Perceived Restorative Potential of Urban Parks by Citizens—A Case Study from Wrocław, Poland

Abstract

Providing restorative green areas is important, especially in the city, where the level of stress and noise is relatively high. Therefore, green areas, such as urban parks, should provide coherent audio–visual stimuli to achieve positive perception by the residents. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the potential for psychological regeneration in urban parks in terms of visual and soundscape assessment as well as to assess the role of the intensity of different types of sound contributing to the positive perception of the soundscape. In order to achieve this aim, we chose eight urban parks in the city of Wrocław to provide audio and visual stimuli and used a group of young adults as survey respondents. The results show that visual stimuli are perceived as undoubtedly more important than the soundscape, and that talking, footsteps, music, children (playing), birds, and vehicles are the most significant types of sound that contribute to the perception of soundscape depending on the level of intensity of the sound (with children and vehicles being beneficial if they are completely inaudible). We conclude that the quality of the soundscape is essential to improve the restorative potential of urban parks and, in consequence, to improve the well-being and health of the city dwellers, and there is a necessity for strategies and development plans including sensually coherent and inclusive public parks in the city of Wrocław.

Influence of Green Areas on the Urban Sound Environment

“…The sound environment, particularly when it features natural sounds like bird songs, wind rustling through trees, and water, can enhance the visual landscape's appreciation, whether composed of various types of vegetation or undulating terrain [96]. Some researchers suggest that visual stimuli are more important than auditory ones in environmental perception, though they acknowledge that soundscape quality is crucial for enhancing the restorative potential of urban green areas [122]. When analyzing visibility, it is common to focus solely on the visibility of greenery.…”

Impact of rural soundscape on environmental restoration: An empirical study based on the Taohuayuan Scenic Area in Changde, China

“…From the perspective of research area, most of the soundscape restorative research now is in public spaces such as urban parks, forest parks, college campuses, etc., and there are fewer researches involving rural tourist destinations. In addition, scholars have already confirmed that soundscape has restorative functions [72][73][74], but there is a lack of research on its influence mechanism with environmental restorative effects. Therefore, in this study, the Taohuayuan Scenic Area in Changde City, Hunan Province was selected as a case study for empirical analysis, with the main purpose of exploring the influence mechanism of Rural Soundscape Perception on Environmental Restoration Perception by constructing a structural equation model, and introducing the two affective variables of tourism nostalgia and place attachment, to provide new research perspectives for the theoretical study of Rural Soundscape Perception, and at the same time, to provide theoretical basis for the design and creation of soundscape in rural tourism destinations and decision-making support.…”

A Qualitative Study on Leisure Benefits, Constraints, and Negotiations in Urban Parks Based on Perception of Chinese Older Adults

“…Because most older adults prefer to stay at home [6], the role of urban parks near where older adults live is particularly important. Firstly, they provide older residents with access to the natural environment, which helps older adults gain positive physical and mental benefits [7][8][9][10][11]. Secondly, urban parks provide spatial places for doing physical activities.…”