Landscape Preferences Research Articles

Differences in Perceptions of Naturalness among Urban Park User Groups in Seoul

Though the activities in urban facilities have declined during the COVID-19, the demand for visiting open spaces and parks has increased. Visitors to city parks also increased in Seoul. People have realized that nature is an important space for safety, health, and leisure in their everyday life. This study implied that people intended to visit city parks as a natural space in the urban area. So, an assessment criterion of the quality of environments of city parks, naturalness is selected as one of the indicators. This study chose six parks as a study subject in Seoul and found differences for users in the perception of naturalness in city parks. Q methodology is a useful tool to identify differences between individual's perceptions of nature. Through the Q analysis, six groups have differences in the perception and the valuation of naturalness. The study found that differences have resulted from their past experiences, personal preferences, and psychological status. The first group can be named a dynamic type who enjoys various landscapes, and the second is the group of people who love to meditate in serene woodlands. The third group wants to observe the animals and consider the ecosystem as important, and the fourth group is those who love to feel the changing seasons with sensitivity. The fifth group recognizes nature through the contrast between the building and the natural environment in the city. The last group is those who pursue conservation for old trees or the existing nature environment itself. As a general, appraisal of perceived naturalness is subjective and individual. The perception of naturalness influences landscape preferences and attitudes to city parks. Therefore, the naturalness perceived by users should be a crucial consideration to maximize park services so that users can appreciate various tastes.

The effect of construction intensity on landscape preferences in Cuban tourist resorts

Within the context of the increasing importance of tourism in large all-inclusive resorts in tourist destinations such as Cuba, this study analyses the preferences of potential tourists (university students) from Spain and Brazil based on the construction intensity in these resorts and the academic background of the participants. To this end, an online questionnaire with photographs of landscape units in Cayo Santa María (Province of Villa Clara, Cuba) was devised. The two-fold objective focused on assessing the valuation of the landscape's visual quality related to the presence and intensity of tourism-related constructions, as well as assessing the potential bias linked to the academic profile in said assessment. The results indicate that a majority of those interviewed preferred landscapes without constructions. Construction intensity was also an important variable, in that landscape preferences declined as construction intensity increased. At a secondary level, the academic background also had a significant influence on landscape preferences. Most Natural Science students preferred landscapes that were free of constructions, while those studying Health Sciences preferred the ones containing constructions. In conclusion, it is recommended that landscape preference studies be taken into account to optimize tourism planning in areas of enormous ecosystem and landscape value.

Knowledge Mapping Analysis of the Study of Rural Landscape Ecosystem Services

Understanding the research lineage of rural landscape ecosystem services (RLESs) is of importance for improving rural landscapes and developing sustainable ecosystem services. However, there is currently no literature analysis on the scientific quantification and visualization of RLESs. In this study, 4524 articles related to RLESs from 1990 to 2021 were analyzed using the bibliometric method and ISI Web of Science database. The results show that RLES research hotspots have gradually shifted from the early keywords of “vegetation”, “land use change”, “agriculture”, “rural gradients” and “models” to the emerging “cultural ecosystem services”, “rural tourism”, “landscape preferences” and “policy guidance”. Scholars from developed and developing countries place different emphases on research hotspots in terms of research content, scale and methodology due to differences in their research backgrounds and other aspects. In addition, five categories of research fronts were obtained through literature co-citation analysis. Through burst word detection analysis, combined with basic research and research hotspots and frontier analysis, we concluded that future RLES research will focus on four areas: (1) the relationship and collaboration between and management of biodiversity and ecosystem services; (2) the landscape value of RLESs; (3) land-use changes and ecosystem service values; and (4) research methods for innovative RLESs. Our findings may contribute to better in-depth RLES research by providing a theoretical reference and practical help for future related research.

