Choosing urban forest plants strategically will improve public welfare

Research into the aesthetic preferences for natural landscapes and their health benefits has been extensively conducted. It is evident that plant landscapes not only influence the aesthetic judgments of the public but are also one of the primary factors affecting public health and well-being. Nevertheless, a deeper understanding is required regarding how the attributes of urban forest plant landscapes interact to produce aesthetic appeal and health advantages for the public. In this study, 800 participants were recruited and randomly allocated to 16 different environments to assess the aesthetic, health benefit, and environmental cognition indexes. Employing R and AMOS to evaluate variations in aesthetic impact and health benefits across different environments, as well as the environmental cognitive factors that jointly influence these outcomes. The results show that: 1) The urban forest plant landscape environments possess significant potential for health restoration (P < 0.05). However, the level of restoration is somewhat variable due to the attributes of the plant landscape, with changes in tree species exerting minimal impact on the degree of restoration (P > 0.05). 2) The public exhibits satisfaction with urban forest plant landscapes (DS: 5.00–5.58), yet the attributes of these landscapes have a negligible effect on satisfaction preferences (P > 0.05) and greatly influence the public's viewing behavior. 3) The environmental cognition affecting the aesthetic and health benefits of the public alters in response to the inherent attributes of the urban forest plant landscape, particularly in terms of visual quality. Consequently, it is recommended that landscape planners and managers gain a comprehensive understanding of plant characteristics, fully utilize the aesthetic and ecological values of plants, and design plant landscapes that offer both aesthetic pleasure and an efficient, health-restorative potential for the public.