Page 52 - JCAU-6-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Utilization of rural heritage

confirming the potential impact of sound on the emotional uncontrollable variables such as moving cars or
experience of the environment (Chan et al., 2023; Kang sudden noises might inevitably exist. The subsequent
et al., 2020; Li et al., 2020). If a historic town experiences an step involves using immersive virtual environments
economic downturn, prioritizing the creation of a pleasant to regulate and analyze with greater precision the
acoustic landscape can lead to more effective spatial relationship between the elements of experiments
optimization and enhancement effects (Fu et al., 2022), and their impacts on the accurate analysis of spatial
particularly when facing financial constraints. perception and relationships between these elements.
(iii) This study aims to objectively analyze subjective tourist
Based on the analysis results discussed above, the
following design strategies are proposed for optimizing perceptions through the calculation and modeling of
physiological signals. In future endeavors, traditional
public spaces in Jinggang: research methods, such as questionnaires and in-depth
(i) Considering the spatial distribution characteristics interviews (Yoon, 1997), should be combined with
of LS, it is essential to ensure rational zoning of the these approaches to obtain a more comprehensive
historic town and develop a coherent theme during model depicting detailed aspects of spatial perception.
street planning and design. This approach entails
establishing reasonable zoning and a clear theme while 5. Conclusion
also taking into account tourists’ visual and auditory
senses to ensure a comfortable physical environment. This study selected 26 public space nodes in the Jinggang
For example, the northern bank of the Lujiang River historic town as research SPs. Elements from two spatial
should focus on depicting its cultural landscape levels, namely, the physical and visual environments,
and narrating its historical story. In addition, efforts were chosen for data measurement. Physiological signal
should be made to reduce the volume of hawkers’ data were collected by subjecting six randomly selected
voices and minimize noise from shop renovations tourists from each SP to a stress test. The collected data,
using soundproofing materials. including measurements and imagery, were analyzed to
(ii) To optimize the public space of the historic street, scientifically examine the elements of the physical and
authorities should prohibit businesses from visual environments across different SPs. Various tools,
encroaching onto the road and reduce the coverage such as panoramic camera, AutoCAD, ArcGIS Pro, and
area of sunshade sheds. This action will reduce the SPSS, were employed to reveal the spatial distribution
CVI and increase the R&PVI, thereby improving the characteristics of the data and examine the relationships
street’s aspect ratio and ultimately alleviating tourists’ between the elements. In addition, this study explored
stress in the public space. the influence of the relationship between the physical and
(iii) In space optimization, particular attention should visual environment elements of the region on stress levels
be given to SP1, SP3, SP5, SP6, SP7, SP8, SP9, SP15, within the context of a rural heritage tourism site. The
and SP16, as they exhibit higher LS for tourists. In specific conclusions drawn are as follows:
addition, priority should be placed on optimizing the (i) During tourists’ exploration of the historic town,
the LS values varied in response to environmental
soundscape in the environment to foster a relaxed and
comfortable atmosphere for tourists. Artificial control changes. Higher LS was observed within the cultural
and strategic planting of community-type plants can landscape area dominated by architectural structures
effectively reduce the ESPL of the artificial soundscape. compared to those within the natural landscape area.
(ii) The spatial perception of rural tourism heritage sites
Nonetheless, we acknowledge several limitations in this demonstrated no significant correlation between LS
study: and T , RH, WS, GVI, and SVI. However, a positive
a
(i) Regarding the research samples, only one historic correlation was observed between ESPL and R&PVI,
town, Jinggang, has been measured. It is necessary while a negative correlation was found with CVI.
to conduct more perception experiments to further (iii) In rural tourism heritage sites, such as historic towns,
investigate the spatial optimization of historic towns tourists’ stress levels are more prominently influenced
on a human scale. In addition, the spatial users of by visual environment elements than by physical
historic towns include tourists, residents, authorities, environment elements. However, the decibel level
and other stakeholders. Therefore, future studies of ESPL in the physical environment significantly
will emphasize enhancing research on the spatial influences tourists’ stress levels. The higher the
perception of towns among different groups of people. decibel level of ambient ESPL, the higher the stress
(ii) Concerning the research design, in this quasi- level experienced by tourists. The spatial perception
experimental study conducted in real space, of the historic town differs from that of the city

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 13 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.2481