Evaluation of Visual and Aesthetic Preferences of Landscape in Urban Parks Based on Public Preferences(A Case study of Sayad-e-Shirazi Park in Birjand)

Background and

Nowadays, the use of urban parks due to the increasing population, apartment lifestyle and the distance of the physical space of cities from natural environments, has received more attention than before. Urban parks, as part of the natural infrastructure and effective components in the appearance of the city, are the place of connection between urban man and nature, and without a doubt, the landscape can be considered as one of the influential components in their attractiveness, identity and sustainability. Studying the evaluation of popular preferences for the visual quality of the landscape can play a vital role in identifying the existing landscapes with different visual value in order to protect and organize the situation in urban parks. This study tries to visually evaluate the landscape of Sayad Shirazi Birjand city park based on the approach of popular preferences.

Therefore, based on the uses and similarity of the spaces and activities, the entire site was classified into two recreational and service-welfare zones. Then, 8 photos from each area (a total of 16 photos) are selected based on visual indicators such as complexity, continuity, imagery and chaos that describe the visual characteristics of landscape and theories of landscape preferences and experience. To determine the criteria that users consider in the assessment of beauty or ugliness of visual quality of the landscape, a questionnaire and interview (from 100 users as a sample calculated based on the Cochrane model) are used, the Q-Sort technique has been used.

The findings of the study show that the recreational zone with an average score of 0.601 is considered as the optimal area (with the most desirable scenery) and the service-welfare area with an average score of 2.248 as an undesirable area (with the least favorable scenery) in terms of visual quality users were selected. Discussion and

From the users point of view, the lack of green space and also the lack of coordination between the existing planting design patterns with the natural structure of the site in the service-welfare area, plays an important role in reducing the visual quality of the landscape of this area.