Integrating ergonomics data and emotional scale to analyze people’s emotional attachment to different landscape features in the Wudaokou Urban Park

Abstract

Against the background of urban renewal, the landscape transformation of urban public space into urban parks has become an effective way of improving environmental quality and creating an emotional attachment for people. Meanwhile, existing studies have seldom adopted experimental methods to scientifically reveal the effect of different landscape features on emotional experience. Using a portable eye movement tracker, wearable wireless physiological sensor, and emotional attachment scale, this study collects participants’ ergonomics data, and their degree and dimension of emotional attachment while experiencing different landscape features in Wudaokou Park in Beijing, China. The data were analyzed with the help of ErgoLab platform and IBM SPSS software. The results indicate that the artificial and natural landscape features and their specific characteristics have different effects on eye movement index, heart rate variability, skin conductance level, and attachment degree and dimension. The design of Wudaokou Park was proven to significantly promote emotional attachment. Natural features play an important role, among which the use of wild plants and gazebos—showing the texture and structural logic of bamboo materials—stand out. The research not only expands the practical scope of ergonomics instruments and improves the rationality of the emotional attachment scale, but also provides emotion-oriented design methods for urban researchers and designers to improve the emotional experience in urban parks in the future.

Key words： Emotional attachment; Ergonomics data; Emotional scale; Landscape features; Wudaokou urban park