Xinlei Hu

Xinlei Hu is a PhD candidate in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests range from landscape perception and preferences, post-industrial landscapes, to ecological aesthetics. Before undertaking her PhD, Xinlei has worked and researched on landscape planning and design projects in Nanjing, China.

Xinlei’s doctoral research aims at exploring public perceptions of, and preferences for a new park typology – urban “wildscape-inspired” parks in the Chinese context. Specifically, her research intends to examine the importance of ecological value within urban “wildscape-inspired” parks on public park preferences. This builds upon the implementation of a series of ecological-oriented wild park practices in China recently. These parks are not only a contrast to traditional, ornamental parks commonly appeared in Chinese cities but also a reflection of related ecological aesthetic idea in China. However, in spite of these park projects and reflections, little is known about how people perceive these newly appeared parks and how important ecological value is to people’s park preferences. This study aims to fill in this gap. Accordingly, conjoint analysis will be used in this research to reveal what attributes typical of a “wildscape-inspired” park are more important in a park setting, and to whom, with the main reference to the attribute “ecological value.”