Investigating residents’ willingness to participate in urban edible landscaping: Perspectives from China

Abstract

In the context of the persistent food crisis and shifting societal dynamics, the concept of ‘edible landscaping’ has garnered increasing attention. Edible landscaping entails integrating food production into urban green spaces, offering a novel approach to address both food security and environmental sustainability. However, in China, conflicts regarding urban green spaces have arisen due to inadequate legal framework and management strategies. Gaining a better understanding of residents’ behavioral intention and willingness to participate will provide support for future intervention measures by decision-makers. This study proposes an extended model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate the effects of individual attributes on behavioral intentions. An online questionnaire survey was conducted in Hefei, China for hypotheses verification. The findings indicate that residents’ intention to participate in edible landscaping is influenced by perceived benefits and costs, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. Multi-group analyses reveal the moderating effects of past behavior, age, and gender on the proposed models. This study underscores the significance of promoting the benefits of edible landscaping while mitigating unfavorable factors. Additionally, it is important to consider the specific needs of different population groups. These findings have practical implications for future planning, implementation, and management of edible landscaping initiatives.