Role of indoor environmental attributes on creativity: A systematic review

Abstract

In response to the increasing time spent by people indoors, there is a growing interest in fostering creativity within indoor environments. Previous reviews of the link between indoor environments and creativity have relied on studies employing subjective assessments and interviews rather than objective task-based evaluations. A systematic review of 46 experiments from 34 empirical articles was undertaken to examine an array of indoor environmental attributes, such as nature, window views, furniture, space layout, sound, color, lighting, indoor air quality, and socio-spatial relationships, in this context. We aimed to elucidate their impact on both divergent and convergent thinking, gauged through task performance and survey responses. Our extensive review of empirical findings showed inconclusive results of the relationship between indoor environmental attributes and creativity. Furthermore, we found evidence that particular attributes of indoor environments may exclusively influence either divergent or convergent thinking creativity, with no concurrent effects on both. To advance our understanding of how indoor environmental attributes influence creativity, future research should employ sophisticated experimental designs with objective, task-based measurements to investigate both individual and combined effects—including varied exposure amounts, durations, modalities, and long-term effects—to enhance the reliability and comparability of findings.