee per year in the private sector. A study by Loftness determined that the cost of termination, replacement and loss of productivity equates to US $1,000, $9,000 and $15,875 respectively per employee.154 Many major companies are now investing money towards employee satisfaction. Herman Miller entice top candidate employees to join their company with green building design and lush landscape; the Bank of America Tower in Manhattan provides 90 per cent of their employees with views of green roofs, parks and/ or rivers in order to attract and retain the best employees.
Healthcare
Emerging literature in the field defines biophilic urbanism as an opportunity to reintroduce nature into cities given the myriad of health benefits arising from daily views of nature. The studies attributing monetary savings to health and well-being explore the link between biophilic design and expedited recovery rates for patients, and improved overall patient, staff and visitor well-being.
Roger Ulrich’s influential study in 1984 compared the effects of natural environments and urban settings on hospital patients recovering from gallbladder surgery.155 The study divided patients into two categories - views to nature and views of brick walls. Keeping all other variables equal, his study found expedited recovery rates and decreased stress levels in patients with views of nature. On average, it took 7.96 days for patients in the former category to be released as opposed to the 8.71 days it took patients with from the latter category to recover sufficiently to be released. Other studies conducted demonstrated similar findings. Beauchemin and Hays conducted a study on 174 patients with bipolar and depression and found an average of 2.6 days shorter for patients with access to natural light.156 More specifically, those staying in naturally lit rooms fully recovered after an average of 16.7 days, while patients in dully-lit rooms were released after an average of 19.5 days. Another study on bipolar patients found a mean stay of 3.67 days shorter for patients with exposure to natural light when compared with patients that were not.157 This decrease in hospital stay reduces inpatient care costs, which serves as a cost- effective method to achieve significant monetary savings.
In addition to reducing inpatient care costs, tending to the psychological needs of patients, staff and visitors has understated economic benefits. Numerous factors, particularly in a hospital setting, can trigger stress, inhibit blood pressure stabilisation and exacerbate anxiety in patients. Studies in horticulture therapy and healing gardens, however, demonstrate the potential to provide positive distractions that hold attention away from stressing thoughts and promote overall well-being. This is because healing garden have repeatedly been reported to trigger enjoyable memories, promote good health and provide a place for social connectivity. This in- turn reduces the administration of pain medication.158
Benefits of exposure to nature also translate to hospital staff members who have shown to recover more quickly from stress and perform better as opposed to staff with limited access to views of nature. The latter have been reported to feel the effects of anxiety, depression and lower job satisfaction. Additionally, reducing staff
responsibility (the responsibility of patient recovery and well-being) and providing access to natural settings for a break eases stress and enhances overall staff well- being. Benefits of biophilic hospitals extend to family members and visitors. A study found that an overwhelming 95 per cent of all people visiting inpatients were more relaxed, rejuvenated, positive, less stressed and more able to cope with the situation.159
Sales and Retail
The tranquil effect of nature has been reported to boost sales by enticing consumers into stores, affecting purchasing choices and the valuing of goods. A 2005 study by Wolf tested the effect of biophilic store designs on consumers.160 Photographs of three different shopping environments were shown to participants: streets with no vegetation, streets with scattered vegetation and streets with high vegetation content. Participants were asked to measure the visual quality, place perception (judgment of products, product value, and merchant responsiveness), patronage behavior (frequency and duration of shopping actions), and price perceptions. Participants rated the street with high vegetation content as most preferable, even though plants obscured some products. In fact, participants found that the street embedded with biophilic elements were positive additions to their overall shopping experience and hence were willing to pay more. They explained that this would most likely prompt them spend more time in shop and visit the business district with prevalent vegetation more frequently. Tidy streets with no vegetation, on the other hand, received the lowest scores.
In another study, Joye et al found that consumers are more likely to purchase more merchandise in stores embedded with strategically placed natural vegetation.161 In fact, most store and mall layouts today are intentionally designed to lure shoppers through a maze of products that have been placed around strategically placed pot plants, trees and natural light. These slight modifications to a shopper’s experience can lead to greater profits margins to retailer.
The 2005 study by Wolf also found a significant increase in the hedonic value of products sold in streets with prominent biophilic elements than streets devoid of vegetation.162 Respondents indicated that an acceptable price for an item in specialty shopping was 15 per cent higher for specialty shopping (i.e. gift for a family member), 25 per cent more for general shopping (i.e. a new dress or watch) and 20 per cent higher for an item in convenient shopping (i.e. a juice or sandwich for lunch). Biophilic design in the realm of retail shopping has shown to stimulate the
shopping experience for consumers and hence enhance economic viability of stores.
Education
Outside the home, the classroom is possibly the most influential place where students will expand social skills and experience rapid brain development. Thus it is critical to create classrooms that foster optimum learning for students. Research shows that biophilic design has compounded positive implications in schools. Classrooms that are strategically designed with vegetative elements have shown to reduce absenteeism, enhance student-learning rates and even improve health. Furthermore, schools that provide access to nature also have a positive psychological influence on children by promoting better behaviour, mental restoration and enhanced concentration. The following paragraphs overview studies that explore the impacts of nature on school children and the potential measurable savings.
• Reduce absenteeism: Significant tax money goes towards education and hence reducing absenteeism has financial implications. In their study, Nicklas and Bailey found that classrooms with optimal daylight increased attendance by 3.2- 3.8 days per year compared with attendance at schools that lacked natural light.163 In a school with 633 students, this translates to US $126,283 savings in tax dollars that were not wasted through student absences.
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Enhance performance: Biophilic elements also have a positive effect on student performance. 17 studies from 1934-1997 found that natural light positively influences test scores, achievement of students and even reduces off-task behaviour.164 In a single school district, the study by Nicklas and Bailey found that students in day-lit classrooms performed 5-14 per cent better than students in windowless classroom. 165 In fact, their study reported a 17 per cent drop in test scores in those classrooms without access to natural light. A similar study by Heschong explored the impact of natural light in the Capistrano, CA school district.166 Classrooms with direct views of nature and daylight were coupled with higher test scores. More specifically, the study results revealed that students in classrooms with natural lighting tested 7-18 per cent higher than those with little or none. These students also exhibited 20-26 per cent accelerated learning rate than others. Higher attendance rates and performance have long-term implications nationwide. Research shows that improved school experiences will most likely increase the rate of school retention as students move through theeducation system. This is significant because according to The National Center of Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) a student that drops out of high school will earn US $9,245 less per year than a high school graduate.167 This same student that dropped out of the class of 2007 could have contributed an additional US $329 billion in income over their lifetime.168
• Reduce stress levels: Beyond exposure to natural light in schools, experience in nature has been reported to influence the stress levels in children. To test whether nature acts as a buffer psychological stress levels, 9-year old school kids from rural schools in five communities in upstate New York in the US were monitored. To ensure accurate findings, factors like socioeconomic status were controlled. The results found that among the 337 children in the study, the impact of life stress in children with daily exposure to nature was significantly less than those with comparatively low levels of nature exposure.169 Despite the built environment continually encroaching on expanses of nature, another study found that 96 per cent of children draw illustrations of an outdoor location when asked to draw their favourite place.170