An Analysis of Visual Preference and Characteristics through a Woodland Garden Perception Survey

Abstract

Background and objective: Woodland gardens, or gardens designed to emulate the aesthetic and environmental characteristics of forest vegetation, can assist in resolving various environmental and societal problems. However, research regarding woodland gardens in a Korean context has been insufficient, as the concept has only recently been introduced to Korea. This study was conducted to investigate the Korean public's perceptions of two types of woodland gardens and to suggest future directions for the popularization of woodland gardens in Korea.Methods: This study was carried out based on a survey. The respondents were provided with a questionnaire on three sets of images representing two types of woodland garden (naturalistic and urban) and a typical formal garden. The questionnaire was designed based on the semantic differential method to gather information on the general public's recognition of the concept of woodland gardens, and their preference and perception of each type of garden. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 29.Results: The results suggest that the majority of the respondents were familiar with the term "woodland garden." Of the types of gardens, preference for naturalistic woodland gardens (NWGs) was the highest. Landscape adjectives associated with each type of garden were natural, harmonious, comfortable and simple for NWGs, and organized, artificial, simple, poor, and comfortable for urban woodland gardens (UWGs). A factor analysis on the adjectives identified four factors for each type. Of the identified factors, comfort and stability were found to have particularly greater effects on preference.Conclusion: Preference for NWGs was greater than UWGs, due to the perception that they provided greater comfort and stability. It is expected that designing woodland gardens based on the finding of this study would aid in the popularization of woodland gardens, and the advancement of garden culture in Korea.