Introduction

In the context of urban renewal, how to meet the needs of urban residents and improve their satisfaction as well as how to revitalize cities has become a hot issue nowadays. In the past two to three decades, urban ecological public art design has gradually developed in major cities around the world, and studies have shown that the emergence of public art can help to show the multiculturalism of urban areas, and also promote the rejuvenation of cities1,2. The provision of high-quality urban ecological public art design is therefore an important strategic direction to maintain the competitive advantage of urban renewal and urban rejuvenation through the satisfaction of urban residents. The above premise suggests that urban managers and planners should consider the quality of urban ecological public art and the needs of urban residents, and incorporate them into practical strategies for promoting urban renewal and development. At the same time, studies have shown that art promotes social and economic development and plays an important role3. Our research argument is that to increase the satisfaction of city residents and enable city administrators to develop important strategic service plans as a way to enhance urban vitality, it is necessary to promote an effective decision-making framework based on the needs of city dwellers, as a set of priority urban ecological public art design strategies and as one of the strategies to enhance urban vitality.

The Kano model is an effective methodology that can be used to study the needs of users and the impact of user satisfaction4. Also, the Kano model is an effective method for user-centered research5. In other words, in our study, the Kano model helps us to do better research and categorization of residents’ needs. In addition, Prof. T.L. Saaty, an American operations researcher, proposed a fuzzy analytic hierarchical process (FAHP) and a computational analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in the 1970s. FAHP is a system analysis that combines qualitative and quantitative methods, and the introduction of a fuzzy theorem in AHP forms FAHP, which improves the problems of the traditional hierarchical analysis and improves the evaluation and decision-making of complex event6. Therefore, FAHP will be used in our research.

Interestingly, the Quality Function Deployment contributes to urban design7. It can be seen that one of the effective ways of designing ecological public art that is resident-driven is through QFD. It has been demonstrated that QFD can help to respond to the Voice of the Customer (VOC)8. Thus, the structural framework of QFD can help to reflect the “voice of the urban dweller” in urban ecological public art design, and may also lead to an increase in the level of URS (Urban Residents’ Satisfaction).

More specifically, QFD can effectively translate the needs of urban residents (NUR) into detailed specifications for the quality of urban ecological public art design. In summary, the combination of the Kano model and FAHP is integrated into QFD, which is one of the ways to effectively deploy the quality function. However, how to combine the Kano model with FAHP and integrate them with QFD theory to form a new QFD framework is a major issue in this field of research in public art. Their qualitative and quantitative integration can help make decisions about the needs of urban residents for quality urban ecological public art design. In essence, our study introduces a decision-making framework that combines the Kano model with the FAHP and QFD in the field of urban ecological public art design to guide design methods and strategies in the context of urban renewal. Therefore, it is crucial to effectively identify the needs of urban residents.

The rest of this study is organized as follows. The second part is the literature review of the research methods and theories of urban ecological public art design, the Kano model, FAHP, and QFD. The third part focuses on the basic methodology and introduces a new methodology that combines the Kano model, FAHP, and QFD theory for data analysis and application in the field of public art design. In the fourth section, the paper analyzes the results of how the new QFD framework performs for urban ecological public art design. The fifth part discusses the study. The sixth part concludes the paper.

Literature review

The research is conducted in this study on how the quality function of urban ecological public art design is deployed in public art. In order to further clarify the logical ideas of the research in this paper, the author gives a framework diagram of the literature review as shown in Fig. 1 below.

Fig. 1
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Framework of the literature review.

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As shown in Fig. 1 above, it can be seen that the literature review summarizes two aspects: a macro perspective of the research in the past two decades, and a micro perspective of the research methods in which the Quality and Function are commonly carried out.

After organizing the literature on urban ecological public art and design, the paper focuses specifically on the policies, typologies, and perspectives, as well as the literature on urban image, promotion of urban revitalization, and sustainability. Specifically, in terms of policy and planning, in 1959, the Percent for Public Art Ordinance policy was issued and first implemented in Philadelphia9. Keidar and Silver10 used the policy as a basis for building a model space of the city with this public art policy as the core model. However, the assertion or formulation of policies about public art and related policies is lacking, and one of these is the neglect of the practice of public art, which specifically encompasses the complete cycle of public art, i.e., the three phases of preparation, implementation, and evaluation11. Meanwhile, in the preparation phase, Pollock et al. point out how artists’ participation in the public art planning process is a need for a clearer and stronger process framework, funding, and policies12. In addition, in terms of constructing urban futures and revitalizing cities, Keidar & Silver have proposed the concept of “urban reference networks” in accordance with the Percent for Public Art Ordinance policy, which can help construct urban futures in global urban landscapes13.

