Urban landscape parks play a crucial role in providing recreational opportunities for citizens. Different types of landscapes offer varying levels of comfort experiences. However, the assessment of landscape comfort primarily relies on subjective evaluations and basic physiological measurements, which lack sufficient quantification of relevant data. This study employed electroencephalography (EEG) technology and subjective questionnaire evaluation methods. Participants observed two sets of landscape demonstration videos using virtual reality (VR) devices, and EEG alpha values and subjective evaluation scores were collected to assess the comfort levels of free-form landscape and regular-form landscape. Additionally, this study explored the correlation between landscape characteristics and physiological comfort. The analysis of the results showed that: 1. The average amplitude of EEG alpha waves recorded from 11 electrodes in the left temporal lobe and right parietal lobe of the participants was higher after they watched the free-form landscape demonstration. The increased alpha values suggest that free-form landscapes are more likely to induce physiological comfort in these specific brain regions. In contrast, regular-form landscape was found to induce higher alpha values at seven specific electrodes located in the occipital cortex, right temporal lobe, and central regions of the participants. In general, free-form landscape provided physiological comfort to a greater number of brain regions. 2. The two groups of landscapes exhibit distinct subjective cognitive differences in terms of their landscape characteristics. These differences, ranked in order of magnitude, include rhythmicity, sense of order, sense of security, and sense of dependence. 3. This study examined the α-waves of specific brain regions, including the right and left temporal lobe and occipital lobe, as well as subjective scoring. It discovered that the rhythmicity, degree of variation, degree of color, and sense of nature of a landscape impact the α-wave value of electrodes in different brain regions. Moreover, there exists a certain linear relationship between the four landscape features and the α-wave values in different regions of the brain. The results of this study provide some reference for the creation of a comfortable landscape design.

As the quality of life and the spiritual and cultural well-being of the inhabitants progress, the current rural infrastructure has challenges in adequately addressing the physical and psychological requirements of individuals. This work presents a method for evaluating rural habitats by utilizing electroencephalography (EEG) signals and virtual reality (VR) technology to address the existing gap in physiological data evaluation in rural areas. We choose as experimental images the current situation (C1–C5) scenes of five rural main street nodes as well as the comparative transformation scenes (T1–T5). It then assesses the subjects’ subjective cognition and level of relaxation–arousal responses using the α/β value in the EEG data and the three subjective scale indexes of “Interest”, “Comfort”, and “Vitality”. The study’s findings demonstrated the following: 1. All three scores increased in the transformation scenarios, and subjects’ subjective assessments varied significantly across all five sets of scenes. 2. In all α/β values where significant differences existed, every electrode demonstrated a relaxation response in the transformation scenes (T1–T5) compared to the current scenes (C1–C5), whereas the T8 electrode demonstrated the only arousal response. 3. The Pz electrode in the parietal lobe area was found to be the most sensitive to the visual response to the green landscape and the form of the building façade along the street, and the T8 electrode in the right temporal lobe area was the most sensitive to the response to the overall perception of the surrounding environment, according to a comparison of the longitudinal α/β value. More options for rural streetscape design as well as fresh insights and methodologies for assessing the rural human environment in the future are anticipated from this study.