Xiaohuan Xie

Environmental perception is a key indicator for evaluating green space preference and satisfaction. The shift in urban green space research towards emphasizing human benefits over functionality has caused a gradual increase in the number of articles on green space perception in recent years. Studying the relationship between the vegetation landscape (a fundamental aspect of urban green spaces) and subjective perceptual dimensions have become a pivotal research topic. This paper delves into the correlations and influencing relationships between these two dimensions with the main focus being on vegetation landscape indicators and subjective perception. The perceived green benefits were categorized into four main groups in the 80 articles reviewed: perceived safety, visual aesthetics, restoration benefits, and preferences. In this study, green indicators were also defined and categorized. The results indicated that the guiding indicators had a higher frequency and that species diversity improved the perceived benefits in all aspects. Among the control indicators, plant color, plant height, and the vegetation composition structure received the most attention. Plant color accounted for the largest proportion of studies on perceived visual aesthetics. Vegetation characteristics related to perceived safety had a shared trait, and there was a lack of correlation studies between safety and aesthetics in perceptual dimensions. In the common methods for assessing human perception, a shift from subjective measurements to mixed measurements using emerging technologies is underway. As a pioneering scope review of how vegetation landscapes influence subjective human perceptions, this study has not only provided evidence of the perceived benefits of urban green spaces but also offers valuable insights and tools for future research and policymaking.

This study aims to examine the impact of land use variations on carbon emissions by incorporating the development of photovoltaics as a scenario. To meet this end, we investigate the carbon emissions fluctuations resulting from different development scenarios: natural development, low-carbon strategies, and widespread adoption of photovoltaic technology. We identify important influencing factors related to these changes and utilize multi-objective optimization and the PLUS model to simulate land use patterns in Lingbao City projected for 2035, with a focus on achieving carbon neutrality. Through multiple scenarios, we analyze differences in carbon emissions, economic benefits, ecological impacts, and land use allocations. Our findings demonstrate that the photovoltaic scenario leads to a substantial 3500-ton reduction in carbon emissions and boosts overall benefits by RMB 85 million compared to the low-carbon scenario. This highlights the significant role of photovoltaic systems inefficient land utilization, meeting carbon emission targets, and generating economic gains. This research explores the relationship between land use alterations and carbon emissions, aiming to achieve ambitious carbon reduction objectives by integrating photovoltaic applications across diverse land types. It provides fresh perspectives for examining urban land utilization and strategies to reduce carbon emissions.

The negative effects of long working hours and shift work on the physical and mental health of blue-collar groups should not be underestimated. Under intense stress, they have limited time to access recreational green space, and their own health is thus affected. In this study, a conceptual model of recreational satisfaction among blue-collar workers was established based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The model explores the factors affecting their level of satisfaction when using recreational spaces. Anning Industrial Park in Yunnan Province was used as an example. User data were collected and analyzed using a questionnaire survey and structural equation methods. The results indicate that recreation intention, perceived park quality characteristics, and perceived value all had significant and positive effects on the park recreation satisfaction of blue-collar workers. This study applied social economics theory to the field of landscape planning, identified the typical characteristics of blue-collar workers and their green space use, and strived to optimize the UGS configuration and functional facilities through the evaluation of recreation satisfaction indexes, which provided guidance and reference for improving the service quality of green spaces.

In recent years, semi-outdoor space has become an important research subject in the field of thermal comfort. Overhead space located on the ground floor is a common type of semi-outdoor space in China’s Lingnan region with a hot and humid climate. Its thermal comfort has been scarcely studied. This study aims to reveal the importance and influencing factors of overhead public spaces in hot and humid areas, and to explore the corresponding adaptive behaviors of people. In this research, several overhead public spaces in Shenzhen University were selected to conduct field measurements and questionnaire surveys (n = 509) in hot and cold seasons. The results indicated that the acceptable physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) range for 90% of the population was 26.2–30.4 °C in hot season, 9.9–19.2 °C in cold season, and 17.6–25.3 °C for the whole year. The respondents preferred “neutral” in cold season and “slightly cool” in hot season. Respondents in hot season were more eager to adjust their thermal comfort, while those in cold season were more comfortable exposing themselves to the sun. Concurrently, the neutral temperature and neutral temperature range for different seasons was obtained and compared with the results of other studies. The results provide references for thermal comfort adjustment in hot and humid areas as well as optimization suggestions for the planning and design of overhead spaces.

White-collar workers, with tremendous work pressure, excessive working hours, and poor physical condition, need green spaces not only to have physical exercise and social gatherings, but also to become closer to nature and to relieve stress for their mental health. In China, the 996 office schedule, working from 09:00 to 17:00 six days a week, has become popular in the workplace; under such high-intensity work and pressure, white-collar workers have limited time to access green space for leisure, and their use of green space for health benefits is compromised. This study selected Shenzhen Futian Central Business District to find out the green space use patterns and preferences of white-collar workers based on GPS data and questionnaire surveys. In addition, the value of green exposure in the time dimension was calculated according to individuals’ actual behaviors. Based on cluster analysis, this study summarized the typical green space use patterns of three groups of white-collar workers, which reflects the hidden inequity of white-collar groups who are subjected to varying degrees of spatiotemporal constraints in using green space. This paper puts forward three directions for the optimization of green space allocation, functional facilities, and improved walkability in employment-intensive urban areas. The results provide certain guiding significance for alleviating the mismatch of time and space in green space enjoyment and for improving the spatiotemporal inclusiveness of green spaces in urban central business districts.