In addition, the paper finds that the dynamism of the arts field has an impact on the style of urban public space, and that public art is an ever-converging and wide-ranging artistic practice, specifically ranging from easel painting to sculpture, design, new media, and even a variety of vehicles and disciplines such as architecture and performance14. Public art has been recognized as an important part of the public’s cultural life. In addition, public art includes functional object landscapes and installations; it can be permanent or temporary15. We note that there are many examples of this, for example in the direction of interaction, the facade of the famous “Haus des Lehrers” in Berlin has been described as a prototype for interactive tools in urban space: the Blinken light became the world’s largest interactive computer monitor, and people loved this work because It allows for changing the shape of the building’s lights, easy interaction via cell phone, sending personal messages, collaboration and so on. In the direction of public art and LED electronic screens, the public art industry is growing. For example, in the Crown Fountain in Chicago, public art with LED digital screens such as this is very popular with the public. In the direction of combining public art and projection, French artist Clement Briend uses digital projection to project on trees in Cambodia, combining with natural ecology. There are also many interactive public artworks that encourage the public to participate as well as experience the work16. For example, in the center of the main building in front of the Ontario Science Centre, a permanent public artwork was placed that resembles a musical instrument (hydraulophone) that the public can play and interact with at any time17.

What interests us is that a number of scholars in the urban field have analyzed and discussed cities and public art from different perspectives. For example, from a cultural perspective, some scholars have pointed out that the development of urban ecological public art design is closely related to the improvement of the quality of life of residents and the process of globalized cities, and at the same time, these processes indirectly illustrate that culture is the center of policy making18. In addition, recently in Asian urban areas, most cities have begun to use public art to enhance the cultural industries in the urban areas, to develop creative cities and to realize urban revitalization through art and culture19 Furthermore, in the theme of cultural identity, public art is a tool for cities to express their history, regional culture, values, sense of identity, and self-confidence, while also emphasizing the cultural identity of “heritage”10. In addition, Keidar and Silver’s research indicates that cities are able to demonstrate a unique stylistic appeal and logic when discussing public art that is derived from local culture20. And the author also notes that scholars have explored urban ecological public art design from sustainability. To cite just a few examples, urban art in public spaces, for example, can help promote urban identity, while urban ecological public art design can help promote environmental, social and financial sustainability in cities21. In addition, Kim and Comunian22 have incorporated the complexity perspective into the study of art and cities and have done detailed research and analysis. There are also studies by scholars based on the ecology of landscapes and complex populations that help to plan and manage urban green spaces23.

It has been noted that public art is used internationally as one of the tools to promote urban development24,25. Specifically, its benefits include improving the urban environment and economy, as well as increasing foot traffic for residents and visitors, and improving spatially disorganized urban conditions26,27. Most cities internationally are increasingly emphasizing public art as a place-making tool, one of the reasons being that it not only creates unique spaces but also enhances the image of the place25,26,27,28. Furthermore, Ley29 practiced public art as design in connection with various urban places and participants, proving that public art can capture urban value. This shows that urban ecological public art design can help enhance urban image and vitality and promote urban renaissance and sustainable development.

In terms of research methodology, after focusing on studies related to urban ecological public art design, this paper combined the Kano model to categorize the public’s demand for needs. The Kano model is an effective method for categorizing and ranking user needs based on assessing the impact of user needs on user satisfaction30. Although the advantages of Kano are many, the traditional Kano model is still qualitative when used on its own, so it needs to be improved or combined with other methods31. What interests us, however, is the ability of the Kano model, when combined with FAHP. It creates user needs-driven product designs as well as to reflect their prioritization32. Therefore, Kano needs to be investigated in conjunction with other standard decision-making methods to maximize its usefulness33.

Apart from the use of the Kano model, the paper found very few studies analyzing public art using FAHP. The only study that did analyze public art was also using FAHP16. Although FAHP is a method that can be used to make decisions based on pairwise comparisons of multiple criteria, there is still the possibility that subjective judgments may be imprecise when making comparisons, however, combining fuzzy sets with analytic hierarchy (FAHP) can compensate for the shortcomings of AHP in studies34. Therefore, FAHP is used in our study.

