Objective Urban waterfront green spaces, as a typical representative of urban blue-green spaces, can serve as an important venue for the public to engage in various outdoor health-related activities. Although previous research has confirmed the close relationship between the diverse and complex landscape elements of waterfront green spaces and health behaviors, which mainly focuses on comparisons between overall waterfront green spaces, while seldom considering how landscape elements within these green spaces affect health behaviors. Meanwhile, restorative perception has been identified as a key factor influencing individual behavioral decisions in natural environments, which can provide a new perspective for exploring the relationship between the aforesaid landscape elements and health behaviors. Therefore, this research aims to delve into how landscape elements in urban waterfront green spaces influence public health behaviors from an internal spatial perspective, with restorative perception as a mediator.

Methods This research takes Wuhan Shahu Park as an example and selects 93 landscape nodes within the park as the research objects. Initially, a DeepLabv3+ semantic segmentation model tailored for landscapes in waterfront green spaces is developed through manual training. This is coupled with MATLAB-based color quantification and assignment statistical techniques to comprehensively and meticulously quantify landscape elements across six dimensions: Space, nature, artificiality, waterfront characteristic, color and entity. Subsequently, field surveys are conducted to gather public assessments of restorative perceptions (being away, fascination, extent and compatibility) at landscape nodes. Behavioral observations are also employed to document specific instances of public engagement in restorative, physical, and social activities within these sites. Ultimately, data analysis methods, including multiple regression analysis and mediation effect analysis, are applied to explore the interrelationships among landscape elements, restorative perceptions, and health behaviors.

Results Research findings are summarized as follows. 1) Natural landscapes significantly enhance the public’s restorative perception, while a high proportion of artificial elements has the opposite effect. Specifically, flower landscapes, open and clear water bodies, and scenes with rich and bright colors or predominantly green hues can enhance positive perceptions. In contrast, bare soil, high proportions of paving/urban backgrounds, and scenes dominated by red/yellow hues have negative impacts. Especially when the proportion of pavement in the view exceeds 10%, that of the urban background exceeds 6%, and the total proportion of artificial elements exceeds 30%, the negative impacts are particularly evident. 2) Different types of health behaviors vary in spatial distribution and are significantly influenced by distinct elements. Restorative activities tend to occur in open waterfront spaces, and colorful and flower-filled landscapes; physical activities prefer linear waterfront spaces and rubberized surfaces; and social activities favor small landscape spaces with simple vegetation layers, rich colors, and harmonious building proportions. 3) Restorative perception plays a crucial role in promoting restorative and social activities, serving as a complete mediator in the relationships between “blue visibility and restorative activities”, and between “flower landscapes and social activities”, and as a partial mediator in the relationship between “flower landscapes and restorative activities”. However, for physical activities, the direct influence of restorative perception is relatively weak, possibly due to the greater dependence of physical activities on the specific functional attributes of activity sites.

Conclusion This research clarifies the preference differences among three types of health behaviors toward nodal landscape elements and confirms the promotive effect of restorative perceptions on health behaviors, providing a scientific basis for the design and optimization of landscape nodes in waterfront green spaces. To further augment the health benefits of waterfront green spaces, the following initiatives may be taken in the future. Firstly, prioritize the development of natural landscapes while minimizing artificial elements, and leverage natural features to create inviting environments while ensuring their regular maintenance; secondly, strategically plan spatial colors to foster vibrant and diverse landscapes, with a focus on color harmony; and thirdly, implement tailored designs for landscape nodes to cater to diverse needs and establish functional spaces based on health behavior types, for which specific measures include promoting restorative activities through the integration of vibrant floral displays in open waterfront areas, providing physical activity infrastructure along watersides and on rubberized surfaces to satisfy public exercise requirements, and augmenting architectural spaces in aesthetically pleasing colorful venues to facilitate social interactions. Future research is recommended to introduce the time dimension, explore the influence mechanism among environment, perception, and behavior, and attempt to investigate the differences among different population groups.