How landscape element characterization affects aesthetic preferences and visual attention in urban wetland park recreation spaces

The landscape quality of recreation space in urban wetland parks directly affects the public's recreational experience and well-being. Given that the public's landscape experience and visual evaluation of recreation spaces are closely related, it is important to understand the public's visual evaluation of the landscape and the factors affecting it for the optimization and enhancement of recreation spaces. The present study focuses on Wulong River Wetland Park in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China. The study integrates eye-tracking, scenic beauty estimation and landscape element characterization, and systematically explores the influence mechanism of landscape features on visual evaluation through correlation analysis and multiple linear stepwise regression analysis. The results demonstrated that: (1) Eye-tracking and landscape element characteristics were significantly correlated, in which eight elements such as deciduous plants, colored-leaf plants, and greening rate influenced the visual attractiveness; (2) The scenic beauty estimation was mainly affected by greening rate, openness of view, and plant growth status. In future research, a combination of landscape element characteristics and landscape visual evaluation is recommended as a means of improving the landscape quality of urban wetland park recreation space.