Frances Kuo

Faculty member since 1998

How I got interested in this field
I have always been interested in how physical environments affect people -- as a kid, I was interested in the relationship between architecture and psychology. In college, when I discovered that there actually was such a thing as environmental psychology, it was like Dante meeting Beatrice. Since then, it's really been the findings that have led me to focus on natural environments and their impacts on people. It is exciting to study an aspect of the environment that is generally neglected, but which turns out to have such important and pervasive impacts.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Research Interests
My lab, the Landscape and Human Health Lab, focuses on the connection between natural features (trees, grass, flowers, and green space) and outcomes related to healthy human functioning, such as crime and violence; strength of community; well-being and coping; exercise and vitality; and attention, executive-functions, self-control, and learning. In addition to directing the Landscape and Human Health Lab, I also am a panelist and contributing author for the Blue Ribbon Green Infrastructure Panel, convened by Casey Trees Foundation, National Capital Planning Commission, and the Department of City Planning, Washington D.C.; a consultant to the City of Chicago on their Green Urban Design Initiative, an expert panelist for the Robert Wood Johnson Active Living Research National Advisory Council, a research affiliate at the Centre on Aging at The University of Manitoba, and serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Architecture and Planning Research. I am a reviewer for the Journal of Environmental Psychology; Children, Youth and Environment; Environment & Behavior; Journal of Environmental Psychology; Journal of Leisure Research; Urban Geography; Horticultural Technology; Psychology and Health; and Psych Reports