Abstract
The extensification (opposite of intensification) of urban public green spaces offers great potential for conservation. One major issue for the long-term success of such a measure is, however, its acceptance by the urban population. This contribution presents the results of an image-based online questionnaire that we set to elucidate the role of sociodemographic affiliations regarding the perception of urban green areas. We also asked whether acceptability can be increased by the presence of additional structural elements (sculptures, benches) and “acceptance stripes”, i.e., stripes regularly mowed only at the margins of a natural green space. Regarding structural elements, 40- to 60-year-olds consistently rejected intensely maintained lawns and perceived a lawn as positive only in combination with a sculpture. A regularly mowed acceptance stripe resulted in a positive perception of natural meadows by people with an affinity for city life, classified based on their actual place of residence and/or their social dimension including aspects such as sense of place, familiarity, profession, and interests. Thus, decision-making processes of policy makers must be evaluated together with the urban population and should be assessed multidimensionally, i.e., by considering various criteria (e.g., ecological, social, and aesthetic aspects) in order to meet the requirements of residents and achieve an increase in biodiversity.
Highlights
The value and contribution of natural urban green spaces to biodiversity and their ecological importance with respect to ecosystem services are well-known [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
53.7% of the respondents stated their commitment to nature conservation; 62.1% of the participants had an affinity for rural life, i.e., “country types”, 35.9% had an affinity for city life, i.e., “city types”, and 2.0% made no statement with respect to their self-perception
A strategy of zoning that takes into account different objectives at different sites would foster more biodiversity in areas that are not heavily utilized in the form of lawns
Summary
The value and contribution of natural urban green spaces to biodiversity and their ecological importance with respect to ecosystem services are well-known [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. From a social point of view, urban green spaces offer facilities that can be used by city dwellers, e.g., as meeting points and places for relaxation and recreation [8,9,21] They have multiple benefits (physiological and psychological) with respect to health and well-being (e.g., [7,8,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]). Meadow Mowed Margin (F) Lawn (H and I) 14 mm.
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