Sikorska, Daria, Wojnowska-Heciak, Magdalena, Heciak, Jakub, Bukowska, Joanna, Łaszkiewicz, Edyta, Hopkins, Richard ORCID: 0000-0003-4935-5825 and Sikorski, Piotr (2023) Rethinking urban green spaces for urban resilience. Do green spaces need adaptation to meet public post-covid expectations? Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 80:127838. ISSN 1618-8667 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2023.127838)

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Abstract

Based on a social preference survey performed in Warsaw, we assessed the preferences toward alterations in urban green spaces (UGS) that should take place to ensure safe recreation. We identified how peoples’ personal characteristics are linked to the preferred changes to formulate recommendations for alterations addressing post-covid challenges while keeping the resident’s preferences in mind. We used 1–7 scorings of images of different types of urban landscapes, which we photomanipulated to represent varying levels of crowding, followed by questions regarding recreational behaviour, anxiety towards COVID and preferred changes. Various urban landscapes were, on average, comparably suitable for recreation, only highly urbanized landscapes receiving lower scorings. The respondents declared that vegetation density and overall share of vegetation were of the highest importance in assessing images and claimed that crowding had little effect on their preferences. Those statements were inverse to their choices when assessing recreational preferences based on images: the presence of people in all cases decreased assessment of the scenery. There was a clear respondents’ need for more wild and cultivated vegetation and more places for spending time in UGS. Any repressive actions by distancing people spatially in UGS, isolating seniors or introducing entry limits did not meet social approval. We also identified two major behavioural patterns: people who were primarily driven by fear of COVID-19, visiting green spaces closer to their homes and having less need for UGS alterations. The second group was those frequently visiting UGS who did not reveal fear of COVID-19, those who did not favour wide paths or the importance of UGS located nearby, and opted for more wilderness. These two approaches to recreation are likely to persist after the pandemic, which supports the need to increase UGS diversity.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	urban green space; COVID
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography N Fine Arts > NA Architecture
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Agriculture, Health & Environment Department
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 01:38
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/38413

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