Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban Park
As urbanization accelerates, parks, as vital urban public open spaces, and their acoustic and thermal ambience directly impact visitors’ comfort and the sustainability of parks. Selecting Xihu Park in Fuzhou, China located in the subtropical region as a typical example, this study utilizes covert ob...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Forests |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/9/1758 |
| _version_ | 1797580030082023424 |
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| author | Ye Chen Ziyi Chen Shumeng Lin Xiaoqian Lin Shuting Li Taoyu Li Jianwen Dong |
| author_facet | Ye Chen Ziyi Chen Shumeng Lin Xiaoqian Lin Shuting Li Taoyu Li Jianwen Dong |
| author_sort | Ye Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As urbanization accelerates, parks, as vital urban public open spaces, and their acoustic and thermal ambience directly impact visitors’ comfort and the sustainability of parks. Selecting Xihu Park in Fuzhou, China located in the subtropical region as a typical example, this study utilizes covert observational experiments with different typical sounds (grass cutting, music, and no sound source) across temperature levels to examine the influence of thermal–acoustic interactions on crowd behaviors in the park. The findings are as follows: (1) melodious music can attract more tourists, while strong stimulating grass cutting noises under high temperatures reduce crowd flow. Excluding unpleasant audio sources, park soundscapes across temperatures have a relatively limited influence on attractiveness to people flow. (2) High temperatures diminish tourists’ interest in landscape experiences and persons staying, especially when the soundscape quality is poorer. Under non-high temperatures, audio environments have a minor impact on the staying time. (3) The soundscape quality plays a role by affecting people’s path choices of approaching or avoiding sound sources, where grass cutting noise has the most negative influence. Music, grass cutting sounds, and natural sounds demonstrate conspicuous differences in their effects under varied temperatures. (4) Comfortable acoustic environments can draw larger crowds and decrease the walking pace. High temperatures make crowds take slower steps. Different sound types have significant influences on crowd movement velocity under three typical temperature levels. This study comprehensively investigates the mechanisms of typical thermal–acoustic environments’ impacts on park crowd behaviors, providing important references for optimizing the acoustic and thermal environments of urban parks, while also enriching related research on landscape design and environmental psychology. Future studies can conduct in-depth explorations by creating more abundant thermal–acoustic combinations and probe differences across diverse populations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:45:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9083a65520d54708a33048e875dd2915 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:45:30Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forests |
| spelling | doaj.art-9083a65520d54708a33048e875dd29152023-11-19T10:45:33ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072023-08-01149175810.3390/f14091758Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban ParkYe Chen0Ziyi Chen1Shumeng Lin2Xiaoqian Lin3Shuting Li4Taoyu Li5Jianwen Dong6College of Landscape Architecture and Art, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 15 Shangxiadian Rd., Fuzhou 350000, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture and Art, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 15 Shangxiadian Rd., Fuzhou 350000, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture and Art, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 15 Shangxiadian Rd., Fuzhou 350000, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture and Art, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 15 Shangxiadian Rd., Fuzhou 350000, ChinaCollege of Economics and Management, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 15 Shangxiadian Rd., Fuzhou 350000, ChinaXiamen Tobacco Industry Co., Ltd., 1 Xinyang Rd., Xiamen 361000, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture and Art, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 15 Shangxiadian Rd., Fuzhou 350000, ChinaAs urbanization accelerates, parks, as vital urban public open spaces, and their acoustic and thermal ambience directly impact visitors’ comfort and the sustainability of parks. Selecting Xihu Park in Fuzhou, China located in the subtropical region as a typical example, this study utilizes covert observational experiments with different typical sounds (grass cutting, music, and no sound source) across temperature levels to examine the influence of thermal–acoustic interactions on crowd behaviors in the park. The findings are as follows: (1) melodious music can attract more tourists, while strong stimulating grass cutting noises under high temperatures reduce crowd flow. Excluding unpleasant audio sources, park soundscapes across temperatures have a relatively limited influence on attractiveness to people flow. (2) High temperatures diminish tourists’ interest in landscape experiences and persons staying, especially when the soundscape quality is poorer. Under non-high temperatures, audio environments have a minor impact on the staying time. (3) The soundscape quality plays a role by affecting people’s path choices of approaching or avoiding sound sources, where grass cutting noise has the most negative influence. Music, grass cutting sounds, and natural sounds demonstrate conspicuous differences in their effects under varied temperatures. (4) Comfortable acoustic environments can draw larger crowds and decrease the walking pace. High temperatures make crowds take slower steps. Different sound types have significant influences on crowd movement velocity under three typical temperature levels. This study comprehensively investigates the mechanisms of typical thermal–acoustic environments’ impacts on park crowd behaviors, providing important references for optimizing the acoustic and thermal environments of urban parks, while also enriching related research on landscape design and environmental psychology. Future studies can conduct in-depth explorations by creating more abundant thermal–acoustic combinations and probe differences across diverse populations.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/9/1758urban parkcrowd behaviortemperatureacousticFuzhou citysoundscape |
| spellingShingle | Ye Chen Ziyi Chen Shumeng Lin Xiaoqian Lin Shuting Li Taoyu Li Jianwen Dong Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban Park Forests urban park crowd behavior temperature acoustic Fuzhou city soundscape |
| title | Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban Park |
| title_full | Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban Park |
| title_fullStr | Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban Park |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban Park |
| title_short | Thermal–Acoustic Interaction Impacts on Crowd Behaviors in an Urban Park |
| title_sort | thermal acoustic interaction impacts on crowd behaviors in an urban park |
| topic | urban park crowd behavior temperature acoustic Fuzhou city soundscape |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/9/1758 |
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