Interacting with Landscapes Beyond Windshield: Affordances Actualisation on Scenic Road Rest Areas

Context: Scenic roads are world-widely implemented as policies that turn automobility into landscape capital. As an essential component of scenic road systems, rest areas provide spaces for people to interact with roadside landscapes, enhancing the quality of experiences of recreational motorists. However, the understanding of scenic road rest area usage still lacks empirical evidence. Objectives: Through the lens of the affordance theory, this study developed an empirical approach to explore the affordance actualisation mechanism focused on the context of motorists-rest area interaction. Methods: Our team has conducted site observation and behaviour mapping on seven rest areas along the Nujiang Beautiful Road in northwest Yunnan, China. By conceptualising Surface Materials and Distance References as landscapes’ physical determinants, and Fixed Functional Meanings and Perceived Use Patterns as individuals’ perceptual determinants, this research investigates how these determinants quantitatively affect affordance actualisation. Results: The results outlined a behavioural profile about the usage of rest areas on scenic roads and further revealed that: (1) inspired affordances and anticipated affordances respectively acted on people’s experiences and satisfaction; (2) perceptual determinants are more proactive on actualising affordances compared with physical determinants; (3) traffic conflicts, landscape availability and distance to parking contributed to affordance actualisation vacancy. Conclusion: The findings may reveal some theoretical insights about the affordance actualisation mechanism via an empirical approach and can be used to assist evidence-based planning and design of scenic road rest areas.