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

Minseo Kim, Christoph D. D. Rupprecht and Katsunori Furuya
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Minseo Kim: Department of Environment Science and Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, Chiba 271-8510, Japan
Christoph D. D. Rupprecht: FEAST Project, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto 6038047, Japan
Katsunori Furuya: Department of Environment Science and Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, Chiba 271-8510, Japan

Land, 2018, vol. 7, issue 3, 1-20

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 m 2 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.

Keywords: vacant land; street verges; spontaneous vegetation; postal questionnaire; Asia; Japan; recreation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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