Experiencing Urban Green and Blue Spaces in Urban Wetlands as a Nature-Based Solution to Promote Positive Emotions

Abstract

Green and blue spaces are nature-based solutions (NBSs) that evoke positive emotions of experiencers therein. There is an impetus to optimize wetland forest landscapes by planning the geographical arrangement of metrics that promote positive emotion. The facial expressions of nature experiencers in photos, downloaded from social media databases with landscape metrics, were evaluated for emotions and given scores. Happy and sad scores were rated by FireFACE v1.0 software and positive response index (PRI) was calculated as happy score minus sad score. Spatial areas and tree height were evaluated from Landsat 8 images and digital model maps, respectively. Visitors at middle and senior ages smiled more frequently in southern parts than in northern parts, and females had higher happy scores and PRI than males. Both green- and blue-space areas had positive relationships with PRI scores, while blue spaces and their area to park area ratios had positive contributions to happy scores and PRI scores in multivariate linear regression models. Elevation had a negative relationship with positive facial emotion. Overall, based on spatial distributions of blue-space area and elevation, regional landscape was optimized so people perceived more happiness in wetlands around Zhejiang and Shanghai, while people in wetlands of Jiangxi and Hubei showed more net emotional expressions.

Mapping seasonal sentiments of people visiting blue spaces in urban wetlands: A pilot study on inland cities of China

“…On the other hand, it has been reported that coming across blue spaces in a wetland located in an urban forest park in temperate cities evoked sad emotions (Zhang et al, 2021). Furthermore, blue spaces in elevated wetlands induced more sadness in people (Zhang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022a). However, these studies were undertaken in parks at the local level, and a study of perceived emotions in blue spaces among a larger regional distribution may be different from areas covered just by parks.…”

“…The WHO suggests that perceived mental states reported by participants (in questionnaires) are seldom reliable (WHO, 1994). Meanwhile, recent studies also suggest that psychological responses to experiences in wet landscapes can be assessed through big data of posted emotions on social media networks (Zhang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022a). The higher prevalence of blue spaces in urban wetland parks in coastal cities can be presumed to promote positive emotions in these places (Li et al, 2022a).…”

“…Meanwhile, recent studies also suggest that psychological responses to experiences in wet landscapes can be assessed through big data of posted emotions on social media networks (Zhang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022a). The higher prevalence of blue spaces in urban wetland parks in coastal cities can be presumed to promote positive emotions in these places (Li et al, 2022a). On the other hand, it has been reported that coming across blue spaces in a wetland located in an urban forest park in temperate cities evoked sad emotions (Zhang et al, 2021).…”

“…The microclimate within EIs plays a significant role. Wetlands comprise green and blue spaces in a synthesis of terrestrial and aquatic environments (Gascon et al, 2015;Childers et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022a) (Table 1). Transpiration in the vegetation can mitigate the heat-island effect and induce thermal comforts (Abd Latif et al, 2012;Klemm et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2021c;Priya and Senthil, 2021).…”

“…We aimed to map the spatiotemporal distributions of emotional perceptions of people experiencing wetlands and their associations with landscape metrics and microclimates. We hypothesized that: (i) at the regional scale, people will pose more positive emotions in wetland blue spaces with a large area and low elevation based on current findings in cities of East China (Zhang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022a), and (ii) a combination of high temperature and low RH microclimates evoke more smiles in online photos as surmised by the findings related to experiences in urban green spaces of North China (Zhang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022b;Mao et al, 2022) and blue spaces of coastal cities of East China (Li et al, 2022b). Our results will contribute to a significant and novel approach that predicts and maps visitors' perceptions of urban blue spaces at a regional scale utilizing the independent data of joint landscape metrics and microclimates.…”