Assessing the aesthetic value of traditional gardens and urban parks in China

Abstract

This paper aims at finding evidence to improve the aesthetic quality of traditional gardens and urban parks in China by exploring the factors that drive the public's visual preferences for these recreational spaces. Despite similar aesthetic preferences, the driving factors vary between gardens and parks. For traditional gardens, water-related characteristics have a significant positive influence on aesthetic quality, while wilderness is a negative one. Vegetation is an important factor for the visual preference of urban parks; however, modern buildings in the field of view will reduce their aesthetic value. Nevertheless, despite the different driving factors of the visual preferences between urban parks and traditional gardens, they still share some positive aesthetic elements such as traditional buildings.