VRtous: Virtual landscapes and their potential effect on well-being, restoration and nature connectedness

WSL is well-known for its research on the impact of natural landscapes on human well-being and their restorative effects. But - as we have all experienced within the last two years - it it not always possible to use this source of restoration: The COVID-19 pandemic has shown this impressively. But not only pandemics, also climate change and the increasing degree of urbanization hinders people all over the world to recreate outside. Virtual landscapes may be able to have similarly positive effects on human well-being. However, little is known to date about what these landscapes need to look like in order to develop their positive potential. We aim to use data of the mixed-reality cycling platform ZWIFT to get first insights in the potential restorative effects of different virtual landscapes: Will it be a natural, an urban or even a fictitious one that has most restorative effects? Furthermore, we aim to study if the virtual nature effects nature-relatedness.