Perceived Restorative Potential of Urban Parks by Citizens—A Case Study from Wrocław, Poland

Abstract

Providing restorative green areas is important, especially in the city, where the level of stress and noise is relatively high. Therefore, green areas, such as urban parks, should provide coherent audio–visual stimuli to achieve positive perception by the residents. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the potential for psychological regeneration in urban parks in terms of visual and soundscape assessment as well as to assess the role of the intensity of different types of sound contributing to the positive perception of the soundscape. In order to achieve this aim, we chose eight urban parks in the city of Wrocław to provide audio and visual stimuli and used a group of young adults as survey respondents. The results show that visual stimuli are perceived as undoubtedly more important than the soundscape, and that talking, footsteps, music, children (playing), birds, and vehicles are the most significant types of sound that contribute to the perception of soundscape depending on the level of intensity of the sound (with children and vehicles being beneficial if they are completely inaudible). We conclude that the quality of the soundscape is essential to improve the restorative potential of urban parks and, in consequence, to improve the well-being and health of the city dwellers, and there is a necessity for strategies and development plans including sensually coherent and inclusive public parks in the city of Wrocław.