Gonski-MLA Thesis

Restorative Commuting:
Placing Opportunities to Recover from Mental Fatigue
in Everyday Life
Thesis submitted to the faculty of Virginia Tech in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Master’s of Landscape Architecture
by Alex Gonski
Thesis Advisor: Terry Clements

Acknowledgements:
I would like to give a special thank you to the faculty in the Landscape Architecture Program at
Virginia Tech for challenging me to explore many paths throughout the course of my studies, and
to coalesce what I learned through exploration into design to bring about positive change.

Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review ......................................................................................................................................6
Case Studies .............................................................................................................................................18
Site Selection........................................................................................................................................... 46
Site Analysis ............................................................................................................................................65
Design ......................................................................................................................................................78
Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................99
References ..............................................................................................................................................102

List of Figures
Figure 1: “Getting Away from it all” on the Mount Vernon Trail near Alexandria, Virginia.......................... 4
Figure 2: Walks in “natural” settings: Jardin Botanique and The High Line..................................................... 5
Figure 3: Perception of straight lines in scenes and corresponding perception of “naturalness”.................13
Figure 4: The window of time when people need to recover from mental fatigue coincides with a
typical evening commute.....................................................................................................................14
Figure 5: Overlap of landscape elements that promote the components of ART...........................................15
Figure 6: Regional map showing location of case study routes.........................................................................19
Figure 7: Paths crossing roads in Reston..............................................................................................................21
Figure 8: Perennials in Reston’s clearings in the woods.....................................................................................22
Figure 9: Map and scoring of the route on paths in Reston...............................................................................23
Figure 10: Spring colors along the W&OD Trail.................................................................................................26
Figure 11: Gravel path next to the trail.................................................................................................................26
Figure 12: Vegetation on rising slopes along the W&OD Trail provides visual immersion.........................26
Figure 13: Map and restorativeness score for the W&OD Trail route from Reston Town Center...............27
Figure 14: Conditions on the W&OD Trail Route..............................................................................................28
Figure 15: Conditions on the Mount Vernon Trail.............................................................................................30
Figure 16: Map, scoring, and conditions on the Mount Vernon Trail route...................................................31
Figure 17: Map and scoring the route on King Street.........................................................................................36
Figure 18: Conditions on King Street...................................................................................................................36
Figure 19: Map and scoring the route at Tyson’s Corner...................................................................................39
Figure 20: Conditions on the route at Tyson’s Corner........................................................................................40
Figure 21: Comparison of the case study paths restorativeness scores - route details...................................43
Figure 22: Comparison of the case study paths restorativeness scores - aggregated components...............44
Figure 23: Quantitative comparison of parking spaces at Metro stations........................................................46
Figure 24: Percent of commuters walking in Greater Washington...................................................................47
Figure 25: Percent of commuters cycling in Greater Washington....................................................................48
Figure 26: Percent of commuters driving in Greater Washington....................................................................49
Figure 27: Population density in Greater Washington.......................................................................................50
Figure 28: Branch Avenue station conditions......................................................................................................51
Figure 29: Franconia-Springfield station conditions..........................................................................................51
Figure 30: Huntington station conditions............................................................................................................52
Figure 31: Summary of scoring criteria for selected Metro stations.................................................................54
Figure 32: Map of Census data shows high density around Huntington station............................................54
Figure 33: Vienna station maps and suitability score.........................................................................................55
Figure 34: Franconia-Springfield station maps and suitability score...............................................................56
Figure 35: Huntington station maps and suitability score.................................................................................57
Figure 36: Branch Avenue station maps and suitability score...........................................................................58
Figure 37: Largo station maps and suitability score............................................................................................59
Figure 38: New Carrollton station maps and suitability score..........................................................................60
Figure 39: Greenbelt station maps and suitability scores...................................................................................61
Figure 40: Glenmont station maps and suitability score....................................................................................62
Figure 41: Shady Grove station maps and suitability score................................................................................63
Figure 42: Specific criteria identified for Huntington station............................................................................64
Figure 43: Existing sidewalks near Huntington station.....................................................................................65
Figure 44: Existing bike paths and impervious surfaces....................................................................................65
Figure 45: Existing bike paths and topography...................................................................................................65
Figure 46: Existing bike paths, roads, and topography.......................................................................................66

Figure 47: Potential greenway routes identified..................................................................................................67
Figure 48: Four potential routes with different vegetation regimes that could be designed
to provide a walk in natural settings as part of the commute route............................................68
Figure 49: Current vegetation types in selected corridor...................................................................................69
Figure 50: Partial site conditions inventory - context and nature in the space...............................................70
Figure 51: Existing conditions - Huntington station exit...................................................................................71
Figure 52: Existing conditions - Huntington station panoramas at exit..........................................................71
Figure 53: Existing conditions - crossing Huntington Avenue.........................................................................72
Figure 54: Existing conditions - successional woodland....................................................................................72
Figure 55: Existing conditions - Huntington Park..............................................................................................72
Figure 56: Existing conditions - woodland along Cameron Run......................................................................73
Figure 57: Existing conditions - wetlands along Cameron Run........................................................................74
Figure 58: Existing conditions - tributary creeks................................................................................................74
Figure 59: Existing conditions - high rise apartments........................................................................................75
Figure 60: Existing conditions - fencing prevents access to nature..................................................................75
Figure 61: Existing conditions - tangled vegetation and overpasses................................................................76
Figure 62: Existing conditions - the bike path from U.S. 1 to the GW Parkway.............................................76
Figure 63: Huntington Greenway Site and Proposed Route..............................................................................78
Figure 64: Proposed Route - Elements Promoting Extent.................................................................................79
Figure 65: Proposed Route - Elements Promoting Being Away........................................................................80
Figure 66: Proposed Route - Elements Promoting Soft Fascination................................................................81
Figure 67: Restorativeness Scores For Existing and Proposed Routes.............................................................82
Figure 68: Huntington Greenway Master Plan....................................................................................................83
Figure 69: Entering the Huntington Greenway (Location A)...........................................................................85
Figure 70: Location A-B - Entrance and landing by the parking deck, plan view..........................................86
Figure 71: The green bridge over Huntington Avenue (between Location B and Location C)....................87
Figure 72: Approaching Cameron Run (Location C).........................................................................................87
Figure 73: Entering the successional woodland..................................................................................................88
Figure 74: Entering Huntington Park from the west (Location D-E)..............................................................88
Figure 75: Entering Huntington Park from the west (Location D1)................................................................89
Figure 76: The walking and cycling trails come together in Huntington Park (Location D2)......................89
Figure 77: The overlooks at Cameron Run (Location E)...................................................................................91
Figure 78: Over the wetlands and through the woods (Location F-G)............................................................92
Figure 79: The boardwalk by the wetlands near the Riverside Apartments (Location F).............................92
Figure 80: The Bluebell Path (Location G)...........................................................................................................93
Figure 81: Focus on the landing (plan).................................................................................................................94
Figure 82: Focus on the landing (plan: movement to and from the landing).................................................95
Figure 83: Focus on the landing (section)............................................................................................................96
Figure 84: Focus on the landing (section - details).............................................................................................96
Figure 85: Isometric diagram of the landing.......................................................................................................97
Note: All figures are the original work of the author except where otherwise noted. The source
for all aerial imagery appearing in the figures is Google, through its products Google Maps and
Google Earth.

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Restorative Commuting: Placing Opportunities to Recover from Mental Fatigue in Everyday Life
Abstract:
This study develops a framework using the principles of Attention Restoration Theory for
understanding the potential of walking and cycling routes that provide some experience of nature
to promote recovery from mental fatigue. The framework is applied as a performance metric to
a series of walking and cycling routes that connect to Metrorail stations in Greater Washington,
D.C., and as a guide for site selection and design of a proposed greenway route to Huntington
station at the south end of the Yellow Line. The study focused on connecting a greenway route
to a Metro station so that the route would be situated in a space that large numbers of people
move through in everyday life, at a particular time of day when they are likely to be mentally
fatigued and in need of an experience providing psychophysiological restoration. While the
design of The Huntington Greenway is specific to its place, the design framework can be applied
to design walking and cycling routes to other transit stations, and could improve quality of life if
implemented as a pattern for urban design across the larger region.
Keywords:
greenway, Attention Restoration Theory, commuting, nature, urban nature, restoration

