Do Value Orientations and Beliefs Play a Positive Role in Shaping Personal Norms for Urban Green Space Conservation?

Kaiwen Su,Yilei Hou,Chuyun Cui,Yali Wen,Jie Ren

doi:10.3390/land11020262

Abstract

Urban Green Spaces (UGS) have a huge contribution to the health of urban ecosystems. However, they are threatened by numerous factors such as rapid urbanization, resource depletion, and climate change. These factors are inextricably linked to human behaviors, guided by the values and beliefs of people. According to value-belief-norm theory and norm activation model, personal norms are defined as self-expectations of pro-environmental behavior influenced by the ascription of responsibility and awareness of consequences in values and beliefs. When the conditions of responsibility and consequence awareness are met, individuals are more likely to experience a sense of moral obligation to exhibit environmentally responsible behavior. To address conservation and better enable UGS to have a positive function, we must explore how to promote the development of personal norms that are beneficial to UGS conservation. This study explored the influence that UGS values and beliefs have on personal norms. A questionnaire was administered to 1641 urban residents in Beijing, China, and Partial Least Square Structural Modeling was used to assess the causal relationship in the formation of personal norms on UGS conservation. The results showed that intrinsic, instrumental, and relational UGS value orientations contribute directly or indirectly to the formation of personal norms for the conservation of UGS through environmental beliefs as mediators, with the most significant effect being the relational value orientations. The results of the study can provide scientific guidance for future public participation in UGS conservation.

Highlights

Cities are dense carriers of population, politics, economy, culture, and religion
Did not have a significant direct effect on personal norms, but it directly influenced the ascription of responsibility for members of society. It exerted a significant positive indirect effect on personal norms through the ascription of responsibility as a mediator. We found that both the intrinsic and instrumental UGS value orientations (UGSVOs) must be mediated by environmental beliefs to influence personal norms, which highlights the important role of environmental beliefs as a “bridge” to overcome the gap between one’s recognition of environmental values and their initiatives to conserve the environment
Effective Urban green spaces (UGS) conservation requires in-depth knowledge and understanding of the environmental value orientations and environmental beliefs of society to promote the formation of pro-environmental personal norms for urban residents

Summary

Introduction

Cities are dense carriers of population, politics, economy, culture, and religion. They are unique ecosystems where human activities are highly compounded with the natural environment [1,2]. The increasing deterioration of the urban ecological environment has led to a growing recognition of the importance of green space in promoting urban ecosystem health, optimizing its structure, and improving urban ecosystem function [9,10,11]. Urban green spaces (UGS) are important components of an urban ecosystem and can be considered an environmental resource [12,13]. UGS play a significant role in improving urban microclimate, promoting the development of human health, and maintaining ecosystem stability [18,19,20]. Promoting the conservation and rational use of UGS is of great significance and has received increasing attention from academia and policymakers

Results

Discussion

Conclusion