How do humans value urban nature? Developing the perceived biophilic design scale (PBDs) for preference and emotion

With the growth of urbanization and the increasingly hectic pace of life, exposure to urban nature within blue-green infrastructure is greatly impacting human health and well-being. Biophilia, an evolutional concept, conveys the initial connection between humans and nature; biophilic design transfers into design attributes to indicate the relationship between humans and the environment. A significant advantage of experiencing nature is positive restoration; however, only limited research has been conducted on connecting biophilic design and mental health. This study adopted our perceived biophilic design items (PBDi) to examine the relationship between landscape preferences and emotional states in urban green spaces. Online surveys (valid total n = 477) examining these biophilic items, landscape preferences, and emotional states were conducted. Seven aspects—(1) evolved human–nature relationships, (2) place-based relationships, (3) visual aesthetic quality, (4) state of natural change, (5) environmental perception, (6) sense of compatibility in the built environment, and (7) natural form of design method —were confirmed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), with 64.35 % of the cumulative variance, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) demonstrated good convergent validity and discriminant validity. The overall perceived biophilic design scale (PBDs) with 28 items had a Cronbach’s α of 0.91. In addition, it was found that PBDs significantly explained landscape preferences and positive emotional states within urban nature. The findings provide an alternative tool for measuring human biophilic perceptions that influence environmental experiences. In addition, each item in the scale could be used as a biophilic guideline for designers and planners to reinterpret nature in cities and to enhance our connection to nature in general.

Multi-Sensory Experience and Preferences for Children in an Urban Forest Park: A Case Study of Maofeng Mountain Forest Park in Guangzhou, China

This study developed an analysis based on children’s multi-sensory experiences and preferences in urban forest park to make practical suggestions for the design of children’s activity areas. Taking Maofeng Mountain Forest Park in Guangzhou, Guangdong province as a case study, based on a face-to-face survey and online questionnaire survey, this study analyzed children’s multi-sensory landscape preferences in the park and explored the influence of multi-sensory experiences on children’s behavioral experience by establishing a structural equation model. The results reveal that visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory sensations were significantly correlated with children’s behavioral experiences. In terms of landscape preference, children preferred landscapes in blue-green tones, original building materials and challenging entertainment programs. Based on these analysis results, the design recommendations for children’s activity areas in urban forest parks are discussed.

Using social media photos and computer vision to assess cultural ecosystem services and landscape features in urban parks

Urban parks are important public places that provide an opportunity for city dwellers to interact with nature. In recent years, social media data have become a promising data source for the assessment of cultural ecosystem services (CES) and landscape features in urban parks. However, it is a challenging task to identify and classify the CES and landscape features from social media photos by manual content analysis. In addition, relatively few studies focused on the differences in landscape preferences between tourists and locals in urban parks. In this study, we used geotagged social media photos from Flickr and computer vision methods (scene recognition, image clustering and image labeling) based on the convolutional neural networks (CNN) and the Google Cloud Vision platform to assess the spatial preferences and landscape preferences (cultural ecosystem services and landscape features) of tourists and locals in the urban parks of Brussels. The spatial analysis results showed that the tourists’ photos were spatially concentrated on well-known parks located in the city center while the locals’ photos were rather spatially dispersed across all parks of the city. We identified 10 main landscape themes (corresponding to 4 CES categories and 10 landscape feature categories) from 20 image clusters by automated image analysis on social media photos. We also noticed that tourists paid more attention to the place identity featured by symbolic sculptures and buildings, while locals showed more interest in local species of plants, flowers, insects, birds, and animals. This research contributes to social media-based user preferences analysis and CES assessment, which could provide insights for urban park planning and tourism management.

Understanding different cultural ecosystem services: An exploration of rural landscape preferences based on geographic and social media data.

Rural landscapes offer a variety of cultural ecosystem services (CESs). However, the relationship between rural landscape characteristics and different CESs is still poorly understood. Therefore, this study explored the rural areas of Huzhou city, China, as a case study to assess the main rural landscape characteristics of different CESs based on public preferences. First, 148 scenic spots were classified into four CESs (physical, experiential, intellectual and inspirational), and the public preferences for each scenic spot were determined by combining tourists' scores obtained from social media and government assessment scores. Then, the landscape characteristic indicators were constructed from the natural, infrastructural and sensory perspectives by combining geographic and social media data. Finally, the random forest model was used to evaluate the public preferences for rural landscape characteristics overall and for different CESs. The word frequency analysis showed that, in addition to the nature landscape, infrastructure and service had a strong influence on public preferences. The relationship with rural landscape characteristics varied across different CESs. For physical CESs, the convenience of infrastructure played a greater role than natural landscape characteristics. Experiential CESs, on the other hand, were affected by natural landscape characteristics themselves. Intellectual CESs had higher requirements for both infrastructure and nature. Inspirational CESs included sensory evaluation indicators, in addition to their focus on natural landscape characteristics and infrastructure, indicating that this category of CESs was more concerned with inner experience. The use of social media data has enriched the dimensions of sensory elements and provided new ideas and information supplements for comprehensively understanding different CESs, thus better supporting the management, planning and protection of rural landscapes.