Finally, we integrated the Kano model and FAHP into QFD. The author found that the research on the integration of QFD with other theories or models is almost in a gap in the field of public art, and there is almost no research on quality management of urban ecological public art design. However, the current urban ecological public art design is an emerging force in urban development in recent years, so quality management of urban ecological public art design is necessary. Quality management includes QFD and other supportive tools35 QFD, as a quality management tool, has a good role in process management36. At the same time, it combination with the TOPSIS methodology for both finding and prioritizing lean tools compensates for the shortcomings of QFD when used alone37. In addition, QFD is based on causal reasoning and promotes fact-based management, which is a fundamental principle of quality management38. Previous authors have argued that QFD helps to model the relationship between WHATs and HOWs39. In addition, QFD is used more frequently in combination with Kano, FAHP, and other theoretical models. This paper looks back at representative studies in recent years, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Representative studies of QFD quality development modeling combined with other analytical approaches.
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Based on the studies presented in Table 1, the author summarizes that research methods such as Kano, FAHP, and QFD have been widely used in existing studies, which provide a great deal of theoretical and modeling support for us to study the macroscopic research on the deployment of quality functions in urban ecological public art design. However, in this field, the use of the Kano model combined with the FAHP method and QFD and other three research methods combined and applied to the quality function of urban ecological public art design development is still relatively lacking. Therefore, an in-depth study of residents’ needs for urban ecological public art design can not only help urban ecological public art design to improve its quality but also increase the satisfaction of urban residents with urban ecological public art design, and also promote urban revitalization.

In summary, the previous studies provide partial support and reference for our study. However, there are differences between our study and the existing studies, which are mainly reflected in the following three aspects. (1) Although the existing studies have achieved more recognized research contributions and results, they have not combined these three methods and applied them to the field of public art design. Our research will combine the Kano model, FAHP and QFD theory, and make further exploration and empirical research. (2) The quality control of urban ecological public art design is not perfect in the existing studies. By studying the existing literature and results, the author will further explore how to carry out effective QFD of urban ecological public art design and analyze the data. (3) Finally, the paper designs a relatively perfect QFD model of urban ecological public art design. In this way, the expectations of urban residents for urban development can be raised and urban vitality can be enhanced.

Methodology

Kano model

Professor Noriaki Kano of the Tokyo Institute of Technology invented the Kano model. The model is mainly used to categorize and prioritize the user’s needs for product attributes in a filtered order, including Must-be (M), One-dimensional (O), Attractive (A), Indifferent (I), Reverse (R)46, which is commonly used in the product and user experience field. Kano’s model helps to understand the user’s needs and is able to capture the customer’s preferences, which is crucial in influencing the user’s satisfaction with their needs47. Its use has been demonstrated in a number of domains. Researchers often combine the Kano model with QFD theory in their studies, and it has also been demonstrated in the field of urban ecology45.

Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

The method can determine the importance level of each factor through pairwise comparison48 and improve it with high quality through the fuzzy logic method49. In our study, the hierarchical analysis model of urban residents’ demand for ecological public art design is established through the FAHP method, and a fuzzy judgment matrix is constructed. Finally, the comprehensive weights of urban ecological public art design in elements of each level are calculated and ranked to determine its key demand factors. According to the development of FAHP in the last decade, the method has been developed in various fields, but only not applied to the field of public art design. For example, Haber and others40 applied it to the healthcare field, and their research combined QFD with FAHP to develop a new Product-Service Systems system (PSSs). In the design domain, Kaya and Erginel50 combined hesitant Fuzzy with QFD to demonstrate that sustainable QFD of hesitant Fuzzy can be a practical structural approach in the design of future airports in their early planning stages.

QFD theory and HOQ quality house modeling

The theory of QFD is a decision-making technique that focuses on user needs and is an important method in product design and development. The main decision-making tool in QFD is the house of quality (HOQ), which relies on the relationship matrix between user needs (CR) and quality characteristics (EC)51, where HOQ is shown in Fig. 2. Its main function is to transform user requirements into quality functions or quality characteristics of the product52. In this, users are able to express their needs for the product, which in turn we collect and organize, and transform them into the design requirements and quality specifications of the product. However, this method is currently not well used in the field of urban ecological public art design, and the quality of urban ecological public art design and the current demand and satisfaction of urban residents towards urban ecological public art design are in a blind and unclear state. Therefore, the QFD method provides a decision-making framework for our study, showing how urban ecological public art design needs to be positioned and designed, and how its quality needs to be improved and managed. In fact, the use of this method in the last decade has permeated various fields outside the public art field, including the product and service design field, where Ye and others53 introduced a novel QFD methodology, proposed a new integrated approach for prioritizing engineering characteristics (EC) in quality function deployment, and also validated the illustration with a real-life example of product-service system design. In addition, Wu and Liao54 proposed a novel QFD framework that evaluates the weights of customer requirements and effectively captures customer preferences for products and services.

Fig. 2
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HOQ quality house.