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Introduction
This thesis began with an interest in greenways. Or an enjoyment of greenways, as the appeal of
experiencing greenways preceded scholarly investigation and forays into design. These linear
routes provide pleasant spaces to walk, cycle, run, or stroll along creeks and through the woods.
They provide a means of experiencing nature while moving, which is something people seek out
in urban and suburban contexts because it feels good.
However, greenway routes in urban and suburban contexts are often present across the landscape
in a piecemeal fashion, primarily used by local residents for recreational walks and not for going
somewhere. Highways and other physical barriers in developed areas often preclude functional
travel on foot or bicycle from being safe, let alone pleasant. Where greenways provide functional
connections to places people travel for work or errands, they offer beneficial change in day-to-
day life experience while maintaining and growing a sense of connectedness between people and
nature.
The term greenway is used to describe a wide variety of corridors, practically anything that can be
thought of as a “green way.” These are corridors with vegetation that often but not necessarily have
aesthetic appeal and function as a way to get from one place to another, improve water quality,
and provide wildlife habitat. Concepts and built examples of “green ways” emerged historically
and evolved in response to increases in the scale and complexity of land development, particularly
urban development. The word itself comes from a combination of the related landscape terms
greenbelt and parkway, which typically refer to areas of green space just outside a city boundary
and scenic landscape corridors along which vehicles travel on roads, respectively (Hellmund
and Smith 2006). Examples of what can be thought of as greenways were constructed at least as
early as the tree-lined “parkways” that Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. designed in the mid-to-late
nineteenth century, where trees were used to add aesthetic appeal to the visual experience of
moving along particular travel routes in American cities. In the latter part of his career, Olmsted
designed a greenway focused on a riparian corridor that became the Emerald Necklace in Boston.
This design for a linear park system to provide flood control and improve water quality, in
addition to recreation and aesthetics, was a pioneering work in its time.
There is an opportunity to apply the greenway concept to address multiple systemic problems
across the landscape of cities in the twenty-first century. One broad issue is that of transportation
systems, which greenways can help improve by providing connections that are both functional
and enjoyable to use. To the extent that they divert some trips from congested roads or mass
transit, the whole system functions better. They also help to address public health challenges
by encouraging physical activity, in a time when technological and societal changes are making
sedentary lifestyles a widespread norm. The fragmentation of wooded areas and wildlife habitat
by roads and other development, as well as erosion control and water quality, are problems
that greenway corridors can address. Greenway paths increase social cohesion by connecting
neighborhoods, and the experience of traveling on them promotes recovery from stress and the
mental fatigue that builds up during work and other activities that require focused attention.
These challenges can be addressed by adding greenways into areas of urban and suburban
development, and greenway development should be a growing focus of attention and funding.

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The thesis proceeds by circling back to the original attraction to greenways: the experience of
using them is enjoyable and refreshing. They help in recovery after periods of directed attention,
which suggests that most people benefit from the experience they could have on a greenway
during a window of time after they leave work. A key component of what makes an experience
on a greenway refreshing is the “experience of nature,” which has been the focus of increasing
amounts of research by experts in environmental psychology and public health (Hartig 2014).
This thesis begins by establishing the research focus and grounding it in a review of the literature
on recovery from mental fatigue through experience in nature, with a particular focus on
Attention Restoration Theory (ART). It then examines a set of routes in Northern Virginia
on which people are likely to walk or cycle after work through the lens of ART to derive a
framework that can be used to evaluate the qualities of the routes and serve as a guide for a design
experiment. The framework guides site selection by looking for a site with existing landscape
conditions that provide a viable route for a greenway that would provide recovery from mental
fatigue for commuters exiting the transit station on their way home. This topic is relevant and
timely for the area of Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., which is known for having some
of the worst traffic congestion in the United States. Leaders in local government and the real
estate development industry are actively looking to transform suburban areas near existing and
planned Metro stations in ways that will result in more commuters using Metro.
The Research Focus
All too often the modern human must exert effort to do the important while resisting distraction
from the interesting...any time one has worked intensely on a project and subsequently finds oneself
mentally exhausted, one has experienced this unwelcome state [of mental fatigue]. The typical
state of mind of students at the end of a semester is a familiar example. In fact, even a thoroughly
enjoyable project, if sufficiently intense and sufficiently prolonged, is likely to lead to this same
outcome. - Stephen Kaplan
The focused activity so familiar to students and the adult workforce in their productive
endeavors requires focused attention and is generally accompanied by some experience of mental
fatigue. No matter how motivated, people are unable to maintain high levels of attention and
concentration all the time (Warm 2008, Lee 2015).
When directed attention becomes fatigued, what does one do to recover this vital resource?
How does choice of setting and activity influence the restoration of attentional capacity? These
questions can seem trivial at first; most people would probably think twice before telling a
supervisor that the reason a work product was not completed or of sufficiently high quality was
because their commute before work was stressful, or because their work environment lacked
access to restorative spaces to take breaks. The product is considered important, but people rarely
think deeply about how their experience in the gaps of time between periods of focus on work has
an impact on mental and physical well-being, and their ability to perform attention-demanding
tasks at a high level of quality over any extended period of time.

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Where the focus is centered on the product and not the overall process, it is likely that many
people are not aware of mental fatigue being a specific problem that can be mitigated through
design. If someone asks “what are you going to accomplish this week?” or “when can you make
a presentation?” the emphasis is placed on the tasks to complete, meeting deadlines, being
organized, and being at a particular location at an appointed time. Each of those considerations
are generally necessary to be successful and effective in professional life. They are necessary but
not sufficient, because other things affect the physical and cognitive resources we have available.
Details like the mode of transportation taken to arrive at the appointed time, whether one’s
workplace is optimal or at least conducive to focusing on tasks for work, and whether time and
aesthetically pleasing settings are available for short breaks as one works to meet deadlines are
also considerations. Effectiveness and the quality with which people perform tasks are affected by
all the other factors that determine alertness and state of mind (Warm 2008).
The details associated with mode of transportation provoke intriguing questions about how
variations in setting and experience affect the internal physical and psychological variables that
in turn affect alertness and well-being. Physical distance and convenience have made driving the
most practical mode for many trips, but driving can also cause fatigue by requiring sustained
attention to the road and lacks the benefits associated with moderate physical exercise that come
from walking and cycling (Pretty 2005). Mass transit frees the traveler from the directed attention
fatigue that comes from being behind the wheel, but it also introduces separate stress factors
associated with delays, noise, and distractions that contribute to mental fatigue.
Figure 1: “Getting Away from it all” on the Mount Vernon Trail near Alexandria, Virginia
The Mount Vernon Trail follows a winding and somewhat unpredictable course through landscaped and
tended open spaces, through the woods, and along the Potomac River.

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Linear parks, networks of trails, and other related corridors through the landscape offering space
for movement and access to “nearby nature” support many human needs. They aid in recovering
from mental fatigue and restoring attentional resources without having to travel very far, and
they have a hybrid functionality as landscapes that serve as infrastructure for transportation
while also supporting physical health, mental affect (mood and self esteem), and social cohesion
(e.g. Pretty 2005, Hellmund 2006, Hartig 2014). This thesis investigates how attention restoration
theory can be applied in the design of a route to a suburban transit station, and the proposed
intervention constitutes a form of linear park that provides the functions of a park while also
serving as a transportation route for commuters. The specific area of focus for this thesis is how
walking through settings that provide an experience of nature aids in psychological restoration,
particularly recovery from mental fatigue.
The environmental psychologists Stephen and Rachel Kaplan found moving through natural
areas to be one of the most restorative of activities in recovering from mental fatigue (Kaplan and
Kaplan 1989, Kaplan, Kaplan and Ryan 1998). “Getting away from it all” by going for a bike ride,
running, or going for a walk through areas with vegetation and pleasant views is a tried and true
way of restoring the resources needed to study after an exam or a day working at the computer,
particularly when the route offers something new to see.
Figure 2: Walks in “natural” settings: Jardin Botanique and The High Line
The experience of a walk in natural settings promotes recovery from mental fatigue. This is especially
valuable where the settings are located in cities, such as the Jardin Botanique in Montreal (left) and The
High Line in New York City (right).

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Literature Review
A substantial body of health research and literature has recently emerged about nature’s potential
for helping people to recover from injuries, illness, mental fatigue, and emotional distress
(Hartig 2014). Views of nature are found to rapidly evoke positive affect, which in turn blocks
negative thoughts and feelings and fosters reduction of physiological activation, including
reductions in blood pressure (Pretty 2005). Additionally, when nature captures our attention,
the neurocognitive mechanism that allows us to direct attention to specific tasks is allowed to
rest and recover. That mechanism has inhibitory properties, allowing people to tune out task-
irrelevant stimuli as they direct their attention. Fatigue of this directed attention capability occurs
commonly, undermines effective action, and can increase susceptibility to stress (Kaplan 1995).
Studies show reductions in anger, fatigue, anxiety, and sadness after viewing scenes of nature
(Hartig 2014). Regular views and experiences of nature result in cumulative effects that restore
health over time, particularly where repeated contact with nature is integrated into an ongoing
process of self-regulation. In other words, when people learn that natural settings are likely to
provide restorative effects, they apply this knowledge to better manage mental resources like
capacity of attention (Korpela 1996, Kaplan 2001, Staats 2010). It is more likely that people will
learn about the particular ways that natural settings help them to manage mental resources when
they make regular use of those natural settings. Natural settings that are located where they are
particularly accessible and likely to be noticed therefore have an important role to play and are
especially beneficial.
Defining nature and experiences of nature
In the literature on restorative benefits of nature, “nature” refers to physical features and processes
of nonhuman origin that people ordinarily can perceive. This includes the “living nature” of flora
and fauna and the “elemental nature” of still and running water, qualities of air and weather, and
the landscapes that comprise these and show the influence of geological processes (Hartig 2014).
This definition of nature overlaps with the idea of “natural environment” as an environment
with little or no apparent evidence of human presence or intervention, and the two terms are
sometimes used interchangeably in the literature. However, the extent of human presence and
intervention is so ubiquitous at this point that areas of natural environment in the landscape often
exist as a result of deliberate planning and management of conservation areas, and any precise
study and discussion about “natural areas” requires explanation about how the nature and natural
environment of interest is being defined. In practice, research often does not require exclusion
of the man-made elements as a basis for investigating psychophysiological effects of nature. The
nature of interest is often situated in built environments, as with indoor plants and street trees,
and people also “experience nature” to some extent when viewing natural elements or landscapes
from the windows of a building or vehicle, in photographs and videos, or in virtual reality setups
(Hartig 2014).
The term “urban nature” is indicative of the complications of defining what nature is, where it is
to be found, and where one needs to be to “experience nature.” It juxtaposes the ideas of urban
settings and natural settings and asserts the presence of nature in cities, even though cities have