Assessing Effects of Urban Greenery on the Regulation Mechanism of Microclimate and Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Winter in China’s Cold Region

A comfortable thermal environment in outdoor spaces is beneficial to people’s physical and mental health in cold conditions during winter. Greenery can improve outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) via microclimates in winter. Multiple methods have been employed to investigate how greenery influences OTC and microclimate. However, the underlying mechanism of how microclimate participates in the regulation of the effect of greenery on OTC is unclear. To examine the mediating effect of microclimate on the relation between greenery and OTC in cold weather during winter, we conducted meteorological measurement and thermal comfort surveys in Zhengzhou, a city in China’s cold region, from 29 to 30 December 2019. Two objective greening indices from different dimensions were extracted at twelve sampling points: (1) the green view index (GVI) from horizontal normal images from people’s perspective, and (2) the tree view factor (TVF) from vertical-upward fisheye images. With microclimatic parameters as the mediators, a comprehensive multi-step mediation analysis was conducted. The regression results revealed that the GVI and TVF were negatively associated with the thermal comfort vote (TCV) (i.e., the more greenery, the less TCV, which means the more comfortable the thermal environment). Our findings show that both GVI and TVF contribute to OTC through different mechanisms in cold climatic conditions during winter. Vegetation in sight revealed by the GVI can directly regulate OTC by affecting people’s mental feelings or other factors. Air temperature (Ta), relative humidity (RH), and wind speed (Va) served as significant partial mediators for the GVI. Moreover, there was a complete mediation for TVF–OTC correlation with Ta, RH, and Va as significant mediators. The mediating effects of microclimate accounted for 81.00% for GVI and 89.02% for TVF, respectively. The GVI is propitious to the study of people’s mental health and landscape preferences, whereas TVF is suitable for studies on microclimate adaptation.

Landscape assessment of forest trail using geotagged visitor employed photography: the case of the inariyama trail in the Takao Quasi-National Park, Tokyo

ABSTRACT An evidence-based understanding of visitors’ landscape preferences is important for holistic forest planning and management. In this study, a visual landscape assessment was conducted to 1) determine the locations and recreational value of scenic hotspots (popular locations) and 2) identify the landscape types that visitors most preferred along the Inariyama Trail in the Takao Quasi-National Park in Tokyo by using geotagged visitor employed photography and asking the 60 participants to score their photographs based on five assessment measures. Nine hundred geotagged photographs were collected, and the subsequent hotspot analysis was conducted using a combination of Getis-Ord Gi* statistics in GIS. Analysis of means (ANOM) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to determine what and how visitors preferred landscapes in the site. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1) seven hotspots, comprising prominent landscape features and spatial changes, were identified, and 2) Prospect and Look-up were the most highly valued landscape types. These results reveal the importance of Look-up views, which have thus far been underrepresented in landscape assessments, and that hotspots are influenced by landscape features as well as spatial changes. Therefore, through the application of GIS technology, this study lays a foundation for future research as well as the planning and management of forested landscapes that harmonize recreation and other uses.

Vernacular or modern: Transitional preferences of residents living in varied stages of urbanisation regarding rural landscape features

After the implementation of rural revitalisation, China's rural landscape is experiencing drastic reconstruction together with a prominent debating concerning whether it should retain vernacular or become modern. However, there is little research about residents' landscape preferences regarding vernacular and modern. To fill this gap, this study investigated rural landscape preferences of resident groups in Chongqing City. Urban, town and rural residents were purposely selected and compared as they represent resident groups with varying levels of connection to rural landscapes during urbanisation. Three hundred and eighty-four residents were investigated through field surveys. The results demonstrate that rural residents do not like vernacular landscapes, because the average cognitive salience index of vernacular landscapes is 0.08 lower than that of modern landscape. Correspondence analysis reveals that there are mismatches between residents at all stages of landscape urbanisation and their living environments. A circular pattern emerges: urban residents prefer vernacular landscapes, town residents prefer modern landscapes, and rural residents prefer transitional landscapes. Combining word frequency analysis, two-step clustering and Kruskal–Wallis test, we found that connections with more urbanised areas of rural residents changed their preferences. Rural resident category 1 prefers landscapes with significantly higher vernacularisation (average score 49.39) as compared to category 3 (average score 33.61) with many contacts with the outside. The key factor driving the diversified preferences between the groups is the desire for a better living environment based on what residents perceived lacking in their current living environments. This study therefore demonstrates a theoretical transitional process for rural landscape preferences during urbanisation. Our results provide practical/policy implications for China's rural revitalisation processes and for similar processes in rural areas of other developing countries with diversified desire of varied social groups.

