1 Introduction

Indonesia has considerable resource landscapes, both in urban and urban areas with a variety of characteristics. Rural landscape in tropical countries is seen as a source of biodiversity that play important roles to support the stability of the earth’s ecosystem. These views attracted attention of the world community toward rural landscape preservation. Rural landscape in this study can be defined as a region with a countryside character different with urban character. Rural landscape also shows the relationships between nature and humans are characterized by land management activities as agricultural, horticultural, and forestry (Rogge et al. 2007).

Urban and rural landscape provide several ecosystem services such as value of the cultural amenities of the aesthetic of the rural landscape, wild habitat, green open space (GOS), and community cultural activities. Rural landscape can also be seen as a function of agricultural areas. In developing countries, including Indonesia, the value of rural landscape amenities is utilized to develop tourism activities such as agro-tourism and ecotourism. Rural landscape can thus be a driving force in the restructuring of sustainable rural areas (Sznajder and Przezbórska 2004; Domon 2011). GOS in rural landscape characterized by large areas of agricultural ecosystem supports a lot of landscape functions such as oxygen production, soil and water protection, microclimate control, carbon store, biodiversity conservation and provides landscape beauty as in addition to the production of agricultural commodities. Several studies have reported on the role of the GOS to reduce carbon (Nowak et al. 2007; Strohbach et al. 2012; Ardani et al. 2013).

The GOS along with other landscape components has attracted diverse landscape aesthetic potentials. This potential scenic beauty resource should be managed through landscape planning and design approach. That approach could be based on landscape as visual architectural resource or as a biophysical ecology resource. Some scholars and practitioners have suggested the idea of an “ecological aesthetic” to address issues relating to the protection of ecologically significant landscapes. Efforts to preserve and protect the rural landscape are generally associated with natural ecotourism activities. By experiencing how scenic landscapes in rural area are ecologically important and aesthetically interesting, people may have better understanding their value to human life and discover clues for appreciating ecologically significant landscapes that are “scenically challenged” (Saito 1998). The hotspot metaphor also suggests ways in which the model of human–environment interactions proposed by Gobster et al. (2007) might be implemented to communicate to public groups about the beauty of scenically challenged landscapes.

Study landscape has been recognized interdisciplinary dimension. Tress and Tress (2001) suggest the concept of transdisciplinary landscape which includes five dimensions: (1) the landscape as an entity spatially, (2) the landscape as mental entities, (3) landscape as a temporal dimension, (4) landscape as a nexus of nature and culture, and (5) as a complex system landscape. Landscape studies often focus on some but not all of these dimensions. To achieve its interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary goals, landscape ecology needs to appreciate and integrate the multifaceted perspectives on the culture–nature/people–place relationship which are offered by these diverse disciplines. Approach in assessing the aesthetic quality of the landscape has evolved into a debate between expert opinion and user perception-based approach. Experts generally dominate the approaches in environmental management practices while the perception-based approach has dominated in the study. Both approaches can generally accept the idea that the quality of the landscape comes from the interaction between the biophysical features of landscape and user perception.

Studies on the ecology of the landscape have been done, most of the studies conducted specifically in urban or rural. Study of landscape ecology in the agropolitan area still rarely performed. This study describes the landscape functions as an oxygen production and aesthetic functions performed in the agropolitan city. In this study, approach on assessing landscape quality was done using both expert and perception-based approach, while a study on the landscape function focused on oxygen demand.

2 Green Open Space: Structure and Function

Green open space is a term used by landscape planners and landscape architects for land areas that are intentionally left un-built as fields and forests while the land around them is developed into buildings and pavement (Ahern 1991). The GOS consists of the elongated or grouped area of the standing plants or vegetation, both of which grows naturally or planted. This open space is part of the space arrangement that serves as a protected area, which consists of the rural and urban landscape, forest, recreational green areas, green areas of sport center, green area of the yard, paddy field and garden. The intention of convening the GOS according to Minister Regulation No. 1 of 2007 was to preserve and balance the urban ecosystem that includes elements of environmental, social, and culture with an area that must be planned for approximately 40% of the area. The GOS has a primary function (intrinsic) as bio-ecological functions and additional functions (extrinsic) that is a function of architectural, social, and economic. The functioning of the natural ecology in the urban environment in a balanced and sustainable city will form a healthy and humane (Purnomohadi 2006).

