Biophilic perception in urban green spaces (Case study: El Gölü Park, Tabriz)

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is to investigate biophilic perceptions in urban green spaces. This paper also intends to answer the following question: ‘To what extent does Biophilic perception become possible in El Gölü Park, if at all?’ To answer this question, we will discuss the concept of biophilia and the factors that affect its realization in urban green spaces to analyse the effective components in this approach. To this end, we will provide a review of the literature in the theoretical part to present a conceptual model. Then, in the field study part, we used random sampling to select 384 subjects as our study sample. The underlying research methodology is structural equation modelling (in particular, the finite element method abbreviated as FEM). Using IBM SPSS Statistics and EQS, we analysed the main areas of biophilic perception (including sensory perception, experiential reception and mental recognition) and the common areas (including cognition and perception, sensory-affective experience and cognitive experience) as the independent variables and biophilic perception in El Gölü Park of Tabriz as the dependent variable. The results of the study indicate that the main areas of biophilic perception, with a standardized weighted load factor of 0.92–0.96, confirm the highly desirable intensity of the relationship of the conceptual model of biophilic perception. Also, the independent variables of ‘the five senses’, ‘orientation systems’, ‘historical-cultural meanings’, ‘air and the perceptions derived from it’, ‘semantic systems’, ‘relaxation and psychological security’, ‘perception of complexity in nature’, ‘comfort and safety’, ‘perception of mysteriousness in nature’ and ‘climate’ play the most effective role in obtaining the biophilic perception of the audience of El Gölü Park of Tabriz.