Audio-Visual Analysis of Visitors’ Landscape Preference for City Parks: A Case Study from Zhangzhou, China

Soundscape perception is increasingly recognized as an important part of landscape preference and environmental experience. However, few studies have juxtaposed visual landscape preference and soundscape preference to compare their contributions to overall landscape preference. This paper aims to quantify and compare the contribution of audiovisual perception to visitors’ overall park landscape preference. The landscape preferences of visitors at seven sample sites in a city park were investigated through field questionnaires in three dimensions: visual landscape, acoustic landscape, and audiovisual landscape. The results showed that visitors’ visual landscape preference (VLP = 7.53) was generally higher than soundscape preference (SP = 7.08), while the influence of auditory preference (57%) on overall landscape preference (OLP) was found to be greater than that of visual preference (43%). The ratio of audio/visual contribution to the overall landscape preference decreased as the average sound level of the sample sites increased. Of all the population characteristics, only the educational level (sig = 0.034) could be used as an effective predictor of OLP (Impact coefficient = −0.103). In addition, older visitors rated OLP lower than young visitors, and females rated OLP lower than males. It was found that visual harmony, color richness, color contrast, plant coverage, and plant diversity were the main visual landscape attributes that influenced visitors’ visual preferences, while acoustic harmony, quietness, sound vitality, and acoustic richness were the main soundscape attributes that impacts visitors’ auditory preference. The results of this study may be useful for park landscape design and regeneration.

Visual Feature Evaluation of Shenyang Greenway Landscape Based on Deep Learning

At present, the research on the visual characteristics of greenway landscape is mostly focused on the evaluation of beauty degree, landscape preference, and recreation preference and mainly on the overall macroscopic evaluation of a single greenway or typical spatial research in some areas, while less attention is paid to the overall characteristics of urban greenway landscape and the differences in visual characteristics of different types of greenway landscape. The emergence of new data and new technologies such as street view, Baidu map, and deep learning provides the possibility to study the visual characteristics of greenway landscapes in large scale and full sample. The study of greenway landscape based on large deep learning can effectively refine the overall pattern of visual characteristics of greenway landscape and reveal the differences of visual characteristics of different types of greenways and their key factors, so as to provide support for the planning and design of greenway landscape and landscape appearance enhancement.

Rewilding—The farmers’ perspective. Perceptions and attitudinal support for rewilding among the English farming community

Abstract Rewilding is an increasingly common conservation approach, aiming to restore ecosystem processes and minimise human intervention. Rewilding has the potential to profoundly change landscapes and people–nature relations. These issues prompt an ongoing debate about how and if rewilding should be done. Farmers are key stakeholders in this debate; they stand to be both affected by and influence the trajectory of rewilding initiatives developing in the United Kingdom and globally. Despite this, a comprehensive understanding of farmers' perceptions towards rewilding is lacking. Here, we focus on how members of the farming community in England perceive common rewilding scenarios (beaver release, farm‐level rewilding and landscape‐scale rewilding), and how these perceptions shape farmers' attitudinal support for rewilding practices. Using thematic analysis of semi‐structured interviews with 36 farmers and farming representatives, we show that the diversity of famers' attitudes can be understood through the prism of perceptions on five core issues: (a) the perceived need for restoration action, (b) the ecological effectiveness of rewilding, (c) rewilding's compatibility with ensuring food security, (d) rewilding's compatibility with rural lifestyles, livelihoods and economies and (e) multidimensional justice of rewilding initiatives. These issues are rooted in collective farming values, and farmers' perceptions of these issues are influenced by mental models, perceived social impacts and perceived ecological outcomes of rewilding initiatives. Diverse perceptions result in a range of attitudes, from enthusiastic support to strong opposition to different rewilding practices. We argue that the scope to increase support for rewilding varies depending on the type of underlying negative perceptions. Where the negative perceptions are based on objectively verifiable causal beliefs (mental models), opponents' minds may be changed through the provision of positive experiences, social learning, and adhering to good governance principles. However, where negative perceptions are based on values, for example, a preference for traditional rural landscapes, they are unlikely to change easily. Pursuing rewilding ambitions that clash with the values of local farmers may risk social conflicts, but accommodating these values too much may compromise rewilding's own goals. Rewilding initiatives will need dialogue and social engagement to navigate their path around this tension. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Research on Rural Landscape Preference Based on TikTok Short Video Content and User Comments.