In general, public open space in urban areas consists of green and non-GOSs. The non-GOS consists of hardened space (paved area) and blue open space that form the surface of rivers, lakes, and areas. These areas are designated for inundation or retention of the basin. Physically, green space can be divided into natural green space in the form of natural wildlife habitat, protected areas and national parks, as well as non-natural green space like parks, sports fields, and flower gardens.

The GOS has important functions with very wide spectrum, from the aspects of ecological function, social, cultural, architectural, and economics. Ecologically, GOS can improve the quality of groundwater , prevent flooding, reduce air pollution , and lower the temperature of a sweltering tropical city. The existence of green space aims to preserve, harmony and balance of the ecosystem, as well as recreational facilities for the residents of the city (Ståhle 2010). The functioning of ecological nature within the urban environment in a balanced form a healthy city.

The structure, shape, and composition of GOS consist of the ecological and planological configurations. Ecological configuration of GOS seen as natural landscapes such as protected areas, hills, riverbanks, lakes, and coastal borders. The planological configuration of GOS can be formed following the pattern of the structure housing the city as green space, urban or rural green space, green space districts, city green space and parks regional/national.

The GOS helps to provide plants and their use for community activities. Based on the layout, the GOS may exist the form of beach (coastal open space), river floodplains (river floodplain), green ways and open space along side of the airport runway. Based on the size, the GOS includes: (a) Macro areas, such as the area of agriculture , fisheries, forest, and airport green space, (b) Medium areas, such as city park, sports facilities, public cemetery, and (c) Micro areas, which is open land in any residential area that is provided in public facilities such as playgrounds (play ground), community park and a sports field.

The GOS is generally dominated by plants and herbs which have much effect on the air quality . Plants can create a microclimate, which is a decrease in ambient temperature, sufficient moisture, oxygen levels are increasing due to the process of assimilation and evapotranspiration from plants. Plants also absorb (reduce) the carbon dioxide in the air as the result of industrial activities and motor vehicles so that a good city should create a healthy city resident with the comfort and quality of its environment (Gunawan et al. 2017).

3 Oxygen Demand of People in Batu City

Batu City located in East Java , Indonesia . Geographically, it is located in 7.44° 55′ 11″ to 8.26° 35′ 45″ South Latitudes and 122.17° 10′ 90″ s/d 122.57° 00′ 00″ East Longitudes. The situation of topography in Batu City has two different characteristics, that is north and west side is hilly and surging height area, while east area and south area that is relatively flat though at 700 m height from sea level. Batu city has minimum temperature range from 24 to 18 ℃ and maximum temperature range from 32 to 28 ℃. Its air humidity is 75–98% and the rainfall average is 875–3000 mm/year. Because of that condition, Batu city is suitable for subtropic plants of horticultural plants and cattle yard. Administratively, Batu City is divided into 3 districts and 23 villages/subdistricts. The districts are Batu district with 46,377 km2 widths, Bumiaji district with 130,189 km2 widths and Junrejo district with 26,234 km2 widths. Total population in 2014 is 211,298 residents (Statistic Book of Batu City 2015).

In this study the presence of green space in Batu affected by the impact of the increasing number of population and political factors of urban development. The growth rate in Batu is categorized high with a rate of 5% annually (Statistic Book of Batu City 2015). The effect of growth rate can be seen from the development of the construction of housing, shops, public buildings, facilities, and infrastructure of the city that continues to increase. The treat from political factors of urban development can be seen from land use change began 2002–2008 and the suitability of land use with existing spatial plans (Batu City Report 2008). And undeveloped land covering an area of 1,906.40 ha or 9.57% of the area of Batu increased from the year 2002 which will possibly occur conversion on a steep and hilly location.

Regional development and opening of new land into prime factors have lead landscape changes and alter its function. The threat to the existence of the GOS in Batu city result of rapid development requires analysis of GOS demand (Ardani et al. 2013). The limited green space especially parks leads to the emergence of insecurity and social problems. In addition, the limited green space also affects the increase in microclimate, air pollution, flooding, and other adverse environmental impacts (Hartini 2008).

