How to Design Greenway on Urban Land Utilization: Linking Place Preference, Perceived Health Benefit, and Environmental Perception

The rapid urbanization and over-crowded urban environment have caused a serious public health crisis. Numerous studies have found that public green spaces can benefit human health and well-being. Therefore, a short supply or an inappropriate planning of public green spaces would exaggerate the health crisis. For all these reasons, how to create health-promoting greenways in urban areas becomes a critical and pressing challenge for urban sustainability. To address this challenge, we conducted a photograph-survey study of a greenway to examine the relationship between place preference, perceived health benefit, and environmental perception. Through a set of linear regression analysis, we found that: place preference is significantly and positively associated with six specific perceptions, including relaxation when walking alone, cheering of one’s mood, being away from daily life, traffic safety, recovery from stress, and mental fascination. Furthermore, we identified the important environmental perception elements that have significant positive or negative associations with each identified perception; these were carefully planned. This study is an initial effort to examine a critical urban land-use issue: appropriate planning of greenways in the city to promote public health and well-being. The research findings provide strong and clear guidance on planning strategies for urban greenways and shed light on future studies.