Factors influencing residents’ attitude towards urban green infrastructure in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

Understanding public attitudes towards the environment and factors influencing it is very important in predicting pro-environmental behaviour of citizens. However, in many cities in sub-Saharan Africa, where rapid urbanisation has come with diverse environmental sustainability challenges, there are very few studies that provide insight into the attitude of citizens towards urban green infrastructure (UGI) and the factors influencing it. This study investigated residents’ attitude towards UGI and the factors influencing it in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 1560 participants and physical observations in selected neighbourhoods in the study area. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression and content analyses. It was observed that the most common UGI in the study area were parks, gardens, grasses, sport fields and street trees and that around 67% of the participants demonstrated good attitude towards UGI in their respective neighbourhoods. In addition, around 47% of the variance in R2 was explained by the regression model with residents’ perceived role of UGI in fostering social cohesion and health benefits and quality of neighbourhood UGI emerging as the top three factors that influenced residents’ attitude towards green infrastructure. This study implies that adequate knowledge of the social and health benefits and quality of GI are vital to developing positive attitudes towards GI among urban population.