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In summary, QFD methods have been widely used in many disciplines and fields. However, the QFD methods used in existing studies are somewhat different from the QFD methods we used in this study. Our study is divided into two aspects. First, we used QFD methods in our study to establish a new QFD decision-making framework to explore the psychological and emotional needs of urban residents for urban ecological public art design. Secondly, we realized QFD combined with the Kano model to verify the influence of urban residents’ needs in defining the quality management of urban ecological public art design and the satisfaction of urban residents, which can help to improve the theory and time strategy of urban management and planning designers in the management of urban ecological public art design, and in this way, better promote the development of urban renewal.

Combined Kano-FAHP-QFD design and analysis

Research process of urban ecological public art design

Previous research has shown that user satisfaction can be studied as a complementary tool to quality function development (QFD)30. However, there is currently a research gap in applying the Kano model in combination with FAHP and QFD to the field of public art design. In our study, the Kano model is combined with the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) into QFD to form an integrated framework and a new House of Quality (HOQ) for urban ecological public art design. The framework is shown in Fig. 3 and includes (1) Collecting the voices of urban residents and interviewing urban residents. (2) Preliminary categorization of the interview data using the KJ method. (3) Using the Kano model to specifically categorize and analyze the psychological and emotional needs of urban residents. (4) Use FAHP to analyze the attributes classified by Kano and calculate the weights. (5) Finally, the Kano model is combined with FAHP and integrated into QFD to construct a quality house; (6) The quality function of urban ecological public art design is deployed with urban residents as the center.

Fig. 3
figure 3

Framework diagram of the new Kano-FAHP-QFD research pathway.

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Analyzing urban residents’ demand for urban ecological public art design using KJ classification and Kano-based modeling

The framework started with collecting the needs of urban residents. Firstly, we conducted research and the current situation combining urban ecological public art design in four cities around the world (London, UK; Paris, France; Wuxi, China; and Shenzhen, China) from November 2023 to January 2024 respectively, and collected and organized and transformed them into their needs through the form of focus group interviews (online + offline). Due to the large and complicated sample size of the interviews, we used the KJ method to organize the research data, and finally sorted out 18 urban residents’ needs regarding the quality attributes of urban ecological public art design, as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2 KJ method of organizing the needs of urban residents.
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The collated needs were then made into a Kano questionnaire with a pair of questions (positive and negative) and distributed to the four cities. A total of 284 city residents participated as participants in this study on a five-point Likert scale. Of these, 261 responses were selected as reliable data. Unreliable responses were due to, among other things, participants’ lack of experience with urban ecological public art works.

Subsequently, we conducted a reliability and validity test on the data of this research. We used the statistical software SPSS.26 to test the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha value for the research data was 0.899 for the forward questions and 0.866 for the reverse questions. From our data test, we can see that Cronbach’s alpha value is > 0.8, so the questionnaire’s reliability is good. In the validity test, the KMO value is 0.888, and the P value of Bartlett’s spherical test is < 0.05, which shows that the structural validity of this questionnaire is good. This shows that the reliability and validity of this study are very good and more in-depth Kano and QFD studies can be conducted.

The Kano categories that were finally applied to our study are Better-Worse coefficients of satisfaction of urban dwellers established by using the coefficients of Satisfaction (SI) and Dissatisfaction (DI) proposed by Berger55 and presented in a scatterplot. The coefficients of SI and DI are plotted on a scatterplot with four quadrants of needs: attractive needs, indispensable needs, attractive needs, and desirable needs. The Better-Worse coefficients are used in our study as follows:

$$\text {Urban resident satisfaction index SI=(A+O)/(A+O+M+I)}$$
(1)
$$\text {Urban Resident Satisfaction Index}$$
$$\text {Urban resident dissatisfaction index DI=(O+M)/(A+O+M+I)}$$
(2)
$$\text {Index of dissatisfaction of urban residents}$$

Among them, SI and DI values are used to determine the degree of sensitivity of residents to changes in the quality and functional level of urban ecological public art design, with SI values ranging from 0 to 1, the larger the value indicating greater sensitivity and higher priority, and DI values ranging from − 1 to 0, the smaller the value indicating less sensitivity and lower priority.

The results are shown in Table 3 below. The coefficients of satisfaction of city residents SI and DI are calculated by formulas (1) and (2) based on the results of Table 2. The values of SI and DI are also included in Table 3. The Kano category of each city resident’s needs is determined by the values of SI and DI and the Better-Worse scatter plot in Fig. 4.

Table 3 Demand results for urban residents.
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Fig. 4
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Better-Worse scatterplot.