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a dense concentration of built elements and a landscape that generally appears overwhelmingly
tamed and shaped according to human needs and preferences. “Urban nature” also suggests
that contact with nature in an urbanized society occurs within a frame of reference shaped by
the urban circumstances. The term “nature experience” as used in the literature emphasizes the
subjective perception and evaluation of relevant environmental features (Kaplan and Kaplan
1989). Accordingly, researchers represent nature with diverse physical and spatial variables,
encountered in diverse activity contexts. Studies in the literature examine variation in the effects
of experiencing nature not only among individuals within given populations, but also across
populations, as cultural attitudes towards nature and opportunities for contact with nature vary
across sociocultural contexts (Hartig 2014).
A need for connection to nature
The literature speculates that nature also attracts fascination because of biophilia, an innate
tendency to want to affiliate with the natural world that may be ingrained in the human psyche
due to humanity’s long condition of existence prior to living in the modern built environment
(Wilson and Kellert 1993). Writings on biophilia often cite studies showing that experience of
nature aids in recovering from acute stress, restoring attentional resources, and improving mood
and self-esteem. They encourage a shift in perception from a “natural-built dichotomy,” where
nature and the city are seen as separate and opposed, to one in which the city does not exist apart
from nature. This notion has already been present in the landscape architecture literature; Design
with Nature by Ian McHarg (1969) and The Granite Garden by Ann Whiston Spirn (1984) are
works within the discipline that spoke to it several decades ago. However, it may be particularly
timely for ideas about using nature for restoration from mental fatigue to gain traction amidst the
context of the recent exponential rise in scientific literature examining potential impacts of nature
on health (Hartig 2014) and a growing sense of urgency to address environmental problems
caused by a current way of living that is “out of balance with nature.”
Measuring exposure to nature
How can one quantify the “amount of nature” one experiences? Contact with nature is difficult
to define and control in experiments, and is even more difficult to assess with any precision in
the field. Studies typically quantify exposure to nature by calculating how much vegetation there
is in vicinity to participants’ places of residence or work, or the frequency and duration that
participants visit spaces defined as “natural areas.” However, the fact that people live near natural
spaces or position themselves spatially within them does not necessarily mean that they actually
have contact with nature in a way that affects their health. These measures fail to account for
visual contact with nature from windows at home or in the workplace, which also have beneficial
effects (Kaplan 1993). Furthermore, these measures can miss details that may be important,
such as the seasonality of exposure, the quality of the natural elements, the duration of exposure,
and whether the time of exposure coincides with a window of time during which someone is
particularly likely to be in need of the psychophysiological benefits that nature provides.

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Most studies that attempt to measure psychophysiological restoration focus on one particular
pathway that affects health, but some research examines combinations involving two or more
pathways to look for synergistic effects. One such combination is physical activity performed in
settings with views of nature, often referred to as “green exercise.” Green exercise is associated
with physical indicators of stress reduction like lower blood pressure, which has been observed
in studies of people who went for a walk with a view of nature compared to the same group of
people performing the same physical activity without the views of nature (e.g., Pretty 2005).
This provides evidence that having the visual experience that comes with being active in natural
settings generally yields health benefits over and above the benefits of the same physical activity
performed in urban settings or in typical indoor fitness facilities (Pretty 2005, Mitchell 2013).
However, the extent to which the experiments in the literature rely on a framework with a
stark natural – built dichotomy is a weakness in their applicability for understanding existing
conditions and their validity for driving design decisions (Velarde 2007). The studies often
compare test subjects’ responses to images of dull or disorienting urban scenes with no vegetation
to “natural scenes” completely filled with vegetation. This experimental framework leaves out the
multiplicity of other possible scenes that have a combination of built and natural elements and
therefore fall somewhere in between “all built” and “all natural.” Further complicating matters,
there are other qualities of scenes that impact their effect on the viewer. Different scenes having
the exact same quantity of built and natural elements may evoke dramatically different responses.
An example could be a comparison of a tree-lined street with well-kept yards having a density
of vegetation and espalier and a street with the same style of houses where the houses appear
abandoned and overgrown with vines. In the latter case, the absence of care could induce a fear
response such that the reaction to the specific type of nature would overwhelm the influence of
the quantity of nature. A related point is that views of city scenes rich in architectural detail and
beauty in their forms and colors that lack flora and fauna could be found to be more restorative
by the viewer than some views of natural landscapes. The old towns of Prague and Venice are
mentioned in the literature as examples of urban scenes where this could be the case (Staats
2003), and urban places such as Old Town Alexandria that are known for their historic charm
could also have restorative effects.
Experiences of nature are not the only pathway for recovering from mental fatigue, but findings
in the literature suggest that they are particularly well-suited for accomplishing this – even
experiences of short duration. The writings in which Stephen and Rachel Kaplan established
Attention Restoration Theory (ART) drew extensively from their findings in studies of the
psychological states of participants on extended wilderness experiences (Kaplan and Kaplan
1989), but subsequent studies found ART to be a valid and useful framework for a wide range of
durations – even 40-second microbreaks spent viewing green roofs within a dense urban setting
(Lee 2015). Studies suggest that the effect of nature can be felt almost immediately, with mood
and self-esteem being measurably improved after only a five-minute “dose” (Pretty and Barton
2010, Louv 2011).

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Narrowing the focus: experience of nature in the landscape and Attention Restoration Theory
Frederick Law Olmsted is often cited in literature on ART, which credits him with writing about
the role of natural scenery for restoration and making the case for planning and legislation to
provide such opportunities for people living in cities (Olmsted 1870). Olmsted (1865) described
how natural scenery “employs the mind without fatigue and yet exercises it; tranquilizes it and
yet enlivens it; and thus, through the influence of the mind over the body, gives the effect of
refreshing rest and reinvigoration to the whole system.” Given his writings as well as his approach
to the design of parks, Stephen Kaplan (1995) credits Olmsted with understanding the possibility
that the capacity to focus might be fatigued, and for recognizing that urban dwellers would
recover this capacity by spending time in natural settings. However, these early writings relied on
personal experience and conjecture; theory and scientific research that developed a more precise
understanding of psychophysiological restoration emerged later.
After acknowledging Olmsted’s insights, the literature generally begins discussion of ART with
work begun in the 1970s by Stephen and Rachel Kaplan. Findings from their study for the U.S.
Forest Service and later research suggest that direct and indirect contact with nature can help with
recovery from mental fatigue and the restoration of attention, as well as restore the brain’s ability
to process information. The Kaplans followed participants in a program that took people into the
wilderness for up to two weeks, during which subjects reported experiencing a sense of peace and
an ability to think more clearly, with an apparent recovery of cognitive resources. Kaplan and De
Young (2002) note that “under continual demand, our ability to direct our inhibitory processes
tires....this condition reduces mental effectiveness and makes consideration of abstract long-term
goals difficult. A number of symptoms are commonly attributed to this fatigue: irritability and
impulsivity that results in regrettable choices, impatience that has us making ill-formed decisions,
and distractibility that allows the immediate environment to have a magnified effect on our
behavioral choices.” The Kaplans hypothesized that recovery of neurocognitive resources needed
for directed attention when they are depleted is supported by fascination, which occurs when
stimuli engage attention without requiring conscious effort.

