| Humans are an integrated part of the ecosystem according to theories of holism. A landscape contains a biosphere and a geosphere as well as a noosphere which reflects the human dimensions. Humans affect landscape and are affected by landscape. In this light, this study examines the relationship between human perceptions of landscape in residential environments. This study investigates the relationship between neighborhood satisfaction and landscape structure represented by landscape metrics in neighborhood environment. Consideration of scales (micro-neighborhood, intermediate-neighborhood and macro-neighborhood) and boundary types (spatial regular circular type and subdivision planning boundary) was incorporated into the study design. To measure neighborhood satisfaction of residents, a survey was conducted with single-family households. To measure landscape structure, multispectral satellite imagery with 4m resolution was adopted. Using satellite imagery, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) map and land cover map was conducted by a supervised classification method and a focal majority function (FMF) with three cell neighborhood option. Landscape structure within neighborhoods was measured in Geographic Information System (GIS) and FRAGSTAT.; Study results suggest that neighborhood satisfaction is related not only to the amount of trees but also to the quality and structure of trees. Specifically, neighborhood satisfaction showed a positive relationship with the tree area, the core area of trees, the largest tree patch index, aggregation, clumpiness and cohesion of trees and a negative relationship with tree patch density, edge density, edge contrast index and interspersion and juxtaposition index of trees. And, in terms of sign of relationship, this relationship was consistent over neighborhood scales and boundary types.; This study also tests a relationship between sustainable landscape structure and neighborhood satisfaction. Potential conflicts between landscape sustainability and human preference were reported in previous studies. However, any conflict between landscape sustainability and neighborhood satisfaction was not found in this study. On the contrary, the results of this study indicated that residents with more sustainable landscape structure in neighborhoods are more likely satisfied with their neighborhood which means there is a accordance between sustainable landscape structure and neighborhood satisfaction. |