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According to Table 2 of the Kano questionnaire user needs analysis, a quartile scatter plot is established with the SI value as the y-axis coordinate and the DI value as the x-axis coordinate. From the scatter plot 4, it can be seen that safety and security in the functional demand, creative modeling in the aesthetic demand, and regionalism in the cultural demand belong to the essential demand, and their absence will lead to a serious decline in the satisfaction of urban residents. In addition, the combination of creative lighting, low-carbon environmental protection and the addition of renewable energy in the functional needs, as well as the aesthetic needs of the beautiful color coordination and other desired needs, if they have, will largely enhance the satisfaction of urban residents; if not, the satisfaction of urban residents will decline. Meanwhile, the good quality of materials, ecological and green integrated development, and easy maintenance in the functional demand, as well as coordinated size and proportion, human interaction with works, and digital intelligent interaction in the aesthetic demand belong to the glamorous demand, which, if possessed, can also enhance the satisfaction of urban residents. Therefore, the needs corresponding to the above three attributes of M, O and A should be emphasized in public art design. Therefore, the use of Kano model effectively identifies the needs of urban residents for the quality of urban ecological public art design.

Analyze the needs of residents using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

Then we constructed a Fuzzy AHP of indicators of psychological and emotional needs of urban residents based on the classification of M, O and A attributes. The model is divided into the target layer, criterion layer and indicator layer with affiliation. The target layer is the top layer, the criterion layer is subordinate to the target layer, and the indicator layer is subordinate to the criterion layer. In order to ensure the professionalism and usability of the results of calculating the weights, the relevant demand hierarchical analysis structure was established through interviews with experts in the field of public art design for scoring. The Fuzzy AHP is used to filter and categorize the needs and derive the specific contents of the three levels, and construct the model, and Fig. 5 below shows the Fuzzy AHP.

Fig. 5
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Fuzzy AHP.

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Subsequently, a judgment matrix is constructed and weighted, which compares the level of importance between indicators at the same level and quantifies the qualitative level of importance. Two-by-two comparisons are made for the criterion level: essential needs (M), expected needs (O), and charismatic needs (A), and then two-by-two comparisons are made for the needs of the indicator level under the criterion level respectively. Finally, the weights of each indicator of urban ecological public art are calculated by the formula of Fuzzy AHP, and the consistency test of matrix scoring is conducted. We use the geometric mean method to calculate the weights and then normalize them. The process of calculation is as follows.

  1. 1)

    First establish a fuzzy complementary judgment matrix

Using the 0.1 ~ 0.9 scale method, as shown in Table 4 below, a two-by-two comparison judgment between factors is made to obtain a fuzzy judgment matrix

$$\:A=({a}_{ij}{)}_{n\times\:n}$$
(3)
Table 4 Scale method 0.1 to 0.9.
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  1. 2)

    Calculate the weight vector \(\:W\)

$$\:{W}_{i}=\frac{\sum\:_{j=1}^{n}{a}_{ij}+\frac{n}{2}-1}{n\left(n-1\right)},i=\text{1,2},\cdot\:\cdot\:\cdot\:,n$$
(4)
  1. 3)

    Calculate the feature matrix\(\:{\:W}^{*}\)

Let\(\:W=({W}_{1},{W}_{2},\cdot\:\cdot\:\cdot\:,{W}_{n}{)}^{T}\) be the fuzzy judgment matrix\(\:A\) the weight vector of the fuzzy judgment matrix, where\(\:\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{W}_{i}=1,{W}_{i}\ge\:0(i=\text{1,2},\cdot\:\cdot\:\cdot\:,n)\), such that:

$$\:{W}_{ij}=\frac{{W}_{i}}{{W}_{i}+{W}_{j}}(\forall\:i,j=\text{1,2},\cdot\:\cdot\:\cdot\:,n)$$
(5)

For example\(\:{W}_{01}\), which results in a result equal to\(\:\frac{{W}_{0}}{{W}_{0}+{W}_{1}}\) that\(\:n\times\:n\) The data in each position of the matrix is calculated using the weight vector \(\:W\) After the computation of the values in, we get\(\:n\) order matrix:

$$\:{W}^{*}=({W}_{ij}{)}_{n\times\:n}$$
(6)

\(\:{W}^{*}\) is called the judgment matrix\(\:A\) of the characterization matrix.