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When a person is mentally fatigued, activities that trigger fascination (also referred to as
involuntary attention) tend to be easier to perform and more appealing than activities that
require voluntary attention (also referred to as directed attention). However, activities that engage
attention without effort are not necessarily restorative for mental resources in and of themselves.
The mechanism of attention being engaged is activated in a wide range of different types of
experiences, and fascination varies on a continuum between hard fascination and soft fascination.
• Hard fascination is associated with activities like watching a competitive sporting event or
action movie that capture attention without conscious effort. Such activities are exciting and
energetically stimulating, but they provide little opportunity for reflection.
• Soft fascination is associated with activities that are low to moderate in intensity that are
generally focused on aesthetically pleasing stimuli and permit an opportunity for reflection
(Felsten 2009). Soft fascination is common in natural settings and occurs during activities
such as viewing a colorful sunset or hiking a scenic trail along a river. Activities associated
with soft fascination have a high potential for reflection and recovery from mental fatigue.
When soft fascination induces reflection, it allows the brain to detect patterns and resume
tasks with clarity and purpose, allowing for insights and the ability to bring mental energy
to a task that is not possible while in a state of mental fatigue. Soft fascination is the type of
fascination that is found to promote restoration in studies testing ART.
In addition to fascination, ART asserts that three other experiential components are necessary
for the recovery of attention resources: a sense of being away, extent, and compatibility (Kaplan
1995, Herzog 2003). The Kaplans and others elaborate on how all four are especially likely to be
experienced at high levels in natural settings (e.g., Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, Kaplan 1995, Kaplan,
Kaplan and Ryan 1998).
The Kaplans’ work suggests that experiences of nature simultaneously calm and focus the mind,
and the resulting state can allow the mind to detect patterns it would otherwise miss. Evidence
of this is provided by tests of their impact on directed attention resources, such as research
measuring proofreading performance after a nature experience. For example, a study performed
by Terry Hartig compared three groups of people over an equal span of days where one group
went on a backpacking trip in the wilderness, one went on an urban vacation, and one took no
vacation (Hartig 1991). In another study by Hartig, participants were given attentionally fatiguing
tasks and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a natural environment, an urban
environment, or an indoor environment where they spent time in passive relaxation listening
to soft music and reading magazines. Hartig et al. reported that in both studies, the nature-
setting conditions resulted in the best performance and highest improvement from the starting
“baseline” on the proof-reading test (Kaplan 1995, Louv 2011).

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ART Component Description and opportunity to find in a natural setting
Compatibility Compatibility exists when there is a sense of agreement and resonance between
the environment and one’s purposes and inclinations. The setting fits what one
is trying to do and what one would like to do, and provides the information
needed to do it. Activities are performed smoothly and there is no need to
second guess one’s own behavior because what one does comfortably and
naturally is what is appropriate to the setting. Studies find many natural settings
to rate high in compatibility, with many people feeling as if they require less
effort to function in than more ‘civilized’ settings.
Being away “Being away” describes a sense of distance from the thoughts and activities that
lead to attention fatigue. Being away often involves some change in physical
location, whether it be simply leaving the office to walk in a park or traveling
a more extended distance. The key characteristic of being away is that there
is a change in mental content from that which led to the fatigue. A change in
the way one looks at a familiar environment can provide the necessary shift
in perception. Natural settings such as the mountains, forests, meadows, and
by lakes, streams, and the seaside are settings where one can experience being
away. Access to these settings is often thought to require significant travel
time by people living in urban contexts, but settings that promote being away
can often be made available at relatively close distances, if the framing of
experiences in those settings and their locations are planned strategically.
Fascination Fascination is the spontaneous, effortless mental engagement induced by
interesting things and places. It is associated with processes of exploring,
thinking, and wondering, and can be augmented by the challenge of
uncertainty or difficulty. Things in natural settings that are fascinating to people
include processes as well as objects. ‘Soft’ fascinations in natural settings include
clouds, sunsets, snow patterns, and the motion of the leaves in the breeze,
which attract attention in an undramatic fashion. Observing these patterns is
effortless and leaves room for thinking about other things at the same time.
Extent Extent is present in settings where perceived elements in the landscape have
coherence, are interrelated and connected to a larger whole, and seem to
“constitute a whole other world” when one gazes into them. They provide
sufficient scope to engage the mind by providing enough to see, experience,
and think about, filling a substantial portion of the available room in one’s head
without any particular effort on one’s part. A sense of extent can commonly be
found in the experience of wilderness areas, but extent can also be experienced
in relatively small areas where trails and paths are designed to frame the visitor’s
perspective in ways that promote feelings of connectedness. Stephen Kaplan
suggests that miniaturization provides a device that also creates a “feeling of
being in a whole different world” in small areas, and that Japanese gardens are
especially notable for this strategy. Extent can also function at a temporal level;
for example, historic artifacts promote a sense of being connected to past eras
and past environments.
Table 1: Description and examples of settings that provide the four experiential components that Stephen
Kaplan, Rachel Kaplan, and Robert Ryan (1998) identify as supporting recovery from mental fatigue.

12
In a study at the Univeristy of Michigan, Berman and Kaplan (2008) found that experiences of
nature also improve short-term memory. Participants’ memory performance improved by 20
percent after an hour of interacting with nature on a walk through the Ann Arbor Arboretum,
compared to the same participants’ memory performance after a walk on Huron Street, where
four lanes of traffic, street crossings, and buildings dominate the visual experience. Berman noted
that “people don’t have to enjoy the walk to get the benefits. We found the same benefits when
it was 80 degrees and sunny over the summer as when the temperatures dropped to 25 degrees
in January. The only difference was that participants enjoyed the walks more in the spring and
summer than in the dead of winter” (Berman 2014).
Framing the thesis investigation
The literature is in widespread agreement that the settings in which people spend time have an
impact on health in general, as measured by physical and psychological indicators, and upon
cognitive resources and promoting recovery from mental fatigue in particular. The literature
indicates that Attention Restoration Theory (ART) is a useful framework for understanding
settings that promote recovery from mental fatigue, and that natural settings or settings that
contain both the built and natural environment with particular natural elements and spatial
arrangements can support recovery from mental fatigue.
The four experiential qualities of restorative settings described in ART constitute a useful
framework for thinking about the physical elements, spatial arrangement, and context of a setting,
but a challenge in applying them to the design of landscapes is that they are relative concepts.
For example, a sense of being away could be perceived while in a small, enclosed garden by
someone who had been working outside in a large open space all day, while someone who had
been working with their head down at their desk indoors would get more of a sense of being away
from an expansive view in an outdoor setting. The crux of “being away” is that there is a change
in mental content from that which produced the fatigue. Familiarity with the natural settings can
also have an impact; someone who grew up in the desert southwest may experience a trail with
little green vegetation as more compatible than someone who grew up going for walks through
forests in the Appalachian Mountains or the Pacific Northwest. Individual propensity to feel a
connection to nature and the amount of time an individual has spent in natural settings recently
or over their lifetime also affect the degree to which people perceive natural settings as being
restorative environments (Tang 2014).
Authors in the literature widely note the need for further study to move beyond the natural-
built dichotomy in experimental studies, and the lack of scientific knowledge about how specific
landscape elements, spatial qualities, and other characteristics of settings promote restoration
(Velarde 2007, van den Berg 2014, Berman 2014). Some studies have begun to look at the
relationship between specific characteristics of a scene and the “perceived naturalness” of
images. Elements that are measurable in digital images of scenes and appear to affect perceived
naturalness include the ratio of curved edges to straight lines, and values for brightness,
saturation, and hue. Scenes with higher ratios of curves to straight lines and scenes having more
contrast in lighting were consistently rated “more natural” by study participants (Berman 2014).

13
Another study found settings with the highest scores for visual preference have a percent tree
canopy cover of around 40 percent (Jiang 2015).
The following images provide a comparison of scenes having more curved lines and more straight
lines in a manner similar to the work described by Berman (2014). The outlines from the images
were produced using the Image Trace tool in Adobe Illustrator.
Figure 3: Perception of straight lines in scenes and corresponding perception of “naturalness”
The presence of trees in the image from Springfield station make its trace much less dominated by straight
lines than Huntington station. These stations are at the south end of Metro’s Blue Line and Yellow Line,
respectively.

14
Applying the findings in the literature about natural settings’ value for promoting restoration
to a set of case studies yields insights on ways to guide the design of a landscape through which
mentally fatigued people travel to promote restoration. The ART component of compatibility is
not be used for evaluating specific landscape elements because it is more appropriate to consider
compatibility at the scale of an overall route, and each of the routes selected for the case studies
has compatibility as a precondition to selection. Compatibility exists when there is a sense of
agreement and resonance between the environment and one’s purposes and inclinations, and each
of these routes are experienced that way by people who use them after work. It is possible to relate
specific landscape elements to the ART components of being away, extent, and soft fascination
more precisely than it is to relate individual elements to compatibility, so the scores measuring the
restorativeness of routes do not include a score for compatibility.
Sleep is necessary to
maintain cognitive
resources but not sufficient
for recovery from mental fatigue
Key window of
time after work
for a restorative
experience
Commuting can take up
additional time and add
stress while doing
nothing to provide
restoration from
mental fatigue
Mental resources for
directed attention
are typically used up
during the course of
the work day
ATTENTION RESOURCES
Figure 4: The window of time when people need to recover from mental fatigue coincides with
a typical evening commute

15
The landscape elements that promote being away, soft fascination, and extent do not act in
isolation. The key criteria for whether something supports “being away” is whether it results in
a change of mental content, while the concept of extent is about the coherence and visual depth
of the scene and soft fascination comes from elements of a scene attracting attention without
conscious effort. Flowering vegetation that provides a visual screen of the built environment
promotes soft fascination in addition to “being away” and light playing on the surface of a body of
water that promotes soft fascination and extent are among myriad examples of natural elements
in settings that promote multiple ART components.
Figure 5: Overlap of landscape elements that promote the components of ART
Many landscape elements that promote experience of the ART components
of being away, soft fascination, or extent support more than one criteria.
The most restorative landscape that can be in a particular location depends on context: who
will be in the landscape, what their antecedent conditions are likely to be, and the many
considerations of spatial context. Some natural elements in the landscape that promote attention
restoration according to ART and are relevant to walking and cycling routes in Northern Virginia
are listed in the following table.