The amount of oxygen to be oxidized by humans from food around 3300 kcal per day and a man uses about 600 l of oxygen (27 mol) and produces 480 l of carbon dioxide per day, where it is known that the density of oxygen is 1.429 g/l (Septriana 2005).

The result of this study showed that a population of nearly 212,000 of resident and 3,192 nonresident (mostly tourist). Total oxygen demand was 183,901.2 kg/day, consisted of 181,164.5 kg/day for resident and 2,736.8 for nonresident (Table 1).

Table 1 Population and total oxygen demand in Batu city in 2014
Full size table

Result of this study indicates that the oxygen requirement must be fulfilled by its availability in the atmosphere. It is necessary to start vegetation planting effort in the residential areas (Setyowati 2008). Green plants catch about 150,000 million ton of CO2 and 25,000 million ton of hydrogen to release 400,000 million ton of oxygen into the atmosphere, and to produce 450,000 million ton of organic substances. Every hour, 1 ha of green leaves absorb 8 kg of CO2 equivalent to CO2 exhaled by human breath about 200 people in the same time (Setyowati 2008). Role of tree plants is crucial in determining the comfort of the city environment, and it is appropriate to plant trees where serious attention in the implementation of urban greening as an element of urban forests (Krisdianto and Udiansyah 2012).

4 Green Open Space and Spatial Planning

Spatial planning is part of the development process that has three urgencies as follows: (a) optimizing the utilization of resources (principle of productivity and efficiency); (b) tool and a form of distribution of resources (the principle of equity, the balance and fairness); and (c) sustainability (sustainability principle). Many factors determine the success of spatial planning, such as spatial plan product quality and accurate, dynamic utilization of space refers to the product of spatial planning, and space utilization control process consistent and firm. So has the concept of spatial planning, orderly room a harmonious, balanced, and sustainable. Because of the space requirements increase as the population growth and the growth of economic activity, but the room has a limited carrying capacity is needed on spatial updated as developments with regard to the balance of the ecosystem.

Urban spatial planning starts with identifying areas that naturally must be saved (protected area) to ensure the preservation of the environment and regional functions that are naturally susceptible to disaster (Purnomohadi 2006). This area should be developed as a GOS and non-green to green space in spatial planning is very important because in spatial planning starting from which we can build. The rapid growth in urban areas leads to various social and environmental issues, so that the urban land use plan must establish the location of the area to be protected. The GOS is an instrument for the protection of natural and artificial resources in urban or rural landscape. Spatial Law No. 26 of 2007 has set 30% of the urban land must consist of GOS both private and public green space. In the urban land use plan, the GOS can be realized with strategic plans as follows: (a) set up a conservation area for the preservation of land and water; (b) develop of biodiversity area; (c) create the area of public recreation; (d) revitalize cemetery or burial place; (e) restrict excessive development and (f) protect natural, cultural, and historical resources.

5 The Green Open Space Shape Architectural Landscape

In socio-cultural perspective presence of green space can provide a function as a space of social interaction, recreation, and landmark of the city. The existence of GOS is important in controlling and maintaining the integrity and quality of the environment, because of the various functions associated with the presence of GOS (the function of ecological, social, economic, and architectural) and the aesthetic value of owning (object and environment) not only can improve the quality of the environment and continuity of urban life but also the identity of the city (Hakim and Utomo 2004; Haq 2011).

Green open space that is functional and aesthetic value in an urban system must meet the minimum width, pattern, and structure as well as the shape and distribution of the technical considerations in its management. While the ecological character, condition, city resident’s desire, direction, and development objectives as well as the development of the city is a factor that determines the amount of GOS functional. This shows that green space an important component of urban ecosystems (Budiyono 2006).

Architecturally, GOS may increase the value of the beauty and comfort of the city through the existence of the city parks, flower gardens, and green lines on the streets of the city. Meanwhile GOS can also have an economic function, either directly as exploitation empty land into agricultural land or plantations (urban agriculture) and development of urban green tourism facilities that can bring tourists. In terms of ownership can be a green space green space owned by the general public and is open to the general public, or private green space (private) in the form of gardens located on private lands.