Landscape is the visual embodiment of the human–environment relationship. It is an important field for understanding and shaping the relationship between human society and the environment, and it is also the focus of multidisciplinary attention. Rural landscape construction is of great significance to the development of rural tourism and rural revitalization. The results and preferences from landscape evaluation are an important basis for landscape construction. This paper selected 222 rural landscape short video works published on the TikTok short video platform; extracted the basic elements of rural landscapes using video content analysis and according to grounded theory; condensed 32 basic categories and 12 main categories; and formed a rural landscape system composed of three core categories: rural ecological, living, and productive landscapes. The short video user comment data were mined using ROST CM6 software, to analyze the rural landscape preferences of video viewers. The results showed that the short video users had a high overall evaluation of rural landscapes, but there were differences among the three core rural landscape preference categories. Users had a high preference for the architectural landscape and ecological landscape in the rural lifestyle landscape but raised concerns about the impact of disharmonious infrastructure and service facilities, existing security risks, and environmental health on the rural landscape. This paper suggests that we should pay attention to the construction of rural artistic conceptions and the expression of nostalgia, enhance experiences to enhance perception, and strengthen the protection of natural and cultural landscapes.

The Psychological Effects of Park Therapy Components on Campus Landscape Preferences

COVID-19 has doubled the prevalence of mental health problems among young adults. In Indonesia, it extends the vulnerability of families, increases economic uncertainty, interrupts food security, and affects psychological well-being. Accordingly, this research examined the correlation between psychological effects and preferred landscape elements. Experiments were conducted in a campus park, arboretum, and a road. Participants captured attractive views during the walk using the Visitor-Employed Photography method and evaluated psychological effects using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) pre-and post-walking. Google Cloud Vision API was used to get the image annotation keywords. The results indicated a correlation between psychological effects and preferred landscape elements. Park therapy components, including plant, flower, and sky, were negatively correlated with negative moods and anxiety levels. These findings presented scientific evidence for the psychological relaxation outcome of walking and prominent components of park therapy to support therapeutic campus greenspace planning.

Analysis of students' positive emotions around the green space in the university campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Green space around the university campus is of paramount importance for emotional and psychological restorations in students. Positive emotions in students can be aroused when immersed in green space and naturalness. However, to what extent can perceived naturalness influence students' positive emotion remains unclear, especially in the context of COVID-19 countermeasures. This study, therefore, attempts to investigate in-depth the nature and strength of the relationships between students' positive emotion and their perceived naturalness, place attachment, and landscape preference, which are potentially varying across universities in different social and environmental contexts and different restrictions policies regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. A course of questionnaire-based surveys was administered on two university campuses in Heilongjiang and Hunan Provinces, China, resulting in 474 effective samples. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the hypothetical conceptual framework of latent variables and the indicators. The findings indicate that the higher students' perceived naturalness results in greater positive emotion. Students' perceived naturalness in green spaces of campus has a positive effect on their place attachment and landscape preference. Moreover, the difference between mediate effects of place attachment and landscape preference were addressed, which verifies the contextual influences.

