1 International Journal of Architectural Engineering & Urban Planning, Volume 33, Number 1, 2023 DOI: 10.22068/ijaup.722 Research Paper The Relationship between Sensory Stimuli Integration and Visual Preferences in Small Urban Parks Habib Shahhoseini 1* , Mustafa Kamal M.S. 2 , Suhardi Maulan 2 , Paniz Mousavi Samimi 1 1 Faculty of Art and Architecture, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran 2 Faculty of Design and Architecture, Department of Landscape Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia Received: February 2022, Revised: October 2022, Accepted: November 2022, Publish Online: December 2022 Abstract Small Urban Parks (SUP) are vital parts of cities that can enhance the quality of the public environment. Visual Preferences (VP) in SUPs, which consist of diverse stimuli, are affected by multisensory perception, including the combination of auditory, olfactory, and tactile stimuli. However, the relationship between sensory stimuli integration (sound, smell, touch) and people’s VP has been neglected during the design process, which can influence the assessment of an environmental aesthetic and preferences. The main objective of the present study is to evaluate how multisensory can affect the VP of visitors through textual and photo questionnaires. Structural Equations Model and Regression were studied on 394 participants, chosen from 16 SUPs located in different parts of Tabriz, Iran. Results identified the “Human and Natural sounds, Human-Body and Natural smells” as influential factors on visitors’ VP; however, touch stimuli had no significant impact. In this regard, paying attention to the visitors’ experience of Natural Sound-Smell Stimuli and the Human-body Sound-Smell Stimuli are essential in designing SUPs. The outcomes of the current research provide a guideline for city planners and landscape designers regarding the relationship between senses and their practical implications in SUPs in order to promote people’s VP and visitation. Keywords: Multisensory perception, Stimuli integration, Small urban park, Visual preference. 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Connection with nature is considered one of the fundamental needs of humans, and its’ merits are being investigated by many scholars (Hergül and Göker, 2021, Salazar et al., 2021). Improving mental well-being and physical health (Houlden et al., 2018), enhancing social life (Goldy & Piff, 2020), and affecting people’s visual preferences (Mousavi & and Shahhosseini, 2021) and experiences (Chawla, 2020) are among the various benefits of human-nature connectedness. Due to the urban area’s densification, building small green spaces such as SUP has interested policymakers (Kerishnan et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2021; Saeedi & Dabbagh, 2021). When compared to most urban parks, SUPs are smaller in size, bounded  Corresponding author: habib_shh@iaut.ac.ir © 2023 Iran University of Science & Technology. All rights reserved by buildings and are usually built in vacant lots and other abounded spaces (Kerishnan & Maruthaveeran, 2021). These urban open spaces are usually located in the center of development which can be easily accessed, therefore, are considered an essential part of the urban infrastructure (Chapman, 1999). Urban open spaces can be improved by taking the quality of the SUPs into account (Lam et al., 2005; Liu et al., 2016). Since a successful design is considered to be a crucial element in a park's success (Submitter et al., 2020, Kerishnan & Maruthaveeran, 2021), judging the aesthetic of a landscape should not be only through visual features; instead, the Auditory, Olfactory, and Tactile (A.O.T) factors must be considered as well (Thompson, 2018; Kühne, 2019; Zhao et al., 2013). A proper design not only relies on