ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1617294
From emotional map to design criteria: verification of the correlation between community green space form and emotional health of high-density urban residents
Provisionally accepted
- Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
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Driven by economic growth, public health awareness has increased, with emotional health emerging as a critical predictor of overall well-being. This study addresses Hong Kong's Central and Western District, where high-density urban development limits green spaces. By employing isovist analysis and Grasshopper simulation, an emotional map reflecting residents' sentiments in this area is generated. Building on this foundation, the study further investigates how tailored community green space design can mitigate urban stress and enhance mental well-being by influencing individual emotions. This study investigates Based on 455 questionnaires, we analyzed users' preferences for green space characteristics (richness, flower-to-grass ratio, connectivity, and shape) and their emotional impacts. The results indicate the following: (1) In terms of landscape preference, the public prefers medium-density landscapes and regularly shaped green spaces. (2) With respect to emotion regulation, increasing the proportion of flowers enhances exhilaration, whereas greater green space promotes relaxation. Curved spaces stimulate exhilaration, whereas rectangular shapes and moderate connectivity facilitate relaxation. (3) Different age groups exhibit distinct preferences for different types of green spaces. Young people tend to prefer exploration spaces characterized by high connectivity, whereas the elderly generally favor environments that feature a higher proportion of flowers to grass, as well as low-density, tranquil spaces. In terms of gender differences, women tend to express more positive emotions in green spaces, whereas men usually show neither strongly positive nor strongly negative emotional responses. This study aims to improve community health and well-being through therapeutic green space design, providing valuable insights for sustainable urban development.
Keywords: Community-healing landscape, Emotional health, Green landscape design, population preference, Uplifted emotions, Relaxed emotions
Received: 25 Apr 2025; Accepted: 01 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Wang and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Tianyi Zhang, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
Junping He, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.