Preferences for urban stream landscapes: Opportunities to promote unmanaged riparian vegetation

Abstract Many streams are channelized and their banks hardened, with the native riparian vegetation either removed or replaced with planted vegetation. Compared with original vegetation, however, this managed vegetation is typically limited in its ecological value while also requiring human and environmental resources to maintain it. This is especially true in urban contexts. A key question is, how to reverse this? Here, we used photo surveys conducted in 2017 to explore the preferences of non-experts (n = 409) and students (n = 212) for urban stream landscapes in Harbin, China, and to reveal associations between aesthetic and perceived ecological values. Our results revealed that participants preferred a balance between wild nature and human control in stream landscapes. Urban stream landscapes with concrete banks and abundant upland vegetation were attractive to both groups. Partially vegetated hardened banks, with a hardscape area of the bank slope exposed, were disliked and received low ratings on perceived ecological values when compared with a concrete bank or wild stream banks. Non-experts with rural childhoods gave significantly higher scores for a wild bank setting (i.e., stream bank fully covered by vegetation), as well as significantly lower ecology scores to a lifeless bank (i.e., concrete bank lacking shoreline vegetation), than did those raised in large or small cities. Visual elements, such as upland mature trees and well-arranged boulders in the channel zone, could potentially enhance the attractiveness of urban stream landscapes.