Spatial Analysis for the Landscape Visual Aesthetic Quality of Urban Residential Districts Based on 3D City Modeling

Abstract

The landscape visual aesthetic quality (LVAQ) of urban residential districts is an important index for measuring urban livability and is a tripartite concern among urban managers, real estate developers and residents. The LVAQ of residential districts is determined by their visual openness and the aesthetic degree of the surrounding landscape, a value combining subjective evaluation and objective analysis. Although existing studies have carried out empirical analyses on the LVAQ of residential districts and have summarized some influencing factors, they have largely overlooked the specific impact and interactions of various factors, failing to establish 3D city models meeting LVAQ analysis requirements and falling short in developing appropriate evaluation approaches suitable for whole city scale. In this study, we propose a spatial simulation analysis for the LVAQ of residential districts based on 3D city modeling, aesthetic evaluation and viewshed analysis. In order to improve the accuracy of the study, we collected massive RS data and established a 3D city model covering a large amount of architecture and landscape information. We analyzed three representative cases and calculated the LVAQ of 1258 residential districts in Changsha City, Hunan, China, evaluating the results with various construction and planning indicators. Our results show that the LVAQ of residential districts is affected by their own construction conditions and the surrounding districts and landscape areas. Various architectural and planning indicators have restrictive and direct effects on LVAQ. Optimizing the layout of landscape areas and the construction mode of residential districts through urban planning and urban renewal may help improve their LVAQ. This study helps better understand the general principles that affect the LVAQ of residential districts and supports the development of urban scale LVAQ analysis methods for residential districts. The findings are expected to provide methodological support for the landscape analysis and evaluation of urban residential districts in China and other developing countries and provide optimization ideas for urban human settlement environment sustainability.