User Experience Centered Application Design of Multivariate Landscape in Kulangsu, Xiamen

As nominated as World Heritage Site in 2017 by UNESCO, Kulangsu Island in Xiamen, China, is a unique historic international settlement from 19th century. One important feature of Kulangsu is its dual identities of community for local residents and tourist attractions for visitors. Thanks to abundant cultural and natural resources, its famous visual landscape of Amoy Art deco architecture and various foreign-style architecture, together with Kulangsu’s historic-contemporary soundscape, like piano melody sound, wave sound and lost church music once satisfied both local inhabitants and visitors all over the world. Unfortunately, many unique sounds and views in the history has disappeared gradually because of local population decline and rush tourism development. Smart application provides us another perspective and tool for landscape design on a multivariate space like Kulangsu. Although the development of smart phone application is successful in China nowadays, its technology is seldom combined with landscape design methods. There is lack of technical implementation and testing for application in Landscape design field. The aim of this study and application design is to promote user experiences for visitors. The research firstly investigates users’ preferences for Kulangsu’s landscapes and travel behaviors by the means of investigation. Concluded from user interview results, there are three key objectives predefined before the design and development process. Eventually, the application design is proposed to demonstrate how user experience centered design and augmented reality technology can be utilized for virtual revival and digital restoration of Kulangsu’s multivariate landscape in different historic periods.