A method for assessing soundscape in urban parks based on the service quality measurement models

Abstract

The importance of the quality of the soundscape to the total environment of urban parks has been widely realized. With the purpose of exploring more efficient and effective approaches for the evaluation and analysis of the soundscape quality of urban parks, the quality assessment theories and methods that used in the areas of quality management and service industry are adopted in this study. A quality evaluation method for the soundscape is then proposed based on two well-known service quality measurement (SQM) models, Importance-Satisfaction (I-S) model and Improvement index (Ii) model. By simultaneously assessing both importance and satisfaction of soundscape elements in urban parks, this method can provide detailed and comprehensive information that can be used for guiding the soundscape design and improvement of urban parks. Finally, the proposed method is applied to a case study in Hong Kong. Based on the analysis of the data collected by questionnaire survey in this case study, the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated, and a practical decision-making strategy for soundscape quality improvement of urban parks is summarized. According to the authors’ best knowledge, this study is the first attempt to apply the SQM method of combining I-S model and Ii model to the soundscape study of urban park. The ideas and findings not only benefit the practical soundscape management, but also provide a valuable reference for the academic research of soundscape.