Exploring Symbolic Meaning in Landscaping Choices within a Desert City

Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert, provides an excellent opportunity to understand residents’ preferences for desert-adapted xeric landscaping. While much is known about the relationships between sociodemographics and broad environmental values on xeric landscaping choices, the influence of other variables remains unexplored, especially interactions with and attachments to the desert. We therefore examined the influences of recreational visits to local desert mountain parks and symbolic meanings associated with the native desert on household xeric landscaping preferences. Within a larger study, select questions captured socio-demographics, visitation to desert parks and open spaces, place identity, and xeric landscape preferences. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, we confirmed that homeownership and a shorter residency predicted preference for xeric landscapes. Hispanics were less likely to prefer xeric landscaping. Interestingly, the novel factor of identity with the desert significantly and positively predicted xeric landscaping preference while visitation to desert parks and open spaces did not. Findings provide several important management implications. First, Phoenix has an opportunity to foster connections with the surrounding environment through its extensive desert mountain parks. Increasing connections between residents and the parks may help shift personal preferences to xeric yard types. Park managers might also work to further stress how household decisions can affect the desert environment. Second, park visitation alone may not suffice to create connections with the desert environment. Instead, park managers should focus on creating opportunities for visitors to recognize the unique, living aspects of the parks and build personal relationships with the ecosystem. Interpretation encouraging emotional connections to the desert environment may aid in fostering an identity with the desert. In addition, messaging and signage campaigns that link people to the parks may prove a novel way of combatting lawn water usage within desert cities. Given their opportunities to foster place identity, urban parks may be important influencers in promoting native plant landscaping. In conclusion, connecting people to their surrounding environments can influence preferences for similar landscape types at the household level.

Defining fine‐scaled population structure among continuously distributed populations

Abstract Understanding wildlife population structure and connectivity can help managers identify conservation strategies, as structure can facilitate the study of population changes and habitat connectivity can provide information on dispersal and biodiversity. To facilitate the use of wildlife monitoring data for improved adaptive management, we developed a novel approach to define hierarchical tiers (multiple scales) of population structure. We defined population structure by combining graph theory with biological inference about dispersal capability (based on movement, gene flow, and habitat condition) and functional processes affecting movement (e.g. habitat selection across scales of landscape preferences). First, we developed least‐cost paths between high fidelity sites (habitat patches) using a cost surface, informed from functional processes of habitat characteristics to account for resistance of inter‐patch movements. Second, we combined the paths into a multi‐path graph construct. Third, we used information on potential connectivity (dispersal distances) and functional connectivity (permeability of fragmented landscapes based on selection preferences) to decompose the graph into hierarchical tiers of connected subpopulations, denoting the degree that dispersal affected population structure. As a case study, we applied our approach across the greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) range, a species of conservation concern in western United States. We described the relative importance of local populations and where to potentially avoid landscape disturbances that may negatively affect population connectivity using centrality measures supported by graph theory, and we demonstrated close alignment of the resulting population structure with population densities. This method can be adapted for other species with site fidelity and used as a management tool to evaluate population trends and responses to landscape changes across different temporal and spatial scales.

Residents’ urbanized landscape preferences in rural areas reveal the importance of naturalness-livability contrast

Residents’ urbanized landscape preferences in rural areas reveal the importance of naturalness-livability contrast

Analysis Model of the Relationship between Public Spatial Forms in Traditional Villages and Scenic Beauty Preference Based on LiDAR Point Cloud Data

Traditional villages are historically, culturally, scientifically and aesthetically valuable, and a beautiful landscape is the primary embodiment of a traditional village environment. Urbanization and modernization have had a great impact on village landscapes. As an important aspect of traditional village landscapes, creating beautiful public spaces is an effective way to attract tourists and improve the well-being of residents. Landscape aesthetic activities are the result of the interaction between landscape objects and aesthetic subjects. Research on the relationship between the form of traditional village public spaces and subjective aesthetic preferences has long been neglected. This research examined 31 public spaces in traditional villages in the Dongshan and Xishan areas in Lake Taihu, Suzhou. An index system of public spatial forms in traditional villages was created, basic data of spatial forms were collected using a hand-held 3D laser scanner, and the value of the spatial forms index was calculated using R language. The scenic beauty estimation (SBE) method was improved, with the estimation of the beauty of the scenic environment based on VR panorama rather than traditional photo media. Parameter screening was performed using correlation analysis and full subset regression analysis, and four models were used to fit the SBE scores and grades. The results show that the majority of public spaces had lower than average SBE scores, and the four key indicators of average contour upper height, solid-space ratio, vegetation cover, and comprehensive closure predicted SBE. In addition, the linear model (R2 = 0.332, RMSE = 64.774) had the most accurate SBE level prediction and the stochastic forest model (R2 = 0.405, RMSE = 63.311) was better at predicting specific SBE scores. The model provides managers, designers, and researchers with a method for the quantitative evaluation of visual landscape preferences and quantitative landscape spatial forms and provides a reference for the protection and renewal of traditional village landscapes.