6 Landscape Aesthetic Ecology

There is an important role of the aesthetic ecology concept in participatory spatial planning (Poerwoningsih et al. 2015). This belief is supported by the sense of place concept in environmental behavior theory. Sense of place widely accepted as a concept to explore issues such as preferences, access control natural resources, and cultural significance in the use of resources, and the participation of local communities . The concept of sense of place characterizes the complex relationship of community to their environment. While the perception of the people on the surrounding environment refers to the use value of a space or environment, aesthetic ecology as a form of aesthetic perception as predicted Daniel (2001) had opportunities to be developed in a participatory spatial planning.

Approach to the concept of sense of place is often applied in tourism research, which aims to determine the motivation of people to visit a particular place in the urban and rural environment (Cheng and Wu 2009), environment, rural conventional suburban (Soini et al. 2012), traditional agricultural landscapes (Walker and Ryan 2008) until the scope of the road corridor space or open space for recreational activities (Blumentrath and Tveit 2014). Exploration of sense of place concept is made to relate the relationship between human and nature, also in terms of environmental conservation that ultimately contribute to the aesthetic quality of the environment. The contribution in management is often referred as a form of public participation in the environment.

There is a positive relationship between the sense of place and the behavior of certain environments. However, there is a relatively little research that has been done on the relationship between sense of place and community participation in rural areas as well as, the relationship between sense of place and a willingness to contribute to the management of rural space or landscape . In addition to the relationship between sense of place and environment character of the landscape, there is some empirical evidence that sense of place influences the actions of individuals and society in different mechanisms. Sense of place can be a good predictor of how people will react to changes in the environment. People who have a strong sense of place seemed more rooted, more caring and committed to solve the problem. (Walker and Ryan 2008; Lokocz et al. 2011; Soini et al. 2012).

Thus, the integration of the concept of ecological aesthetic in participatory spatial planning provides an opportunity to explore the processes of social and cultural influence environmental assessment and landscapes, including the opinions and judgments of society in landscape planning policies broadly (Soini et al. 2012).

7 Community’s Perceptions and Preferences on Landscape Changes in Batu City

The addition of vegetation through simulation photomontage represents efforts to improve the aesthetic and ecological quality of Batu City landscape. The results of the analysis of visual preferences indicate that the general public can distinguish and respond to the landscape changes. Landscape changes in the corridor with Tabebuya or trumpet trees (Tabebuia cassinoides) vegetation addition more prefer than its landscape existing (86% of respondents). Landscape simulation with addition of Angsana or Narra (Pterocarpus indicus) vegetation more prefer than landscape existing or landscape with the addition of Pucuk Merah or Lilly Pilly (Syzygium oleana) vegetation. The other simulation performed on twenty-five viewpoint (VP) was conducted to determine people’s preferences between Angsana vegetation and Tabebuya vegetation. Respondents preferred Angsana vegetation which serves as a shade ecologically more than vegetation Tabebuya which is more aesthetical functional. The results of this study indicate that the urban landscape type has an opportunity to improve the quality through the addition of vegetation which is supported by community who had understood about the presence of vegetation on the landscape.

Changes in the rural landscape type committed to the strategy of maintaining the landscape character that most have high-value landscape quality. The addition of vegetation carried out on the landscape corridor serves to reinforce the vista road with vegetation that vertically does not obstruct the view. The ideal choice is a type of evergreen pine vegetation Cemara gunung or Mountain Ru (Casuarina junghuhniana) which is the local vegetation. The results showed respondents prefer the landscape changes with the addition of Flamboyant vegetation than pine (VP 06). These results indicate that more people preferred the landscape change with characters shaded street corridors than a character transparency view to the sides.

The results showed that the respondents prefer the landscape changes with the addition of vegetation Kemlandingan gunung or Cape Wattle (Albizia lophantha) as seen in VP 07 that represent the landscape which has a high landscape quality. The addition of vegetation can improve the landscape on biodiversity aspects. The results of this study indicate that the public has understood and sensitive to this biodiversity aspect. The other results of visual preferences also strengthen an indication about people’s understanding of the presence of building elements and physical on the landscape. Respondents responded less likely to buildings and other elements that are considered disturbing visual quality of the landscape as seen VP 03.