16
ART Component Natural elements that support recovery from mental fatigue when observed
by people moving through the landscape by walking or cycling
Being away • Things that provide visual screening of the built environment and
screening of noise. Screening can be provided by trees and other vegetation,
the sound of falling water, and earthworks where the grading of the soil and
positioning of hard elements muffle sound.
• Topography and other features in the landscape that put the viewer in a
position above or below nearby areas, thereby providing a sense of being
removed from the immediate surroundings.
• Water, particularly moving water and bodies of water positioned such that
they provide visual extent (such as rivers and lakes).
Soft Fascination • Movement of living things, particularly animals (e.g. birds, squirrels) but
also flowers and leaves blowing in the wind or that “move slowly” as they
drop seeds and leaves or undergo colorful seasonal changes.
• Sounds from insects and birds. These sounds do not become tiresome
from too many listens or overly fixate attention to the point of limiting the
ability to reflect or think deeply about something. Sometimes they may
cause one to stop and look for the creature making the sound. They can also
help to screen background noise coming from highways, air conditions, and
other sources when the nature sounds are not too quiet and the non-natural
noise is not overwhelmingly loud.
• Patterns of sunlight that shift over the course of the day, particularly in the
early morning and the evening when there are high levels of contrast.
• Water, particularly moving water and bodies of water that have dynamic
surface patterns from movement and reflected light.
Extent • Clearings in the woods and open spaces that provide a view to the horizon
• Things that provide visual screening of the built environment, particularly
trees and other vegetation that provide a rich and coherent scene.
• Water, especially moving water and water in a space with some visual
extent (such as a river or lake).
• Trails that branch off from one’s route and provide connections to other
places.
• Other things that provide a sense of connectedness and interrelatedness,
such as improvement projects and other evidence of care from the local
community and community events that happen in the space.
Table 2: The elements of the landscape that promote experience of the components of ART. The presence
of these types of elements in the landscape goes into the scores rating the restorativeness of the different
routes examined in the case studies.

17
The important contribution of seasonality and change
The degree to which landscapes have the potential to provide experiences with the four components
of ART can vary with the seasons. Colorful flowers and leaves create natural foci that promote soft
fascination, and deciduous trees and shrubs that provide visual screening and enclosure and promote
a sense of being away are some examples of landscape elements that support the components of ART
but vary over the course of the seasons. However, reductions in the amount to which a scene supports
the components of ART during some parts of the year may be counterbalanced by the way seasonality
provokes interest. It also creates memories in the mind of the viewer of the place in different seasons.
The effect of memory may help explain the statement by Marc Berman about the positive impact of a
walk through the Ann Arbor Arboretum in different seasons having “the same benefits when it was 80
degrees and sunny over the summer as when the temperatures dropped to 25 degrees in January. The only
difference was that participants enjoyed the walks more in the spring and summer than in the dead of
winter” (Berman 2014). Having many experiences in a landscape over the course of the year results in a
layering of memory that creates a sense of depth in the perception of that landscape. For example, the first
short green shoots of daffodils poking through the soil in spring would not look like much to a random
viewer of an undated photo, but in the context of being viewed by a person noticing them after they had
been passing through the landscape all winter, they could have a huge impact on his or her experience. In
this example, interest and awareness of natural elements in the scene are heightened by seasonal change.
Landscapes that go through a lot of change during the course of a year provide a higher amount of soft
fascination and extent than one would estimate when looking at a snapshot of the landscape at a point
in time. Extent as defined for ART is more than spatial extent, it is also about seeing connections and
interrelations to what one sees in the landscape. Seasonality has an impact on the degree to which the
landscape promotes the ART components, so it goes into the analysis of the case study routes and should
be considered when the ART framework is used to guide design.
Areas with landscaping maintenance intended to keep the landscape looking a particular way cause the
visual experience to be static over time. This is often true where grass is regularly mowed, trees and shrubs
are pruned, and weeds and fallen leaves are removed. Where landscapes are static, they fascinate less and
offer less to ponder.
Is there anything as depthless as the flower beds that deck the front of
corporate high rise buildings in our cities? In these raised, granite-bordered
ovals and rectangles, the flowers are always in their prime. Neither strife
nor decay is visible, [nor is care, as] a bed of full-blown pansies is replaced
overnight by one of full-blown petunias. Here, the artifice of Versailles
has become the paltry ornamentalization of decorative landscaping. Here,
the perpetual spring of Eden seems indeed to reign. But it is as arid and
worldless as the forced air and artificial environments inside the offices and
hotel towers around it.” - Robert Pogue Harrison

The idea of perpetual youth and beauty in human yearnings and cultural tradition appears throughout
history, but change is an important part of what it means to be human and alive, and it is a reason things
to hold interest. Like static lives, static forms in the landscape are unlikely to be interesting for long. A
landscape that is designed to promote restoration reveals change occurring in the landscape over time,
including seasonal changes of vegetation, wildlife, and human uses.

18
Case Studies
Drawing from the literature review, the research focus narrows to walking and cycling routes that
promote restoration that people experience during a window of time after the end of the workday.
This is a period of time when people are particularly in need of their restorative effects.
Many people in the greater Washington, D.C. region use the Metrorail system for commuting,
with part of their commute also involving a short walk or bike ride to and from the Metro station.
There are opportunities for adding restorative experiences of nature into everyday life in the
spaces through which commuters pass in the part of their trip that is not on Metro. This set of
case studies evaluates existing walking and cycling routes from Metro stations that people pass
through after work that they may choose to help recover from mental fatigue after a day at work,
to glean insights on how to design a space that would provide restorative benefits according to
ART.
The routes in the case studies include:
1. A walk from Wiehle-Reston East station on pathways in Reston
2. A bike ride from Reston Town Center on The Washington & Old Dominion Trail
3. A bike ride on the Mount Vernon Trail from Crystal City station to Old Town Alexandria
4. A walk on King Street from King Street station to the Alexandria waterfront
5. A walk to Tyson’s Corner station from the opposite side of Tysons Corner Center
A framework based on the literature about ART is used to evaluate these five routes commuters
can take from Metro stations after work by walking or cycling. Each of the selected routes can
be expected to fascinate and thereby allow the mechanism of directed attention to rest, which is
one component of experience that promotes recovery from mental fatigue. However, the types
of fascination experienced on the routes vary in their specific qualities, with the soft fascination
that also promotes reflection on some routes, and the hard fascination that is less conducive
to restoration on others. The ART components of extent and being away are also evaluated in
detail. The case studies consider the ART component of compatibility for moving on these routes,
but it is not integrated into the scoring process. In this analysis, the scores correspond to how
commuters would perceive these routes when traveling on them after applying directed attention
at work indoors, moving along the route during daylight hours in seasons when deciduous trees
have their leaves and perennials are present.
Scoring of the routes based on how the landscape elements promote experiential components of ART
Each portion of the case study routes are scored to estimate how landscape elements promote the
experiential components of ART. The routes are segmented into different portions at points where
some substantial aspect of the experience of the route changes, and the scores are based on a
Likert-type scale of 1 to 5 for the ART components of soft fascination, being away, and extent (1 =
not at all supporting that component, 2 = somewhat, 3 = moderately, 4 = moderately strongly, and
5 = very strongly supporting that component of ART). The evaluations note the approximate

19
4
3
5
1
2
Case
Study
Route
Figure 6: Regional map showing location of case study routes
The location of the case study routes in Greater Washington and the stations on the Metro map to which
they connect (WMATA 2013).
length of each portion of the route and estimate the time that a person would spend passing
through that portion of the route. In order to have consistency in the methods for scoring the
restorativeness of the routes according to the framework based on ART, speed of movement is
assumed to be three miles per hour for all segments of the walking routes and twelve miles per
hour for all segments of cycling routes. In reality, the speed of people traversing the routes varies
between individuals and for different parts of the routes as people spend more time crossing
sections that promote fascination or require more exertion to move across (such as going uphill).
A sum of the scores based on each of the three ART components for each segment of the route are
multiplied by the amount of time spent passing through that segment and then divided by total
time to derive an aggregated restorativeness score for each route. While a single average score is
assigned to each segment of the route, in reality there would usually be fluctuation over the course
of moving through each section. The fluctuations result from changes in the experience over each

20
portion of the route, especially near the beginning or end of the segments of the route.
This scoring method implies that 20 is the baseline score for all routes, so the amount above
baseline is another measure for comparing the restorativeness of different routes. A justification
for having the scale range from 1 to 5 rather than 0 to 4 is that any walking or cycling route may
have some restorative potential by offering a shift in perspective from indoor work, and from the
mild physical exercise associated with using it.
1. A walk from Wiehle-Reston East station on pathways in Reston

The plans for Reston developed in the early 1960s were pioneering in the way they prioritized
walking in suburban neighborhoods. People are able to walk to many places that they need to go
within Reston while also having an experience between their home and destination that does not
feel dominated by the built environment, which is the more typical condition for routes in most
urban and suburban contexts. People are able to walk to all of the community’s town centers and
neighborhoods on a network of paths that are separate from roads and cross them above or below
the level of traffic, except where crossing quiet residential streets within neighborhoods. The paths
communicate to the viewer that Reston is a place where walking is not only possible, but is a
pleasant way to get to other places in Reston as the paths through neighborhoods present views of
lakes, woods, open lawn and meadows.
Figure 7a: Paths crossing roads in Reston
The pedestrian bridge over Wiehle Avenue at North Shore Drive exemplifies how crossing
over a busy road above grade does not interrupt the flow of the walk. This is in contrast to the
experience of the Washington & Old Dominion Trail crossing at Wiehle Avenue, which requires
high alertness when crossing 5 lanes of traffic at grade at a location near multiple stoplights.
That crossing does interrupt the flow of a walk or bike ride. As attention is absorbed by alertness
to traffic, the potential of the experience for restoration according to the ART framework
(particularly the component, “being away”) declines until the need for heightened alertness
is relieved. The following diagrams compare the crossings of Wiehle Avenue and illustrate the
impact on restorative potential that occurs when one is crossing at grade.

