Influence of green spaces on environmental satisfaction and physiological status of urban residents

Influence of urban green spaces on human was evaluated with subjective questionnaires as well as physiological measurements. Five sample plots vary in color, size and scent of major plants and one no-vegetation area located in Shanghai Botanical Garden, China were chosen. 249 questionnaires on subjective satisfaction evaluation were collected; in addition to 64 visitors took the measurement of physiological parameters like Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Electrocardiogram (ECG). Questionnaire results show that color is one of the most important factors which affect the overall satisfaction of people with their vegetation environment. The way how people perceive vegetation environment was probed by PCA analysis. Age difference analysis show children and elder people presented higher satisfaction with vegetation environment than adults. Significant negative correlation between the ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency (LF/HF) values in heart rate variability (HRV) analysis and satisfaction values indicated HRV may be an effective parameter for green spaces influence evaluation.