Balancing color and order: Configuration-dependent effects of dominant color composition and spatial structure on scenic quality in urban forest landscapes.

Abstract

Visual color composition is a key component of cultural ecosystem services in urban forests, yet the spatial mechanisms linking dominant-color patterns to aesthetic outcomes remain insufficiently quantified. This study develops a reproducible workflow with automated metric extraction that converts digitally simulated forest scenes into raster datasets and batch-derives pixel-level metrics to characterize dominant-color spatial patterns. Dominant-color coverage, spatial aggregation, and patch size were quantified to examine how they jointly shaped three structural dimensions-color diversity, regularity, and structural balance-and how these dimensions were associated with scenic beauty. Based on scenic beauty scores computed following the Scenic Beauty Estimation (SBE) procedure from a 7-point rating task for 81 simulated autumn scenes from the Badaling Red Leaf Scenic Forest (Beijing, China), the results show that, under the tested red/orange-green contrast conditions, scenic beauty tended to be higher under moderate dominant-color coverage (50%) combined with medium aggregation and medium patch size. This configuration enhanced visual order while maintaining sufficient chromatic differentiation. In contrast, high coverage (75%) or over-aggregation tends to reduce color differentiation and weaken spatial legibility, potentially reducing perceived visual quality. Overall, the findings indicate that aesthetic responses are better explained by coordinated spatial configuration than by color richness alone. The proposed raster-based framework provides actionable guidance for seasonal color zoning and aesthetic optimization in urban forest planning and management.