The Impact of Green Open Space on Community Attachment—A Case Study of Three Communities in Beijing

Yuemei Zhu,Junxiang Ding,Qiuchen Ma,Qing Zhu,Yang Cheng,Xuze Ji

doi:10.3390/su9040560

Abstract

With the development of urbanization in China, the quality of urban life and community attachment have attracted increasing attention of the governments and society. Existing research on community attachment has mainly examined how individual characteristics affect community attachment, such as their length of residence and socioeconomic status. However, some scholars have become interested in exploring the effects of green open space on community attachment. This research examined whether the distribution of green open space in communities had significant effects on community attachment, and both the impact and path were also investigated. Through a questionnaire survey, relevant data in three communities of Beijing were collected. The impact of green open space layout on community attachment was evaluated by using hierarchical regression, and the impact path was examined by using a structural equation model. The results showed that green open space in a community had significant effects on the community attachment, with centralized green open space layout having a greater effect than that of dispersed green open space. Moreover, the more complex the shape of green open space is, the greater the impact is. The degree of satisfaction with the green open space had direct effects on the community attachment. The accessibility and perceived area of green open space could indirectly have an impact on the community attachment by affecting the degree of satisfaction with the green open space. Nevertheless, residents’ perceived importance of green open space could affect the community attachment directly and indirectly, as it affects the degree of satisfaction.

Highlights

With the development of urbanization in China, people’s basic needs are gradually being satisfied, and their health and emotional needs have gained increasing attention [1]
The results show that R2adj in the first step of the regression analysis was 0.267, which means that the demographic characteristics explained 26.7% of the community attachment
In the three Beijing communities examined, green open space had significant effects on the community attachment, and the strength of this effect varied with different green open space layouts

Summary

Introduction

With the development of urbanization in China, people’s basic needs are gradually being satisfied, and their health and emotional needs have gained increasing attention [1]. Research on the effects of green open space in a community on the community attachment has theoretical and practical significance to community planning, design, and evaluation. A community is the place where people gain emotional support and form identities in their social lives [3]. Community attachment is defined as the extent and pattern of social participation and integration into the community, and sentiment or affect toward the community [6]. It has a profound effect on individuals’ motivation and behavior [7], which can affect one’s health status [8]. When people experience community attachment, they feel being interdependent with other residents in the community, as well as with the community [9], and this community attachment reduces personal stresses and contributes to the health and happiness of individuals [10]

Methods

Results

Conclusion