21
Sense of“Being Away”
Alertness required
Wiehle Avenue
Low
High
High
Low
Figure 7b: Paths crossing roads in Reston
This case study evaluates a route that is a portion of a distance traveled on foot between the
Wiehle-Reston East station and Silentwood Lane. It is about one half mile in length on paths that
are not adjacent to any roads and constitutes part of a typical trip for a commuter living in Reston
south of the Dulles Toll Road. The percent of the route on the paths can be increased from one
third to about two thirds by taking a variation of the route over a slightly longer distance, which is
an option because there is a whole network of paths connecting the community.
The route on the pathways goes through the woods, with sections that open on expansive views
across the golf course and along a clearing in the woods covered by shrubs and perennials. There
are houses visible from many sections of the route, particularly during the winter, but they do
not have fences and are generally set back in the woods rather than being right next to the paths.
Other people on the paths move at a walking or jogging pace, and do not require much alertness
when passing by. The trails do not feel crowded. The sights and sounds associated with flora,
fauna, and natural features of the landscape induce soft fascination and are noticeably better for
reflecting on the day than walking along Sunrise Valley Drive or Wiehle Avenue, which are four
to six lanes wide and choked with traffic during rush hour. Without the paths, people would have
to walk along Sunrise Valley Drive and South Lakes Drive to walk to the Wiehle-Reston East
station.

22
Figure 8: Perennials in Reston’s clearings in the woods
Overall, the route on Reston paths has a composite restorativeness score of 68 percent and takes
about 11 minutes to walk at a speed of 3 miles per hour. The speed of 3 miles per hour is held
consistent for scoring in these case studies, but someone using this route after work might walk
more slowly through some areas like the ones that scored high for fascination in section 2 and
section 5.
Notes on seasonality and change:
• The perennials in the clearing in the woods in section 4 provide interest to the regular user
who sees their dramatic growth in the spring months followed by flowering and seeding in
the summer and fall (during which they are visited by lots of pollinators and birds eating the
seeds)
• The green turf on the golf course is the one element of the landscape on this route that
remains static in appearance. However, it is a small portion of the route and provides
significant spatial extent, so it does not detract from potential restorativeness and may even
add something of interest for reflection in its context with the untended conditions in the rest
of the route.
• In winter, the viewer can see farther and houses that were obscured by vegetation are more
visible. There is also less color in the scene, but having layers of memory of the space in other
seasons may cause the viewer to find the experience more interesting than one would assume
simply from looking at images of the route (see Figure 9).
Key findings:
• Separation from vehicle traffic lowers the amount of alertness required for safety, which
promotes all components of ART
• When moving at the speed of walking, turns that hide the view ahead create a sense of
mystery and interest in the mind of the viewer
• The woods acts as a frame from which to gaze out on areas with spatial extent, and the
condition of being at the edge of the woods is especially pleasing

23
11 minutes
0.55 miles
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50Distance (miles)
Time (minutes)
1 2 3 5 64
Soft Fascination
Being Away
Extent
Composite Measure
of Restorativeness:
68 percent
Path
through
the
w
oods
Path
through
the
w
oods
Path
through
the
w
oods
Passing
through
aclearing
in
the
w
oods
Nextto
the
w
oods,golfcourse,
and
LakeThoreau
Crossing
aquiet
residentialstreet
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
6
Reston National
Golf Course
Route studied
Full distance to Metro
Note: The pink line represents the route evaluated, while the additional
orange lines show the full length of a typical walk to Metro.
Figure 9: Map and scoring of the route on paths in Reston

24
Table: Summary of landscape elements that promote components of ART on Reston Paths
ART Component Description and elements in the landscape that promote experience of the
ART component for people walking through the landscape
Compatibility This route helps commuters walking from the Wiehle-Reston East station
to homes in Reston unwind by experiencing this nature walk as part of
their commute. This helps to mitigate fatigue from using directed attention
resources at work before the commute home. One feels immersed in natural
settings during the experience of walking on paths in Reston and there is
high compatibility with what most people want to experience after being
mentally fatigued by work.
Being away Views of the built environment (mainly houses) from the paths are limited
and muted by the woods, which screen the built environment. This is true
both when walking through the woods and when looking across expanses
of open space around the lakes, meadows, and the golf course. The sounds
one hears are mainly from insects and birds, while noise from motorized
vehicles or other machinery is minimal.
Soft Fascination Some soft fascination is engaged on the entire portion of the route on the
paths.
• Insects and birds provide a pleasant background of sound that is not a
soundtrack. Unlike recorded music that one can listen to while driving,
these sounds never become tiresome from too many listens and do not
overly fixate attention to the point of limiting the ability to reflect or think
deeply about something.
• Wildlife - deer, squirrels, birds, insects
• Patterns in the water across the surface of Lake Thoreau
• Plants that have seasonality, especially perennials along the section of the
path that goes through a clearing in the woods (section 5) and flowering
plants in general. Most of the non-evergreen flora have seasonal changes
that can induce fascination. Flowers and seeds that are at eye level or lower
typically do more to provide an experience of soft fascination for people
moving along the route.
• Specific perennials on the route include Black-eyed susan, goldenrod, and
Joe Pye Weed (mainly present in section 5)
Extent The views at the clearings along the pathway create a sense of spatial extent.
Despite the depth of the view, there are few signs of the built environment
and also few straight lines in the scene; sources in the literature would
consider the type of views to have high degrees of “naturalness.”
• The vistas extend across the green and fairway of a golf course, a lake, and
a clearing in the woods with brush and grass.
• There are several instances where other pathways meet paths on this route,
which invites the user to notice the connectedness of the route to other parts
of Reston.
Table 3: Landscape elements that promote components of ART on paths in Reston

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2. A bike ride from Reston Town Center on The Washington & Old Dominion Trail
The Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail is a popular regional route among cyclists
and stretches 45 miles from southern Arlington County to Purcellville. As is characteristic of
rail trails, it connects historic centers of towns in the region and provides a means of functional
connectivity for cyclists. In addition to providing a scenic vegetated corridor in the historic right
of way of the railroad, which is now the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park,
the W&OD Trail connects users to local history. The origins of the corridor trace back to the
Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire (AL&H) Railroad, for which construction began in 1855;
the Washington & Old Dominion Railway began operating portions of that railroad in 1912 and
continued until 1968. A mere six years later, the first portion of the W&OD Trail opened in the
City of Falls Church. The historical condition of the trail being where a railroad had been is a key
reason for major road crossings being at a separate grade, and for the consistency of the woods
forming a dense corridor of vegetation around the trail. These conditions provide a delightful
sense of “being away” within a populated area and appear to have been a significant reason for
converting the abandoned rail corridor into a paved bike trail.
Although no longer a railroad, the W&OD Trail now provides commuters with a connection to
rail transit. Considering how many people already park bikes at the two stations that are near the
W&OD Trail (the Wiehle-Reston East station and East Falls Church station), the future Reston
Town Center station is also likely to be popular among commuters using the W&OD Trail to
bike between the station and home. The physical exercise and pleasant aesthetics of the scene one
enjoys while cycling the W&OD trail are noticeably refreshing, which makes it an activity that is
highly compatible with what many people would desire doing on the way home from work.
The portion of the W&OD Trail evaluated provides a connection from Reston Town Center,
which is a mixed use development with a huge concentration of jobs and housing that will have a
Metro station on the Silver Line in the near future. It will be the first stop after the Wiehle-Reston
East station, which is the Metro station near paths in Reston that are the focus of the first case
study. Unlike those paths, the W&OD Trail is used by large numbers of cyclists, so the experience
of this route is evaluated from the perspective of cycling. This route starts at Reston Town Center
and goes to Sunrise Valley Drive, which is about 2.7 miles and takes about 13.5 minutes to
traverse at an average speed of 12 miles per hour. Someone commuting home to South Reston
from Reston Town Center on a bicycle could use this route.
This portion of the W&OD Trail is heavily used, with many people walking and jogging around
midday and in the early evening. There is a separate gravel path adjacent to the asphalt-surfaced
trail through most of this section, with some parts directly adjacent to the paved path and some
separated by shrubs. This helps prevent differences in the speed of trail users from disrupting
the flow of movement on the trail and requiring alertness that diminishes experience of the
components needed for restoration. The unpaved path is also spatially separated from the asphalt
cycling path for most of the length of this route. One can see a relatively long distance ahead
throughout the length of the W&OD Trail due to the gradualness of grade changes and curves,
which are inherited from the corridor’s history where the route was engineered for a railroad.

