Scenic Beauty Assessment of Planting in Shenyang Urban Park

This study is based on the method of psychophysical paradigm for evaluating the visual qualities of selected vegetation groups in urban park in Shenyang,and for identifying the degree of visual preference of public.The study describes and employs three techniques for calculating visual preference or scenic beauty scales——Scenic Beauty Estimation,Average Visual Quality and Analysis Hierarchy Process.Fifteen colour photographs of vegetation groups were presented to individuals for formal interviews.Statistical analysis of the answers resulted in three main conclusions:(1) Scenic beauty of vegetation groups in urban park can be evaluated by psychophysical method using photographs as media.Levels of public preference vary and depend on the individual photo.(2) The scales represent scenic beauty or visual preference for vegetation groups calculated by three techniques and they have an acceptable level of coincidence.Scenic Beauty Estimation technique presents a practical character.(3) Some differences are found between two photos,B13 and B04,which have the highest and lowest scores.These differences might be derived from the individual plant physical properties,the shadings,space formed by the plants.The findings regarding public preference and techniques provide an empirically tested basis for future research.