Abstract
There is growing recognition that interactions with nature provide many desirable human well-being outcomes, yet increasing urbanization is degrading the quality and quantity of nature experiences. Thus, it has become increasingly important to understand how and why urban dwellers interact with nature. Studies of urban green space use have largely focused on the availability and ease of access to green space, suggesting that greater opportunities to experience such space will lead to increased use. However, a growing literature emphasizes the potential for an individual's nature orientation to affect their interaction with green space. Here we measure the importance of both opportunity and orientation factors in explaining urban park use. An urban lifestyle survey was deployed across Brisbane, Australia in November 2012 to assess patterns of green space use. Participants (n = 1479) were asked to provide information on demographics, private yard use, park visitations in the past week, and their orientation toward nature. About 60% of those surveyed had visited a park in the past week, and while this park user population had significantly greater nearby park coverage (within a 250 m radius; p = 0.006), a much stronger determinant of visitation was their higher nature orientation (p<0.00001), suggesting that while both opportunity and orientation are important drivers for park visitation, nature orientation is the primary effect. Park users also spent significantly more time in their yards than non-park users (p<0.00001), suggesting that yard use does not necessarily compensate for lower park use. Park users with stronger nature orientation (i) spent more time in their yard, (ii) traveled further to green spaces, and (iii) made longer visits than park visitors with weaker nature orientation. Overall, our results suggest that measures to increase people's connection to nature could be more important than measures to increase urban green space availability if we want to encourage park visitation.
Highlights
A major change in the human-ecological landscape is the dramatic shift to urbanization, with more people concentrated in cities [1]
We investigated whether park visitation is attenuated by the time that home owners spend in their own yards since their close proximity makes them easy to access
It will become ever more important to understand how to motivate urban dwellers to spend time in parks so they can gain the range of well-being benefits from green space exposure [3]
Summary
A major change in the human-ecological landscape is the dramatic shift to urbanization, with more people concentrated in cities [1]. Cities are inevitably relatively nature-poor due to the great range of competing land-uses. Because of this and the fact that urban residents are leading increasingly busy lives, there is concern that people are becoming disconnected from nature, leading to a largescale extinction of experience with the natural world [3,4]. This extinction of experience could have important consequences for the well-being of urban populations [5]. Urban green spaces provide arenas for recreation, community activities, and physical activities, with the last being a significant protective factor from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity [10,11,12]
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