26
Figure 10: Spring colors along the W&OD trail
Redbuds provide an example of seasonal color in
vegetation along the W&OD Trail.
Figure 11: Gravel path next to the trail
The gravel path to the side of the trail provides a
separate space generally used by pedestrians and
runners. It allows trail users moving at different
speeds to pass each other easily and safely.
Figure 12: Vegetation on rising slopes along the W&OD Trail provides visual immersion
The vegetation on the slopes on either side of the W&OD Trail promotes visual interest and fills much
of the cyclist’s field of vision. A thin corridor of vegetation can do more to screen the built environment
to either side for cyclists compared to walkers because their speed makes them more focused on the
corridor ahead and makes small gaps in the vegetation appear filled. This amplifies the screening effect of
vegetation along many sections of the W&OD Trail.
• There are many kinds of flora with seasonal change on this route. The variety of colors
provided by flowering perennials and shrubs cause the visual experience to “remain fresh” for
regular trail users.
• The sense of enclosure provided by dense vegetation diminishes during winter months, but
slopes to either side of many segments of the trail (which result from the W&OD Trail’s
history of being a railroad) still provide a sense of enclosure and separation.
• Nothing seems to have been planted by deliberate act, and many plants next to the trail have
gone through processes of colonization and succession after disturbance.

27
1
2
3
4
5
0 1.5 3.0 4.5 6.0 7.5 9.0 10.5 12.0 13.5 minutes
0 0.30 0.60 0.90 1.20 1.50 1.80 2.10 2.40 2.70 miles
Soft Fascination
Being Away
Extent
Distance (miles)
Time (minutes)
1 2 3 54
Composite Measure
of Restorativeness:
67 percent
Accesspath
from
Reston
Tow
n
Center
DullesTollRoad
Highw
ayUnderpass
Trailw
ith
screen
ofvegetation
and
w
oodsto
eitherside
Trailw
ith
screen
ofvegetation
and
w
oodsto
eitherside
Trailw
ith
screen
ofvegetation
and
w
oodsto
eitherside
Crossing
W
iehle
Avenue
Figure 13: Map and restorativeness score for the W&OD Trail route from Reston Town Center
Note the sudden drop in restorative potential where the W&OD Trail crosses Wiehle Avenue.
Key Findings:
• Having a path next to the trail used by cyclists that people on foot can use lowers the amount
of alertness required for safety and enhances the flow of experience, which promotes all
components of ART.
• When moving at the speed of cycling, the turns and grade changes should be more gradual
than when moving at the speed of walking. Gradual turns promote experience of extent in
this context.
• The corridor with brush and woods on either side of the trail acts as a screen which promotes
the experience of the components of ART, especially being away. Only the tops of tall
buildings are visible, and this mitigates the perception of the built environment in the scene.

28
1Notes: Over the course of section 1, the route transitions from the urban environment (dominated by tall
buildings, hardscape, roads, and vehicles) to the sheltered corridor space of the W&OD Trail. In the picture to the
right, the trail user comes down from Reston Town Center on the narrower path to the left of the W&OD Trail.
Notes on sections 2, 3, and 5: birds and other
wildlife, seasonal change in the flora, and
patterns of light promote soft fascination. The
lower grade of the trail and layers of dense
vegetation lining the corridor promote “being
away” despite proximity to the tall buildings
at Reston Town Center. The separation of
walkers and joggers on the gravel path further
promotes “being away.” The harmony between
the spatial extent, the speed of movement, and
the gradualnesses of curves and grade changes
promote the experience of extent.
Crossing Wiehle Avenue
2
3
54 Crossing under the Dulles Toll Road Dense vegetation and upward slopes to the sides of the trail
Figure 14: Conditions on the W&OD Trail Route

29
Table: Summary of landscape elements that promote components of ART on the W&OD Trail
ART component for people cycling through the landscape
Compatibility The experience of cycling on the W&OD Trail on a commute home from work has high
compatibility with what most people need for restoration after being mentally fatigued by
work. The physical exercise and pleasant aesthetics of the scene one enjoys while cycling
the W&OD Trail are noticeably refreshing, even in the period of as little as 10-15 minutes
that it takes to cycle this route. This is consistent with the literature that tested the effects
of green exercise and found that the type of landscape one sees while exercising induces
physical and psychological benefits in excess of benefits from the exercise per se (Pretty
2005).
Being away The W&OD trail screens and softens the impact of the built environment on user
experience to a great extent, even though trail users are passing through a densely
developed area near Reston Town Center.
• Views of the built environment are limited and muted by the brush and woods on either
side of the W&OD trail.
• The vegetation and the trail being below grade in many portions reduces the sound of
traffic. There are also sounds from birds and insects.
• The shrubs on either side are generally dense and tall enough to obscure all views of the
area outside the trail right of way.
• In many places the trail goes below grade, providing a further sense of shelter or enclosure
from the surroundings.
• Only the upper parts of buildings can be seen above the vegetation on either side the trail.
• The trail crosses several minor streets and parking lot entrances at grade, but the only
busy street the trail crosses on this route is Wiehle Avenue.
• The gravel path for foot traffic adjacent to the W&OD Trail through most of this section
prevents differences in the speeds of trail users from disrupting the flow of the movement.
Soft Fascination • Insects and birds provide a pleasant background of sound
• Wildlife including deer, squirrels, birds, and insects are seen from the trail
• Plants that have seasonality, especially many perennials and shrubs on the slopes to the
sides of the trail where the trail cuts below grade.
• The density of flowers and vegetation that are near eye level and lower provides a degree of
“nature immersion” during the experience of cycling the W&OD Trail.
• Undulations in the grade of the land to either side of the trail. These exist because the path
of the former railroad was made level, so the trail has only small changes in grade even as it
passes through natural changes in topography and earthwork.
• Patterns of light that vary with the amount of vegetation, time of day and season, and
whether the trail is above or below grade.
Extent • The sense of spatial extent that one perceives with the W&OD trail comes mainly from
the relatively long distance one can see ahead. This is due to the gradualness of curves and
grade changes, coupled with the sense of enclosure provided by tall dense shrubs next to the
trail and the screen of trees behind them. Even where the trail goes by Reston Town Center,
the buildings are set back 100 feet or more from the trail.
• The gradualness of approaching what one can see in the distance on the W&OD Trail can
make the experience of moving along the trail more engaging when one moves at the speed
of a bicycle compared to the speed of walking. The harmony between the speed at which
one moves and the grade of slopes, angle of curves, and spatial arrangement of elements
in the landscape are key determinants for whether extent is present in the experience of
moving through the landscape.
Table 4: Landscape elements that promote components of ART on the W&OD Trail

30
Case Study 3: A bike ride on the Mount Vernon Trail from Crystal City station to Old Town
Alexandria
While the W&OD Trail is located where a railroad used to be, the Mount Vernon Trail was added
onto a mostly narrow portion of land alongside the busy George Washington Memorial Parkway.
As a result, many portions of the Mount Vernon Trail have sharp turns and sudden grade changes
that can make the experience of cycling seem disjointed to trail users. Connections from the
waterfront to places on the inland side of the Parkway are few and far between, so there are few
places where people are entering or exiting the trail. The Mount Vernon Trail alternates between
expansive views across the Potomac River, dense stands of woods and wetlands, and open lawn,
and runs parallel and near to the Parkway for its entire length. Most portions of the route have
enough distance between the Parkway and the Mount Vernon Trail for users to feel reasonably
comfortable, but there are some portions of the Mount Vernon Trail adjacent to the Parkway with
so little space between the path and lanes of fast-moving cars that many users are likely to feel
some sense of discomfort during those parts of the experience. There is also significant noise and
an awareness that much of the space through which one passes is the space that is left over after
the placement of heavy transportation infrastructure, particularly in the part of the route next
to National Airport. While there is beautiful nature that promotes soft fascination and the other
experiential components of ART, there is a “thin-ness” to the nature one experiences that limits
the potential for restoration on the Mount Vernon Trail.
This case study examines 3.7 miles of the Mount Vernon Trail that provides a route from Crystal
City station to Old Town Alexandria. Like the route from Reston Town Center on the W&OD
Trail, those who use the Mount Vernon Trail for commuting primarily traverse this route on a
bicycle. It is common for recreational runners to use the Mount Vernon Trail, but there are no
clearly defined alternative paths to the side of the asphalt trail for slower moving walkers and
joggers to avoid cyclists on this route.
Figure 15: Conditions on the Mount Vernon Trail

31
2
1
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
Figure 16: Map, scoring, and conditions on the
Mount Vernon Trail route

