Residents’ Perception of Informal Green Space—A Case Study of Ichikawa City, Japan

Minseo Kim,Katsunori Furuya,Christoph Rupprecht

doi:10.3390/land7030102

Minseo Kim, Katsunori Furuya + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/land7030102

Copy DOI

Abstract

Urban green space (UGS) has been proven to be essential for improving the health of residents. Local governments thus need to provide attractive UGS to enhance residents’ wellbeing. However, cities face spatial and finanical limitations in creating and managing UGS. As a result, greening plans often fail or are postponed indefinitely. To evaluate whether informal urban green space (IGS) can supplement existing UGS, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 567 residents in Ichikawa (Japan), a city currently providing only 3.43 m2 green space per capita. In particular, we analyzed how residents’ existing green space activities affect IGS perception, as it may be difficult to recognize IGS as greenery because it is not an officially recognized space for recreation. Results show that residents took a favorable stance towards IGS, but perception differs depending on their green environment exposure. Residents who are frequently exposed to green environments in their daily lives highly recognized the environmental improvement aspects of IGS and significantly perceived spatial accessibility as an advantage of IGS. Willingness to participate in conservation activities of UGS was linked with a likelihood of recognizing IGS as UGS. Our results encourage understanding IGS as supplementary green space taking into account the attitude of residents to UGS, and contribute to introducing the IGS discourse into green space planning.

Highlights

Urbanization throughout the world has led an increasing proportion of the population living in cities
We focused on the following research questions: (1) What are the merits of informal urban green space (IGS) that residents perceive and why are they reluctant to use IGS; (2) how does IGS perception differ depending on urban green spaces (UGS)
This study examined the potential of IGS as supplementary greenspace to meet the wellbeing needs of residents in the context of spatial and financial limitations in Ichikawa, Japan

Summary

Introduction

Urbanization throughout the world has led an increasing proportion of the population living in cities. The United Nations expects that 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050 [1]. As urbanization progresses and the urban proportion of the population increases, residents living in areas with paved environments often experience limited nature contact and increased exposure to noise and air pollution [2]. UGS plays a role in providing nature contact directly or indirectly in urban areas, supporting people’s physical health and well-being. This support positively affects human mental health, including stress reduction [3,4,5].

Results

Discussion

Conclusion