TY - JOUR AU - Carrus, Giuseppe AU - Scopelliti, Massimiliano AU - Panno, Angelo AU - Lafortezza, Raffaele AU - Colangelo, Giuseppe AU - Pirchio, Sabine AU - Ferrini, Francesco AU - Salbitano, Fabio AU - Agrimi, Mariagrazia AU - Portoghesi, Luigi AU - Semenzato, Paolo AU - Sanesi, Giovanni PY - 2017 M3 - Original Research TI - A Different Way to Stay in Touch with ‘Urban Nature’: The Perceived Restorative Qualities of Botanical Gardens JO - Frontiers in Psychology UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00914 VL - 8 SN - 1664-1078 N2 - Botanical gardens represent interesting arenas for research in environmental psychology and environment-behavior relations. They can be considered a very particular type of restorative environment and also have a relevant social function for the promotion of a more sustainable lifestyle in current societies. In this paper, we present a study assessing the relationship between the perceived restorativeness, the psychological and physical benefits experienced, and the subjective well-being reported by visitors of botanical gardens in four different cities in Italy (N = 127). As expected, a bootstrapping mediation model supported the idea that perceived restorativeness of botanical gardens significantly predicts visitors’ subjective well-being, both directly and indirectly through perceived physical and psychological benefits of the visit. A moderation model also revealed that the relationship between restorativeness and well-being varies across respondents with different socio-demographic characteristics, being stronger for singles as compared to couples with and without children, respectively. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. ER -