32
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 minutes
0 0.40 0.80 1.20 1.60 2.00 2.40 2.80 3.20 3.60 miles
Soft Fascination
Being Away
Extent
Distance (miles)
Time (minutes)
1 2 3 5 6 74
Tunnel/access
spurto
m
ain
trail
Nextto
National
Airport
Bridge
across
FourM
ile
Run
Nextto
w
oods,
m
ow
ed
grass,and
the
Potom
acRiverBoardw
alkthrough
the
w
etlandsNextto
densely
overgrow
n
w
oods
Uphillbutnext
to
the
Potom
acRiverNextto
buildings
and
riverfrontparks
Composite Measure
of Restorativeness:
52 percent
3
4
5
6 7

33
Table: Components of ART experienced on the Mount Vernon Trail and landscape elements that
promote them
ART component for people cycling through the landscape
Compatibility The experience of cycling on the Mount Vernon Trail on a commute
home from work has high compatibility with what most people need for
restoration after being mentally fatigued by work. The physical exercise,
views out over the Potomac River, and generally pleasant aesthetics of the
scenes one takes in are noticeably refreshing in the period of about 20
minutes that it takes to cycle this portion of the trail. However, there is still a
sense of being “in the city” one gets from the nearness to high-speed traffic,
airplanes taking off and landing, and other related noise, as well as from
having views of that transportation infrastructure and the city skyline
(which includes the Capitol and the Washington Monument).
Being away • Views of the built environment other than National Airport and the
George Washington Memorial Parkway are limited and muted by the
woods. Only the upper portion of buildings in Arlington and Alexandria
near the trail are visible above the trees.
• The only street crossing for this route at the grade of traffic is the road
providing access to Daingerfield Island. The vehicle traffic volume at that
crossing is low and moves at slow speeds.
• There are only a few connections from the Mount Vernon Trail to
Arlington and Alexandria. This is much more conducive to “being away”
than the bike lanes on nearby roads where one is frequently next to
buildings and stopping at traffic lights.
Soft Fascination • Some bird sounds are present, but they are difficult to hear above the noise
from cars and airplanes.
• Some wildlife are present, especially waterfowl where the trail goes
through the wetland (section 4) at the south end of Daingerfield Island.
• Plants that have seasonal color
• Patterns of movement on the water and patterns of light reflected on the
surface of the Potomac River that vary with the weather, the time of day, and
the season.
• The boardwalk, which has a surface material that is different from asphalt;
the texture of the material and feel of moving on it are interesting.
Extent • The sense of spatial extent varies depending on grade and straightness of
the path. The open lawn at Daingerfield Island and places where one has
an expansive view of the Potomac River provide a sense of extent that is
appealing at the speed of movement for a cyclist, but portions of the trail
where the distance that one can see ahead is relatively short call for slower
travel speeds.
Table 5: Landscape elements that promote components of ART on the Mount Vernon Trail

34
Notes on seasonality:
• Flowering shrubs and trees have been planted in some portions of this route, particularly in
section 2 next to National Airport and section 7 where the route enters Old Town Alexandria.
The flowering plants promote fascination while they are in bloom, and as a result the scores
for fascination are higher than the score that a first-time trail user might assign to those
portions of the trail based on an experience during a season when those plants are not in
bloom.
• Areas of landscaped vegetation promote fascination more for people experiencing this route
for the first time than for regular users because the landscaping maintenance causes the visual
experience to be somewhat static over time. At least 90 percent of the route goes through
areas that have active landscaping maintenance, where grass is regularly mowed, some trees
and shrubs are pruned, and weeds and fallen leaves are removed.
• People who use this route on a regular basis also may have their experience colored by layers
of memory, which would result in landscape elements promoting more soft fascination in
their experience.
Key findings:
• Not having a path next to the trail used by cyclists increases the amount of alertness required
for safety and disrupts the flow of experience.
• When moving at bicycle speed, abrupt turns disrupt flow of experience and require more
alertness.
• Nearness to a highway without a visual barrier (such as provided by brush and woods)
between the trail and the highway detract from the components of ART. Proximity to noisy
fast-moving cars creates a perception of danger.

35
4. A walk from King Street station to the Alexandria Waterfront
Old Town Alexandria is a popular walking area for tourists, with King Street in particular being
full of shops and restaurants along this straight mile-long route from King Street station to the
waterfront. The shops and restaurants are a draw in themselves, but the area is also popular
because of its historic architecture, brick sidewalks, street trees, and overall variety of color and
texture in the urban landscape. On a family visit or a date, a walk on King Street may be suggested
as readily as a walk in a park, but it also happens to be a route commonly used for commuting.
People walk from jobs in Old Town to King Street station to commute home, and many walk from
King Street station to homes in Old Town (although the route most people would take to walk
home from King Street station would not take them all the way to the waterfront). King Street
differs from the natural settings typically considered as restorative environments in the literature,
and the type of fascination experienced on the route is associated more with active thinking than
with soft fascination that promotes restoration from mental fatigue. While the Mount Vernon
Trail provides an experience of moving through natural settings, a walk on King Street is a walk
through the city with some natural elements in the space. There are street trees, plants in pots on
ornamental stands, and a view across the surface of the Potomac River at the east end of the route.
• The most noticeable seasonal change in the living landscape on King Street are the presence of
leaves and flowers on the street trees and on the vines at King Street Gardens Park (and lack
of them in winter). Market Square in front of City Hall has many large planter boxes and is a
space where seasonal change has an especially significant impact on how a viewer perceives
the space.
• There are seasonal changes in the decoration of the streetscape made by the City of
Alexandria and store owners, with the decoration of trees in winter being particularly notable.
Key findings:
• Streets with a density of storefronts and richly detailed urban design may be considered
fascinating or merely interesting depending on the personal tastes of the viewer, and context.
When in a state of mental fatigue, it may require too much effort for the viewer to fully
appreciate them.
• Trees and other plantings in the streetscape reduce the proportion of straight lines seen by the
viewer, which means they are perceived as having a higher degree of naturalness
• While urban scenes do not score as highly as the routes through more natural settings
according to this framework, the score for the King Street route is still way higher than
baseline. It is a good place to walk with some restorative potential, but not as much as the
walking and cycling routes on the paths in Reston, the W&OD Trail, or the Mount Vernon
Trail.

36
4 5
1 2
3
0 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5 15 17.5 20 22.5 minutes
0 0.125 0.25 0.375 0.50 0.625 0.75 0.875 1.00 1.125 miles
Soft Fascination
Being Away
Extent
Composite Measure
of Restorativeness:
44 percent
Distance (miles)
Time (minutes)
1 2 3 54
W
alking
through
station
parking
lotPastKing
Street
GardensPark
W
alking
past
storesand
historic
architecture
M
arketSquare
Storesand
historicarchitecture
nearthe
w
aterfront
1 2 3
4
Figure 17: Map and scoring the route on King Street
Figure 18: Conditions on King Street

37
ART component for people walking through the landscape
Compatibility There are interesting architectural details and things to see in store windows,
but more natural settings tend to have more compatibility. The compatibility
of this walking route depends on how comfortable people feel being walking
through an urban environment when mentally fatigued and whether they find
looking in stores to be an activity they enjoy after a long day at work.
Being away • King Street is characterized by a density of activity – fancy offices and shops,
car traffic, and lots of people. Walks taken at a leisurely pace on weekends,
especially by tourists, likely do provide a sense of being away because there is
plenty of content in the scene to fill one’s head and shift one’s focus from things
one had been working on at the office. However, the landscape observed during
walks on this route down King Street that are taken during or after a work day
are unlikely to provide as much sense of being away as the routes on the Reston
pathways, the W&OD Trail, or the Mount Vernon Trail, because the urban
environment requires too much alertness to make sense of and appreciate.
• King Street Gardens Park and Market Square in front of City Hall promote
being away by providing a sense of enclosure and a concentration of plants.
Soft Fascination • Looking at interesting things in storefront windows involves more of a sense
of hard fascination than soft fascination. They draw one’s attention and may
lead one to contemplate purchasing an item for oneself or as a gift, imagining
the delight or utility of having some particular item.
• King Street Gardens Park is the landscape element directly on this route that
does the most to create soft fascination, as the vines growing on the structure
have flowers, attract birds, and create a pleasant “hanging gardens” through
part of the year. However, one passes by the length of King Street Gardens Park
in less than a minute en route from Metro.
• Patterns one may observe on the surface of the water when looking at the
Potomac River at the end of this route.
• Street trees and the annuals planted around their base or in pots
• Birds that can be observed at King Street Gardens Park
Extent • Aside from the view out over the Potomac River, the segment of the route
with the greatest sense of physical extent at Market Square. Market Square is
a large brick open space three blocks from the waterfront, outlined by trees in
raised beds and featuring a large fountain in the center.
• There is also some sense of spatial extent upon reaching Diagonal Road, at
which point the buildings on the south side of King Street come to an end
and there is an expansive view of the George Washington National Masonic
Memorial and grounds. This view is somewhat interrupted by the elevated train
tracks crossing King Street and the structures comprising the station.
• On the vast majority of the walk, the focus of one’s gaze is likely to be directed
at the buildings and store windows one passes, and paying attention at street
crossings each time one has walked a span of approximately 280 feet.
Table 6: Landscape elements that promote components of ART on King Street

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