Understanding the children’s perception and preferences on nature-based outdoor landscape

This study evaluates the landscape perception and preferences of students from different education levels in Düzce province, Turkey. Several research have demonstrated that environmental attitudes and behaviours of adults are formed according to their environmental experiences. Outdoor recreational activity preferences of a family could also have a substantial influence on landscape preferences of children. There has been little research that evaluate children’s perception and about their playgrounds. Consideration of children’s needs and their landscape preferences would be important for designing better play spaces. Photographs were used to determine naturalness degrees by specialists. These photographs were shown to 280 students attending elementary school, middle school and high school of different levels. Students were asked if the landscapes from the photographs were aesthetic pleasing and safe; and if they would accept them as playgrounds. The results indicated that the students would prefer the areas as playgrounds even though they may not find them safe. However, the majority of students regarded some of the landscapes were aesthetic and safe. The findings show that the students’ ages, education levels and physical appearances could yield substantial differences on their landscape perception and preferences. The students would highly prefer the landscapes if they have been involved in rural recreational experiences which could have a substantial effect on their landscape perception and preferences.