  1. 4)

    Final calculation of compatibility index \(\:I\)

Let the matrices \(\:A=({a}_{ij}{)}_{n\times\:n}\) and\(\:\:B=({b}_{ij}{)}_{n\times\:n}\) both be fuzzy judgment matrices, I called\(\:\:A\) and\(\:\:B\) the compatibility index of

$$\:I\:\left(A,B\right)=\frac{1}{{n}^{2}}{\sum\:}_{i=1}^{n}{\sum\:}_{j=1}^{n}\:\left|{a}_{ij}+{b}_{ji}-1\right|$$
(7)

According to the formula, the value of I in the criterion layer is 0.062 and the value of I in the indicator layer is 0.089, 0.059 and 0.092 respectively. The compatibility value of I < 0.1 for each matrix, therefore it passes the consistency test. Subsequently, the weight value of the criterion layer and the weight value of the indicator layer were multiplied to get the comprehensive weight value and the total comprehensive ranking. This results in the demand weights and prioritization of urban ecological public art, as shown in Table 5.

Table 5 Ranking of FAHP weights.
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Integration of the Kano model and FAHP method into the construction of House of Quality (HOQ) for urban ecological public art design

After obtaining the weights of urban residents’ demands, it is necessary to transform their demands into specific quality functions, and each indicator layer demand has a corresponding different design to support the corresponding functions and demands56. As shown in Table 6.

Subsequently, we combine and integrate the needs categorization based on the Kano model and the weights assigned by the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process FAHP into the QFD quality function configuration. The Quality House is able to convert residents’ needs into quality functions related to them, and then rank the importance of different quality functions to find solutions to the core problems and target the design. The formula for calculating the importance of design elements is:

$${F}_{j}={\sum}_{i=1}^{n}{L}_{i}{W}_{ij} (j=1,2,\cdot\cdot\cdot,n)$$
(8)

In the formula:\(\:{\:F}_{j}\) is the degree of importance of the first \(\:j\) importance degree of the item quality function; \(\:{L}_{i}\) is the importance degree of the i-th urban residents’ needs, and \(\:{\:W}_{ij}\) is the relationship assignment between the demand of the i-th city resident and the j-th quality function.

Table 6 Requirements-functional structure Conversion table.
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At the same time, we use “+” to indicate a positive correlation and “-” to indicate a negative correlation between each quality function to form the roof area. Then we used ● for 5 points, ◎ for 3 points, and △ for 1 point to form the room area of the quality house. Finally, four experts in public art design and three experts in urban planning and design were invited to score the quality house, and then we calculated the importance degree to get the final quality house model, which is shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6
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Quality housing for urban ecological public art design.

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Based on the above research, it can be seen that our study will then sort out the lengthy interviews, classify them with the KJ method, make a Kano questionnaire for resident research, and then use the FAHP fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to obtain the weights. Finally, the calculated Kano model attribute classification and FAHP fuzzy analytic hierarchy process weights are combined and integrated into the QFD, which is transformed into the quality function deployment of urban ecological public art design. The advantages are the following two points, one, avoiding the subjectivity between variables. Second, it increases the explanatory and logical power of decision-making.

Results

We optimize the division of importance in a more specific way, with 1.5 or more as level 1 importance, 1 to 1.5 as level 2, and 1 or less as level 3. Therefore, the information about the functional structure of urban ecological public art design obtained from our study is shown in Table 7 below.

Table 7 Functional structure table of urban ecological public art design.
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Meanwhile, we constructed an indicator system as shown in Fig. 7, which is specialized for the deployment of quality functions of urban ecological public art.

Fig. 7
figure 7

Schematic deployment of qualitative functions of urban ecological public art.

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From the results of the study, our research is based on the attribute division and the functional structure ordering of urban ecological public art design derived from research and data analysis, so as to guide the research of urban ecological public art design more accurately and effectively. Finally, we summarize and analyze the quality and functional deployment of urban ecological public art design.

  1. 1)

    First-level functional analysis: at this level, the overall structure and material safety of the urban ecological public art design needs to comply with the Unified Standard for Reliability Design of Building Structures GB50068. In addition, the safety coefficient of the work can be guaranteed, and the safety of the residents’ needs is a necessity. Secondly, in line with the urban characteristics of the landscape, it needs to be combined with the local regional culture, in line with the urban characteristics of the landscape. Regional culture also belongs to the necessity of residents’ needs. Finally, it also needs to have the function of energy saving and sustainable development, low carbon and environmental protection, which is an expected attribute in the demand of residents. For example, renewable energy can be added, such as wind energy, solar energy, etc., so that the urban ecological public art design is not just a “costly decoration”. Therefore, the first-level function is very important for this type of design.

