Against the background of shrinking urban green space resources and diverse health needs of residents, traditional landscape architecture faces theoretical and methodological bottlenecks in quantifying health effects, exploring underlying mechaisms, conducting multi-scale analysis, and enabling dynamic prediction. This study examines how exposure ecology can supplement and enhance landscape architecture across three dimensions: theoretical core, methodological system, and practical path, so as to better serve public health-oriented urban planning.

This study combines literature review with inductive analysis. By systematically reviewing the core components of exposure ecology, including the “pattern−process−exposure−health” causal chain theoretical framework, the “dose−response−threshold” model, and virtual-real interactive simulation technology, it summarizes its innovative advantages over traditional landscape architecture in terms of health intervention concepts, quantitative assessment, and precise design. Building on this foundation, the study explores the inherent logic and feasible paths for the integration of the two disciplines by analyzing three dimensions: theoretical complementarity, methodological innovation, and practical synergy, and also looks forward to the key future development directions.

Systematic review and inductive analysis show that exposure ecology complements and integrates with landscape architecture in a comprehensive and profound way. 1) Complementary integration at the theoretical level. Guided by the core concept of “upstream health intervention”, exposure ecology shifts landscape architecture from providing passive ecological services to actively planning a “health-producing system”. By constructing a “subject –object –real –virtual” multidimensional framework, it expands the understanding of ecological exposure complexity, extending beyond physical design to include virtual nature experiences. 2) Enhanced innovation at the methodological level. The “dose–response–threshold” model enables accurate quantification of green space health benefits. Integrating real measurements with virtual modeling (GIS/remote sensing, multi-agent modeling, digital twins) creates a “virtual–real interactive exposure simulation” approach, advancing landscape architecture from static spatial analysis to dynamic process simulation. 3) Collaborative applications at the practical level. Exposure ecology promotes evidence-based landscape planning through techniques such as green space exposure equity assessment and behavioral trajectory analysis. This supports precise applications like greenway optimization and community service blind spot identification. The “physiological health benefit threshold” model offers a validated method for understanding green space’s upstream health impacts. By implementing a transformation path from research to policy, exposure ecology has strengthened cross-sectoral collaborative-governance with public health, environmental protection, and other departments in healthy city construction projects, improving the overall benefits of planning implementation.

Exposure ecology, through its innovative theoretical framework, quantitative methods and technical tools, effectively compensates for the lack of scientific rigor and precision in traditional landscape architecture when serving healthy urban planning. The deep integration of the two disciplines will show great potential and development space in the following three key research directions. 1) Deepening the research on multi-scale dynamic exposure measurement and causal mechanisms is the foundation for promoting the development of the discipline. In the future, we can explore the construction of a cross-temporal and multi-scale green space exposure measurement model; explore the physiological pathways and psychological processes of green space exposure affecting human health, and promote the research to deepen from correlation analysis to causal inference. 2) Strengthening the application of digital twin and geographic artificial intelligence technologies in simulation and prediction is key to improving planning efficiency. In the future, we can build a digital mirror in virtual space that evolves synchronously with the real urban green space system. This will enable planners to simulate the green space exposure scenarios and potential health outcomes of residents under different planning and design schemes, thereby facilitating project scheme comparison and optimization. 3) Expanding multi-sensory virtual exposure research and its synergistic optimization with physical space is an innovative pathway to address urban challenges. Virtual green space exposure will become an important natural exposure supplement in high-density urban areas. Future research should explore the health benefits of multi-sensory virtual nature experiences, determine the dose-response relationship and application threshold of virtual exposure, and compare the effects with those of real-world exposure. It should also develop research combining virtual and real exposure, exploring how to construct optimal ecological spatial patterns by coupling real and virtual dimensions. The deep integration of exposure ecology and landscape architecture will continue to deepen, jointly providing solid disciplinary support and practical impetus for optimizing urban green space planning, improving public health, and achieving sustainable urban development.