How colors of the living street interfaces affect positive emotions in winter

TL;DR

This study explores how the colors of street interfaces in winter affect people's positive emotions, finding that certain color metrics and snow conditions influence emotional responses differently in men and women.

Contribution

The study introduces a method to quantify streetscape color metrics and analyze their emotional impact in winter, a season underrepresented in existing literature.

Findings

Females show stronger positive emotional responses to winter street colors than males.

Snow-free conditions lead to greater positive emotions compared to snow-covered scenes.

Color complexity positively correlates with positive emotions, while color saturation and harmony negatively correlate.

Abstract

The environmental color, as a core visual environment element of living streets, has significant impacts on the users’ psychology and spatial perception. The seasonal variations in living streets’ environmental color are poorly understood, with existing literature mainly focusing on the warmer seasons. Meanwhile lacking natural experiences, outdoor activities and lights caused by cold climate, residents develop more urgent need to derive psychological support from their daily environment. This study firstly quantified eight streetscape color metrics using the K-means algorithm, then measured positive emotions by collecting human-factor signals and subjective evaluations. Subsequently, the mutual influences between the two were analyzed to address the effects of street interface color on positive emotions in winter. The results showed that: (1) Females exhibit significantly stronger positive emotional responses than males to winter street interface color; (2) Snow-free conditions generate markedly greater positive affect than snow-covered scenes; (3) The primary color saturation, primary color value, secondary color hue, secondary color value, and color harmony of winter street interface colors were significantly negatively correlated with positive emotions, while color complexity was significantly positively correlated positive emotions. These findings can provide urban planners and managers with theoretical basis and practical guidance for winter streetscape design, ultimately enhancing residents’ well-being and quality of life in winter.

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