Abstract
Chinese commercial pedestrian streets have developed rapidly in recent years. However, people’s preferences were not sufficiently considered and reflected in the outdoor space and landscape design. With the outdoor landscapes along commercial pedestrian streets in the region south of the Five Ridges as the research objects, this study revealed the public’s different preference evaluations of the landscapes under the reciprocal effects of street characteristics. The main results were as follows: (a) When arcade spaces were available, people prefer streets with taller trees and a lower planting density (50 plants/km or less). Conversely, they preferred streets with relatively low trees (3–6 m), a higher planting density (100–200 plants/km) and two or more vertical layers of plants. People did not like the way that plants are lined in the middle of a street. (b) When there were only one or two types of signage hanging, people preferred streets with a moderate planting density (50–100 plants/km); and there were three or more types of signage hanging, people preferred the plants with low linear density (50 plants/km or less) and that were arranged along one or two sides of the street. (c) When benches were available, people preferred streets with plants on one or both sides, fewer plant colours (one or two kind of colours) and better plant growth status. Specifically, the richer the vertical structure and the bigger number of colours were, the higher the preference score. This study provided design schemes to enhance the visual quality of landscapes by improving landscape characteristics in similar outdoor spaces.
Highlights
As important shopping and leisure sites for urban residents and tourists, modern commercial pedestrian streets meet people’s daily needs and offer outdoor cultural and art stages, fitness facilities, landscape parks and other multielement living facilities
Lekagul [1] maintained that appropriate scientific research and observation on outdoor landscapes, which serve as an integral component of commercial pedestrian streets, through which the design logicality and corresponding reference value of commercial pedestrian streets as a public area can be greatly enhanced should be conducted
Kaplan and Kaplan [2] proposed that landscape perception studies should be conducted from two dimensions, namely, spatial characteristics and plant characteristics, which are composed of specific elements of plant landscapes
Summary
As important shopping and leisure sites for urban residents and tourists, modern commercial pedestrian streets meet people’s daily needs and offer outdoor cultural and art stages, fitness facilities, landscape parks and other multielement living facilities. Studies on the visual quality of commercial pedestrian streets have been widely conducted. Correlations exist between the spatial characteristics and the components of plant landscapes [3]. The correlation between plant characteristics and outdoor spatial characteristics has rarely been studied. In this case, this study verifies the influence of outdoor space characteristics and plant characteristics on the evaluation of visual preference, and reveal the effect of plant characteristics in different outdoor space on visual preference evaluation. This article aims to identify people’s preference towards pedestrian streets under the interactive influence of outdoor space characteristics and plant characteristics, for purpose of providing valuable guidance for practical design
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