  2. 2)

    Secondary function analysis: first of all, there can be a novelty in the function of three-dimensional modeling art. Residents have a high demand for creative styling, visual appearance, and interesting visual images, and it is a necessity. And visual images can also assess and measure the role of public art in urban public spaces21. Secondly, this type of design needs to add lighting design, such as creative digital lighting combined with LED energy-saving lamps, so as to make the urban ecological public art design works more energy-saving and environmentally friendly, but also creative design. The combination of LED creative digital lighting is also an expected demand from the residents. In addition, in the five functions of volume size compliance, post-maintenance, harmonization and unification of artistic effects, public participation, and promotion of ecological environment development, the attribute of residents’ needs to which they correspond is the charismatic attribute. Under the second-level attribute, it contains one essential need, one desired need, and five charismatic needs, so the design of this category is also inseparable from the second-level function.

  3. 3)

    Tertiary function analysis: In addition, two functions, material quality, durability and robustness, and human-computer digital interaction, belong to the tertiary function. However, what interests us is that in the third level of functions, the good quality of materials is the desired demand of urban residents. It can be seen that people prefer urban ecological public art that is made of high-quality, durable and sturdy materials and can be stored for a long time. However, the “soft sculptures” that are currently being used in public art internationally are also very appealing to the viewer. In addition, human-computer digital interaction has also been an emerging design point in the last decade. However, it is currently located on the third level of the functional deployment of urban ecological public art and also belongs to the charm attribute in the corresponding demand. Thus, it has not been widely utilized in this type of design and is a new direction to be explored in the design of urban ecological public art.

Discussion

In our study, the final HOQ model serves as a link between the quality objectives of functional deployment and the design of urban ecological public art as well as the urban residents, leading to a sizable optimized program design for urban ecological public art. But does the mass deployment programme have the potential to meet the preferences of urban residents, to enhance their satisfaction, and to contribute to urban vitality and urban regeneration?

In this regard, we have used the scheme design of the case for this Kano-FAHP-QFD quality deployment scheme of our study, which is shown in Fig. 8 below, along with the design description. And the site is selected in the city of Wuxi, China. In order to validate our research results. We again invited the residents of Wuxi city to conduct a quantitative questionnaire evaluation and qualitative interviews on the programme design. The purpose was to verify whether the programme met their preferences for “ecological public art”. A total of 31 Wuxi city residents participated in the evaluation and interviews. Firstly, our study was conducted through pictures and functional explanations. Second, we used a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire to score the design solutions and interviewed the residents. Finally, we conducted a statistical analysis of the evaluation results, which are shown in Fig. 9 below. Among them, the research data shows that the scoring values are all greater than 3. And the higher this scoring value represents the higher the residents’ satisfaction with our programme of urban ecological public art design based on the quality conduct method. The results of the study showed that the residents were unexpectedly satisfied with the three aspects of energy saving and sustainability, three-dimensional modelling art, and the inclusion of lighting design. Then, we interviewed the 31 residents and gave a summary of their conversation.

Fig. 8
figure 8

Urban ecological public art design scheme and functional description.

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In the interviews, the most frequent topic that the residents talked about was that they thought the urban ecological public artwork had practical significance. They believe that the greatest advantage of this work is the use of renewable energy, which can be used to drive the work to rotate through the wind, and also to collect renewable energy such as solar energy and wind energy, and convert them into electricity. The electricity is not only used to generate power for the LED, but also to drive the work to rotate slowly when there is no wind. The work can also contribute to the green development of the city, making up for the lack of attention to ecology in the field of public art. In addition, other residents talked about the fact that the work is on the lake, 15 m from the lake shore, and the distance to interact with the work is just right. And, the residents thought that the butterfly wings would glow and flicker after infrared sensing people approaching the 50-metre range of the artwork, while generating different levels of light depending on the amount of foot traffic. This interactive design idea struck them as very interesting. And it was a good way to integrate water lilies and art into one design, which protects the ecology and integrates the ecology and art. However, they also gave some suggestions, they felt that it would be better if an interactive screen linked with the artwork could be designed on the shore, to increase the human-computer digital interaction between people and the artwork.

Fig. 9
figure 9

Evaluation results.

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The results of the study show that our case design is effective and meets the psychological expectations and satisfaction of urban residents. Residents were satisfied with the quality of the deployment, whether at the primary, secondary or tertiary level. Therefore, after quantitative and qualitative evaluation, it is proved that our case is effective. It is also clear from the interviews that the inclusion of urban ecological public art design based on our Kano-FAHP-QFD deployment programme in the urban renaissance of Wuxi has resulted in better satisfaction of the residents. It also enhances the city’s vitality and “lights up the city with art”.

