**5. Conclusions**

At present, the most featured elements are still those that Olmsted expected in the park, accounting for 65%. However, artificial elements and animals in the park received about 35% of the attention, which he personally opposed, or at least did not expect, at the beginning. Most of the sculptures in the park have certain culturally representative and symbolic meanings. People's attention to them reflects their attention to the history and culture of the park, and of New York itself. Sculptures have also become powerful mediums through which Central Park can promote cultural inclusiveness. People pay more attention to buildings, lights, etc., which may also be due to the upgrading of facilities and technological progress, making these elements more diversified. Flowers and animals add color and potency to the harmonious and picturesque landscape, making it more dynamically beautiful, which exceeded Olmsted's expectations.

The number of dynamic activities mentioned in the park comprised nearly 35% of all activities, which is far beyond Olmsted's expectations, and does not conform to his original intention that "the park was designed to enjoy scenery rather than entertainment". The selling of items, running, playing of musical instruments and performing of activities that he banned at the beginning are also frequently seen in the park now, which induces in tourists a variety of perceptions. The activities he once allowed, such as horse riding, carriage riding and skating, which were considered means of transportation, have now become popular entertainment and sightseeing activities in the park.

Olmsted's expectations of "quiet", "spacious", "healing" and "picturesque" accounted for about 30% of those seen here, which shows that the park scenery could still bring tourists a soothing feeling. Now, though, the most popular comment made by tourists is "fascinating", which is a dynamic emotion, representing a strong recognition of the park. This goes beyond Olmsted's expectations. It shows that in the eyes of tourists, the beauty of modern parks lies not only in the picturesque static beauty that Olmsted expected, but also in the dynamic beauty of interesting entertainment activities and excited crowds. New York Central Park can attract a large number of tourists every year. In order to develop tourism moderately and not damage the quality of life of the local people, it should balance the activities of the four seasons. For seasonal large-scale gathering or sports activities, it should make arrangements and subordinates in advance to avoid overtourism [37].

Overall, Olmsted's design theory had a broad cross-generational vision that may have inspired the current park design. He believed that establishing a connection between people and nature can restore people's physical and mental health. This view was forwardlooking, and had a subtle influence on the design of the current park. He recognized the important role of parks in healing urban populations, and this remains an integral value of urban parks. At the same time, one of the main reasons Central Park came back to life after so many twists and turns is that it has been flexible and accommodating enough to be redefined to meet the needs of social aesthetics, urban development, and people in different times. New York's Central Park is not a giant green isolated island in Manhattan, but an urban oasis of great public and social significance, which plays a vital role in the health of New Yorkers, and of New York City itself. It is not only part of the precious heritage left for us by Olmsted, but also the most famous and successful urban park in the world today, as well as a model of modern urban parks. The great influence of his practical works and design theory on the landscape architecture discipline, and on the whole of modern society, were not to be surpassed or even copied until many years later.

Big Data was used as a research tool, and tourists' post-occupation comments on the park were used as a data source to understand their preferences when in Central Park. The broad data collected directly recorded the elements, activities and perceptions of the park that they focused on. Comparing these data with Olmsted's design theory, and adding some reviews by modern scholars describing the park preferences of people, a conclusion could be obtained about the extent to which Olmsted's ideological heritage has been preserved today. At the same time, big data can also be used as a tool to improve the tourist experience. Through the big data platform, new tourist destinations can be found, the number of tourists or the surrounding hotels and restaurants can be queried, and the right time has been chosen to travel to avoid overtourism [37].

Our results also provide detailed guidelines for the design of natural landscapes and man-made structures, which are closely related to the field of landscape design [38]. This can help identify the content that needs to be improved in the early and late maintenance periods of modern park design, and in this way, more attractive and inclusive parks could be designed for contemporary people. Based on the results of this study, some suggestions could be made regarding the construction of modern urban parks: (1) In terms of landscape elements, users pay more attention to the waterscapes, animals and trees in the park, and to the overall appearance and colors of the park. At the same time, all elements should work together as in a beautiful landscape painting, with coordinated colors and composition. (2) Walking, sightseeing, and other static activities are the most popular. Plants, waterscapes, terrain and other elements can be used to create a suitable space and atmosphere during design. (3) Well-designed elements can promote tourists' activities in the park. In turn, people will be more likely to notice said landscape elements when they participate in

activities. Elements and activities reflexively stimulate each other, offering tourists a rich experience of the park. Compared with the landscape elements of the park, the activities performed in the park can affect the moods of tourists more significantly, and tourists pay more attention to their personal participation in and interactions with the park.

In later research, multi-source data such as those derived from Instagram or remote sensing could be combined, and on-site research can be carried out at the same time. In this way, more research directions can be opened up, on a wider range of sites, or with the combination of microclimate and Big Data. In addition, data with a longer time span could be used to explore whether people's entertainment experiences in the park change with time or the development of social events, such as epidemics.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https: //www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/buildings12122217/s1, Table S1: Word frequency table; Table S2: Table of relationship between activities and landscape elements; Table S3: Table of relationship between landscape elements and perceptions; Table S4: Table of relationship between activities and perceptions.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, X.Z. and B.Z.; methodology, B.Z.; software, S.X.; validation, W.Z., X.Z. and B.Z.; formal analysis, W.Z.; investigation, W.Z. and B.Z.; resources, B.Z.; data curation, C.M.; writing—original draft preparation, S.X.; writing—review and editing, W.Z., X.Z. and B.Z.; visualization, S.X.; supervision, X.Z. and C.M.; project administration, W.Z.; funding acquisition, W.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported by the Central Universities [Grant No. HIT.HSS.202210]; Heilongjiang Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project [Grant number 21YSB127]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 51908170].

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