A green building has a long lasting benefit through cultivating the occupants’ energy and resource-saving behaviours. To understand how green buildings can cultivate occupants’ pro-environment behaviours, the research applied the value–belief–norm model to investigate 17 pro-environmental behaviours which are related to a variety of green building design strategies. Two green and two non-green certified office buildings in the city of Shenzhen in China were surveyed, based on which structural equation modelling was established to confirm the relationship between personal values, environmental beliefs and norms that lead to pro-environment behaviours. Green and non-green building occupants showed significant differences in altruistic values, environmental awareness, personal norms, and pro-environmental behaviours. Green building users had more frequent pro-environmental behaviours than those in non-green buildings. The strategies that require fewer additional efforts were more likely to be adopted as pro-environmental behaviours, such as meeting daily needs within walking distance and adjusting sunshades, while the strategies that need extra physical efforts (taking stairs) or knowledge (garbage sorting) were less likely to be adopted as pro-environmental behaviours. This study pointed out important intervention opportunities and discussed the possible design implications for green building guidelines and programmes to cultivate green occupants and their corresponding pro-environmental behaviours.

Universities spend billions of dollars on green buildings as a sustainability commitment. This research investigates occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ), building design (BD), and facilities management (FM) in five highly ranked green higher educational buildings in the subtropical climate of Australia, in comparison to nine non-green counterparts. The results disclose that the green building users were more consistently satisfied than the non-green building users with BD&FM elements, such as design, needs from facilities, building image, cleaning, the availability of meeting rooms, and storage. On the other hand, the study revealed weaknesses of green buildings in IEQ, such as noise, ventilation, and artificial lighting. The individual environmental control positively correlated with satisfaction in non-green buildings, but did not significantly affect satisfaction in green buildings. This study also identified the influences of non-environmental factors on occupant satisfaction, such as gender, age, sitting close to a window, hours spent in the building and in the workstation, and the number of people sharing office space. The research provides evidence and guidance for investing in, designing, and managing green educational facilities.

This study presents a Quality of Life (QoL) survey to understand the influence of the housing environment and needs of residents from different housing sectors. The research focuses on Hong Kong where living conditions have become the main affect for people’s QoL. Through a household survey using a standard instrument “Word Health Organisation (WHO) Quality of Life-BREF”, the article found that among the four WHO QoL domains (Physical Health, Psychological Health, Social Relations And Environment), Environment, particularly its constitute aspect housing environment was the most influential factor for overall quality of life for the public rental housing sector where low-income people live. This research also found that different groups of people have differing needs of their housing environments: the low-income group needs better location and privacy while the medium and high-income groups need better architectural quality. Based on differentiating their needs and wants, this research argues for prioritizing the low-income group’s needs for effectively improving their QoL.

Pro-environment behaviors play a key role in advancing the development of green buildings. This study investigated the link between two green building pro-environment behaviors that require dissimilar resources: energy savings that do not require money in order to be more environmentally friendly and willingness to pay that involves economic resources including spending money in order to be more environmentally friendly. This study points out that the two pro-environment behaviors can be positively linked to each other. People who behave in an environmentally friendly manner at work would also be likely to pay an extra cost for a green building when buying a new home. The consistency of the two pro-environment behaviors can be explained by their common environmental beliefs: limits to growth and eco-crisis. The green building movement should prioritize pro-environmental behaviors and associated environmental beliefs to support green building policies, guidelines, and tools.

INTRODUCTION: Current green building practice has been largely advanced by an integrated design process. This integrated design process involves multiple disciplines, such as architecture, civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. The design method heavily relies on utilizing building performance simulation to illustrate how design parameters affect the energy consumption and quality of the indoor environment before actual design decisions are made (Anderson, 2014). The architectural design tools in the integrated design process supersede traditional geometrical exploration instruments, such as Sketchup, Revit, ArchiCad, and Rhino (Negendahl, 2015). More building performance simulating tools, such as Ecotect, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Radiance, and EnergyPlus, have been developed to help architects measure building performance (e.g., natural ventilation, daylighting, solar radiation, and energy uses) in the design process and attain green building standards such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The information presented by these tools guide architects at a certain level in achieving green building goals. However, building simulation is generally beyond the architect's knowledge domain. Many architects have difficulty in understanding these technical terms and models, as well as their design implications. Therefore, specific consultants have emerged to help architects grasp the meanings of these numbers and models, which require architects to implement a high level of design collaboration and coordination (Aksamija, 2015; Gou & Lau, 2014). Simulation consultants can work in parallel with architects at the early design stage to intervene in the conceptual and schematic design; they may also work behind architects to verify the building performance after the design is finished and make their design green through technical alterations. Most existing literature argues for an early intervention of building performance simulation in the architectural design process and explores different algorithms or models for optimal intervention (Degens, Scholzen, & Odenbreit, 2015; Sick, Schade, Mourtada, Uh, & Grausam, 2014; Svetlana Olbina & Yvan Beliveau, 2007). However, the difference between early intervention and late verification is often not investigated. Few qualitative studies can help understand how the building performance simulation is actually implemented, and how it influences the quality of design solutions in addition to the quantity of performance outcomes. The current research presents two case studies that compare building performance simulation as an early intervention and a late verification tool in the architectural design process, which contextualizes the building simulation research in real building practices.