Aesthetic experience of raingardens: The role of affordance

Raingardens, as part of urban green infrastructure, are being retrofitted in cities worldwide to contribute to urban sustainability and resilience. Technical function is essential, as is aesthetic function to optimise their community acceptance. Unlike technical design guidelines, aesthetic design guidelines for raingardens are limited. Experience of a landscape can contribute to its bio-physical sustainability, however not all landscape aesthetic experiences are pleasurable. Ecologically motivated landscape change might trigger displeasure. Thus, public support for such change depends on understanding how people perceive and experience beauty in that landscape. Four types of aesthetic experience of landscapes have been proposed in a perceptual model of human/environmental transactions, depending on landscape context and the observer’s situational context. These are scenic and ecological aesthetics, and aesthetics of care and effect of knowledge, and attachment and identity. Understanding which type applies to raingardens can inform their design and management to optimise their acceptance when retrofitted into streetscapes. As part of a study into perception of raingardens in four suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, survey data from 139 respondents were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to reveal perceptual aesthetic experiences. The four aesthetic experiences proposed in the model were identified. An additional, fifth aesthetic, related to affordance, emerged from analysis. Drawing on criteria underlying each aesthetic lens, raingardens can be designed and managed to ensure that any aesthetic experience is favourable. Aesthetic lenses need not compete or be mutually exclusive. Design need not mimic natural forms but can draw attention to nature-based processes within the raingardens and foster environmental ethics.