Abstract

Forest therapy is a way of connecting with nature to promote physical and mental health. With 60% of its land covered in forest, Taiwan is an ideal prospect for such a program. However, most forest therapy services are ill-developed and unsustainable in Taiwan. To address this issue, we first conducted semi-structured interviews of administrators and customers in Xitou Nature Education Area, a forest area with great potential for forest therapy in Taiwan, to explore the context and existing problems. Second, we applied service design to produce a revamped forest therapy program that involved the integration of co-creation workshop and service bricolage. Finally, based on user experience in desirability and feasibility of our concepts, we design new service strategies for forest therapy in Xitou. In academics, the results explore the benefits of using service design in forest therapy. In practice, the results will raise health awareness for forest therapy in Taiwan.

Keywords

forest therapy, service design, service bricolage

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Research Paper

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Jun 25th, 9:00 AM

Service design for experience in forest therapy: A case study in Xitou nature education area

Forest therapy is a way of connecting with nature to promote physical and mental health. With 60% of its land covered in forest, Taiwan is an ideal prospect for such a program. However, most forest therapy services are ill-developed and unsustainable in Taiwan. To address this issue, we first conducted semi-structured interviews of administrators and customers in Xitou Nature Education Area, a forest area with great potential for forest therapy in Taiwan, to explore the context and existing problems. Second, we applied service design to produce a revamped forest therapy program that involved the integration of co-creation workshop and service bricolage. Finally, based on user experience in desirability and feasibility of our concepts, we design new service strategies for forest therapy in Xitou. In academics, the results explore the benefits of using service design in forest therapy. In practice, the results will raise health awareness for forest therapy in Taiwan.

 

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