The Role of the Active Design Approach in Improving the Environmental Psychology of a Healthy Built Environment: The Case of a University Campus

Environmental psychology plays a vital role in the overall development of human health. Student activism and health concerns have arisen about the human health costs associated with a healthy built environment. This research focuses on recent design “trends”, active designs, and their relationship to environmental psychology and a healthy campus. This study examines the role of the active design approach in improving the environmental psychology of universities to achieve a healthy campus for students by hypothesising physical activity comprises three categories: physically active (body), mentally active (emotions), and socially active (group). The total number of student participants was 428 from ten university campuses. The methodology included a questionnaire survey with statistical analyses, ANOVA tests, and factor analyses. The results of this study reveal that students are more active outside campus than inside campus. Students are more interested in social activity than in mental and physical activities. In addition, the obstacles to students’ physical inactivity are a lack of time, lack of opportunities on campus, and the psychological feeling of anxiety, depression, and tension due to social activities and university work performances. In conclusion, a model is designed to demonstrate the relationship between environmental psychology and active design variables.