From a methodological point of view, we adopt the Kano model combined with FAHP fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, combined with QFD theory, so that the design framework proposed by qualitative and quantitative methods not only takes into account the subjective and fuzzy ideas of urban residents but also provides the flexibility and reliability as well as completeness in constructing the decision-making problem of urban ecological public art design and draws out the real “voice of the urban dweller”. In this way, the urban ecological public art design program is effectively developed. Specifically, we propose a new extended methodology of QFD for urban ecological public art design: Kano-Fuzzy AHP-QFD. thus can help urban planners as well as public art designers in designing such works, how to design effective urban ecological public art design works, and how to analyze the reliability of the results such as calculations and decisions. Although there are many extensions of QFD in the literature56 the AHP as well as the QFD extensions they use each have their strengths. However, our study adopts Kano-FAHP-QFD, which utilizes the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), which is different from the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). There have been scholars who have applied the Kano-FAHP-QFD approach to the medical device industry40. The type of results they have achieved are considered exploratory and usable. Our approach to the field of public art design effectively utilizes its strengths to deal with the inherent ambiguity and subjectivity of design decisions, thereby increasing the value of the QFD inputs, as well as effectively obtaining more in-depth information about the needs of urban residents for urban ecological public art design.

Furthermore, from a management perspective, the deployment of quality in urban ecological public art design is collective and synergistic. Our proposed new QFD framework centers on urban ecological public art design, thereby benefiting urban residents through increased coordination and collaboration among urban planners, and urban ecological public art designers. The proposed framework consists of Kano-FAHP-QFD for maintaining and communicating the ‘voice of the urban dweller’ throughout the urban ecological public art design process. Thus, it creates an information chain by closely linking the ideas and decisions of urban planning decision-makers, designers, and city residents. It further contributes to the consistency of planning steps and ensures the effectiveness of Kano-FAHP-QFD. Once the hierarchy of demand attributes of urban residents for urban ecological public art design is determined (the first Kano model), the priority of their demand weights can be effectively quantified (the second FAHP analysis) and evaluated, and finally, the demand attributes and demand weights can be functionally transformed (the third QFD). This will enable us to meet the needs of urban residents for urban ecological public art design and to determine the quality and functionality of urban ecological public art design. Similarly, our design study was enhanced by the Kano-FAHP-QFD approach, which provided us with a structured sequence of steps in designing urban ecological public art designs to prevent potential deviations from the needs of urban residents. Thus, the deployment of the quality function in urban ecological public art design endeavors to set goals and establish effective processes to meet the preferences of urban residents and increase their satisfaction.

While there are good things about this quality function deployment, it is also subject to certain limitations. For example, a large amount of labor, time and effort is required throughout the study. Specifically, it requires extensive research and data collection from urban residents in urban areas. However, considering the high standard and long-term nature of urban ecological public art design decisions and the benefits of promoting urban revitalization. The difficulty of obtaining data and the difficulty and complexity of the process are certainly justified. In addition, as it is currently only a quality function of the urban ecological public art design deployment programme and design programme. Although the current urban ecological public art design based on this methodology has received better satisfaction from urban residents at this stage, and the residents’ evaluation of the works designed by this programme is very good. However, the actual finished product needs to be placed on the city site for more participatory evaluation by the residents. Therefore, our study is already moving forward with the actual work in the urban area, and we will invite the urban residents to participate in the work in order to obtain participatory evaluation in the subsequent study. The aim is to verify the effectiveness of this quality deployment program in improving resident satisfaction and promoting urban development and urban vitality and revitalization.

Conclusion

Our research adopts a new approach to quality deployment applicable to urban ecological public art design, looking at the roots of residents’ needs and preferences, and designing and analysing as well as validating how this type of work can be scientifically deployed. The framework streamlines and summarizes the strategic thinking of urban ecological public art design and deploys strategies to meet the needs of residents. The Kano-FAHP-QFD methodology is introduced into the quality requirements of urban ecological public art design through the collection of “voices of the city residents” and the scoring of relevant experts’ positioning. It is also verified by application cases. The results show that the urban ecological public artwork designed by the programme has been well evaluated. It has the potential to “light up” the visual and sustainable development of the city in urban regeneration. The combination of Kano-FAHP-QFD can not only effectively capture the needs of urban residents, but also accurately design elements of this type. In this way, it can enhance resident satisfaction and urban vitality as well as promote urban revitalization and sustainable development. At the same time, our research also makes up for the fact that there is no qualitative and quantitative analysis and setting of quality requirements for urban ecological public art design in the international arena for the time being. Finally, the methodology can be combined with demand analysis and transformation based on demand acquisition to form a closed-loop urban ecological public art design process, which increases the scientificity and rigor of the development process of urban ecological public art design works.