Landscape Elements, ecosystem services and users’ Happiness: An indicator framework for park management based on cognitive appraisal theory

In the context of improving living standards, the management of people’s mental health is gaining increasing attention. Despite the proven significance of urban green space in stress alleviation and mental well-being, research on the link among perception-based landscape elements, perception-based ecosystem services and users’ happiness in national parks remains further studied. This study focused on Beijing, one of the world’s most densely populated cities, to study factors influencing happiness among park users for management. Based on cognitive appraisal theory, this study proposed the indicator framework for park management and used the structural equation model to explore how perception-based landscape elements and perception-based ecosystem services directly or indirectly affect the well-being of national park users. The results showed that the happiness of park users was relatively high (4.3 out of 5). Landscape elements such as surfacing (0.632), resting seats (0.567), water bodies (0.555), and vegetation (0.549), as well as ecosystem services such as inspiration (0.691), rest (0.649), and cool climate (0.649), had a stronger association with happiness. The study reveals that landscape elements in the national parks directly and indirectly affect users’ happiness, including directly affecting their happiness and indirectly affecting their happiness through ecosystem services. There are three types of user groups, including solo park wanderers (38.5%), social frequent users (29.7%), and independent casual users (31.8%), with consistent impact pathways of landscape elements and ecosystem services on happiness. However, there are variations in the magnitude of impact and the pathways influenced by socio-economic factors. Based on these findings, this study provided targeted suggestions for national park planning and design, and served as a reference for the study of users’ happiness in other urban spaces. Furthermore, this study consolidates the cognitive evaluation theory, and sheds light on the role of perception-based appraisal landscape elements and ecosystem services in user happiness.