Adolescent motivation for visiting urban green spaces and socio-demographic variations in a large dense city

Abstract

Adolescent motivations for visiting urban green spaces (UGSs), a valuable component of urban outdoor built environments, mirror their needs, and influence their use and further their development and health. Understanding the motivations and related socio-demographic variations is necessary for effective planning and management of UGSs, particularly in large dense cities typically with scarce UGSs. However, no studies have directly focused on the adolescents' motivations or the socio-demographic variations. This research first addressed the gaps through questionnaire surveys of 651 randomly-selected primary to senior school students (10–18 years old) in Guangzhou, China. Descriptive statistics depicted the sample overview and the general motivations, and multivariate binary logistic regression studied the socio-demographic variations. The nature- and exercise-predominated multiple motivations justify multifunctional planning and design and multipurpose management of UGSs, with emphases on natural elements and facilities for exercise. The adolescents' motivations for visiting significantly varied with gender and particularly education level or age. These findings could add new insights into the research field of adolescents and UGSs. Decision-makers should consider these socio-demographic variations seriously in the decision-making processes of UGSs, for example, through a participatory approach to proactively collect adolescents' motivations and develop targeted measures to satisfy their special and varied needs on UGSs and to promote their usage. Because relevant research is highly scarce, however, further studies are needed to examine the associations of the adolescents' motivations with their socio-demographic characteristics, and should also include more factors influencing the adolescents’ motivations such as parental roles and UGS characteristics including spatial information.