Research on the Aesthetic Perception of Color Temperature in Urban Waterfront Nightscape Lighting Interfaces: A Virtual Reality Experiment Approach

As a key visual variable in urban nightscape lighting design, color temperature directly affects people's aesthetic perception and visual experience. Existing research has primarily focused on the impact of single color temperatures, with limited systematic exploration of the aesthetic effects of combined color temperature schemes—particularly in the context of waterfront lighting design. Therefore, this study employs Virtual Reality (VR) technology and the Unity 3D platform to construct a simulated waterfront nightscape lighting environment. Combined with eye-tracking data, it quantitatively analyzes how different combinations of color temperature influence aesthetic quality and visual attractiveness. Taking Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing and its surrounding architecture as a case study, we collected participants’ subjective aesthetic evaluations and visual responses in an immersive panoramic VR environment. The results show that combinations of medium and low color temperatures (3000K, 4000K) applied to primary and secondary buildings significantly improve the overall aesthetic quality and enhance visual focus compared to single high color temperature settings (above 5000K). This study proposes an integrated evaluation framework that combines VR-based simulation, eye-tracking, and human-centered analysis, providing a quantitative method for intelligent nightscape lighting design. The findings highlight the importance of color temperature composition strategies in optimizing visual experiences in urban spaces and offer technical and practical insights for sustainable urban lighting design and intelligent aesthetic planning.