IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v12y2023i7p1472-d1201001.html

Evaluation and Optimization of Restorative Environmental Perception of Treetop Trails: The Case of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Xiamen, China

Author

Listed:
  • Honglin Wu

    (School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

  • Li Zhu

    (School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

  • Jiang Li

    (School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

  • Ni Zhang

    (School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

  • Yilin Sun

    (Research Center of Chinese Village Culture, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

  • Yue Tang

    (School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

  • Xiaokang Wang

    (Research Center of Chinese Village Culture, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

  • Chuang Cheng

    (School of Architecture and Art, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)

Abstract

A treetop trail is an elevated linear green open space that plays a key role in forming a scientifically rational urban space and meeting the growing leisure needs of the people. Taking the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in Xiamen, China as a case, and through 426 questionnaires, this study explores the dimensions of the perceived restorative environment components of greenway recreationists and impacts on behavioral intentions. The demographic factors lead us to the following three conclusions. First, from an age perspective, restorative environmental perceptions are strongest among those aged 60 and above and weakest among those aged 18–30. Second, in terms of place of permanent residence, local visitors have stronger restorative environmental perceptions than other city users. Third, in relation to the number of accompanying travelers, individuals who embark on solo journeys experience the most robust perception, while that diminishes as the count reaches three or more companions. A structural equation model (SEM) is used to present the quantitative relationship among avoidance motivation, treetop trail environmental quality, restorative environmental perception, place attachment, and loyalty. The results showed that users’ escape motivation has a direct and indirect positive correlation with restorative environmental perceptions, and environmental perceptions have a significant positive correlation with restorative environmental perceptions. Furthermore, their place attachment to the restorative nature of the treetop trails positively affected their loyalty. This study provides essential factors to consider when constructing treetop trails in high-density cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Honglin Wu & Li Zhu & Jiang Li & Ni Zhang & Yilin Sun & Yue Tang & Xiaokang Wang & Chuang Cheng, 2023. "Evaluation and Optimization of Restorative Environmental Perception of Treetop Trails: The Case of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Xiamen, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:7:p:1472-:d:1201001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1472/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/7/1472/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Weiting Shan & Chunliang Xiu & Yining Meng, 2022. "How to Design Greenway on Urban Land Utilization: Linking Place Preference, Perceived Health Benefit, and Environmental Perception," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Olivia S. Horte & Theodore S. Eisenman, 2020. "Urban Greenways: A Systematic Review and Typology," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Bin Xu & Qingxia Shi & Yaping Zhang, 2022. "Evaluation of the Health Promotion Capabilities of Greenway Trails: A Case Study in Hangzhou, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Dwi Suhartanto & Anthony Brien & Ina Primiana & Nono Wibisono & Ni Nyoman Triyuni, 2020. "Tourist loyalty in creative tourism: the role of experience quality, value, satisfaction, and motivation," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 867-879, April.
    5. Yuanjing Wu & Qianyun Li & Hanqing Zheng & Shijie Luo & Qunyue Liu & Zhao Yan & Qitang Huang, 2022. "Factors Influencing Users’ Perceived Restoration While Using Treetop Trails: The Case of the Fu and Jinjishan Forest Trails, Fuzhou, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-15, February.
    6. Gross, Michael J. & Brown, Graham, 2006. "Tourism experiences in a lifestyle destination setting: The roles of involvement and place attachment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(6), pages 696-700, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yulin Peng & Fan Zhang & Bing Qiu, 2025. "Research on the Evaluation of Service Effectiveness of Urban Greenways: Taking Municipal Greenways in the Main City of Nanjing as an Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Wen Wei & Ao Yang & Lanxi Jiang & Gillian Lawson & Wen Lei, 2025. "Ecological Recreation Across the Jinma Mountain Region: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Suburban Mountain Greenway Networks," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-24, July.
    3. Pipatpong Fakfare & Walanchalee Wattanacharoensil, 2023. "Low‐carbon tourism for island destinations: A crucial alternative for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 180-197, February.
    4. Whang, Haesung & Yong, Sunghwa & Ko, Eunju, 2016. "Pop culture, destination images, and visit intentions: Theory and research on travel motivations of Chinese and Russian tourists," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 631-641.
    5. Chen Zhao & Huawen Shen, 2024. "The Moderating Effect of Ski Influencer on Ski Tourism Intention," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, April.
    6. Francesco Pinna & Valeria Saiu, 2021. "Greenways as Integrated Systems: A Proposal for Planning and Design Guidelines Based on Case Studies Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-17, October.
    7. Liyuan Zhu & Yuya Wang, 2025. "Technological Innovation in Promoting the Sustainable Development of Tourist Factories: Factors Influencing Tourists’ Perceived Value and Loyalty in Immersive VR Experiences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-28, March.
    8. Richard Smardon, 2020. "6th Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-2, November.
    9. Chunyan Zhu & Jingzhu Li & Jinming Luo & Xi Li & Tianhui Li & Wei Wang & Shanshan Fu & Weizhen Zeng, 2024. "An Investigation of the Restorative Benefits of Different Spaces in an Urban Riverside Greenway for College Students—A Simple Autumn Outdoor Experiment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-21, September.
    10. Allard, Thomas & Babin, Barry J. & Chebat, Jean-Charles, 2009. "When income matters: Customers evaluation of shopping malls’ hedonic and utilitarian orientations," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 40-49.
    11. Yi Feng & Yu Feng & Ziyang Liu, 2025. "Influencing Factors of Residents’ Green Perception Under Urban–Rural Differences: A Socio-Ecological Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-36, April.
    12. Jun Zhang & Ruoming Qi & Huina Zhang, 2023. "Examining the Impact of Crowding Perception on the Generation of Negative Emotions among Users of Small Urban Micro Public Spaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-25, November.
    13. Lee, Kuan-Huei & Scott, Noel & Packer, Jan, 2014. "Habitus and food lifestyle: In-destination activity participation of Slow Food members," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 207-220.
    14. Jiahang Lu & Xiaohua Wu, 2022. "Research on Urban Greenway Alignment Selection Based on Multisource Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, September.
    15. Tian E Cheng & Shasha Li & Heng Zhang & Mingming Cao, 2021. "Examining the Antecedents of Environmentally Responsible Behaviour: Relationships among Service Quality, Place Attachment and Environmentally Responsible Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    16. Elisa Zentveld & Ebru Düşmezkalender & Yunus Özhasar & Yasin Emre Oğuz, 2024. "Are Tourist Interactions Good or Bad? Tourist–Tourist Interactions at 5-Star Hotels in Istanbul," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Liang Li & Xinyue Gao & Jingni Li & Lu Meng & Ziyao Wang & Lu Yang, 2022. "Difference of Usage Behavior between Urban Greenway and Suburban Greenway: A Case Study in Beijing, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, August.
    18. Sebastian Zenker & Sibylle Petersen, 2014. "An Integrative Theoretical Model for Improving Resident-City Identification," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(3), pages 715-729, March.
    19. Juanyu Wu & Zhiying Xian & Yi Luo & Yongmei Xiong, 2025. "Development, Characteristics, and Implications of Landscape Performance Evaluation of Greenways in the United States," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, September.
    20. Stefan Kruger & Cindy Rootenberg & Suria Ellis, 2013. "Examining the Influence of the Wine Festival Experience on Tourists’ Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 435-452, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:7:p:1472-:d:1201001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.