Architectural Components of the Park Environment as Indicators of the Socio-Cultural Factors’ Impact on Aesthetic Preferences

Abstract

The article presents outlines the importance of architectural components of the park environment as indicators of the influence of socio-cultural factors on aesthetic preferences.
 The study involved 60 people, ranging in age from 22 to 74 years, which were divided into two age groups of 30 people: young people - 22-34 years (mean age 23.9 years); Mature people are 46-74 years old (average age 58.9 years). The study used a free associative experiment in which respondents distributed 45 photos of park landscapes from 18 world parks into three, equal in number, groups according to their own preferences and independently determined the factors that influenced the decision to refer them to the group of attractive, neutral or unattractive landscapes.
 Positive influence on aesthetic preferences was found on the part of historical buildings and structures on mature respondents, together with its neutral effect on young ones. At the same time, there was a neutral attitude of a group of mature respondents to the monuments of the Soviet era and a negative one on the part of the youth. Similar is the influence of abstract sculptures on the aesthetic perception of both young and mature respondents, which is negative. However, the negative impact of these elements on the aesthetic preferences of mature respondents is more significant.
 Summarizing the results of studies of aesthetic preferences and factors that influence their formation, it is advisable to note the importance of architectural components, as well as the importance of their ideological context. Along with the similarity of influence on aesthetic preferences of features of park environment, differences related to sociocultural influence on the formation of aesthetic experience were revealed due to the results of the analysis of the perception of architectural components.