Effects of Viewing Forms of Plant Community Landscapes on Human Physiological Responses

Urban green space is beneficial to the physical and mental health of residents. To determine the effects and differences of various viewing forms of plant community landscapes on human physiological responses, this research measures the skin conductance levels (SCL) and electrocardiograms (pNN50, LF/HF) after the subjects are exposed to videos and photo of typical plant community landscape (arbor, arbor-shrub-grass, arbor-grass, and grass). The results show that: 1) There are certain differences between the two viewing forms for different plant community; 2) Among the four plant community landscapes, viewing videos and photographs of grass communities has the best stress relief effect on people, followed by the arbor-shrub-grass community, and the arbor and arbor-grass community landscapes have the least effect of relieving stress; 3) Whatever the form of viewing, there are significant differences in the physiological indicators of the participants by gender and professional. Based on the above results, the two viewing forms can be used in an alternate or superimposed way, and the layout of the four types of plant communities can provide people with open space for leisure activities and communications to ensure privacy and safety, thus creating a rehabilitation landscape suitable for the living environment. And the collocation and selection of the four types of plant community landscapes can provide scientific basis for the evaluation of future landscape perception and preference.