A study protocol to understand urban rewilding behaviour in relation to adaptations to private gardens

Abstract

Urbanisation is increasing; an estimated 68% of the world's population is expected to live in an urban conurbation by 2050. In 2019, London had 9 million inhabitants. Greater London covers an area of 1,569 km, 14% of which is vegetated private garden space, a percentage that is declining, negatively impacting biodiversity. Small adaptations to London's private gardens can turn them into a habitat for wildlife. This study protocol provides detail of research to understand and influence urban rewilding behaviour with a focus on adaptations to private gardens in London. The research follows three phases comprising (1) a scoping review of the existing literature on intent-orientated pro-environmental behaviours with a focus on urban rewilding, coded using the COM-B model of behaviour, (2) sequential mixed methods research including interviews and a quantitative survey to understand the capability, opportunity and motivational factors influencing urban rewilding behaviour, culminating in (3) development of an intervention strategy to promote urban rewilding behaviour using the Behaviour Change Wheel framework. Combining the disciplines of design, environmental and behavioural sciences, this research will provide new insights for influencing the behaviour or urban rewilding.

The barriers and facilitators to physical activity in people with a musculoskeletal condition: A rapid review of reviews using the COM-B model to support intervention development

“…The identified reviews were deductively coded for the capability, opportunity, and motivational barriers and facilitators to physical activity. Each review was coded by JW and AB, TP coded six reviews; JW, AB and TP are experienced in using the COM-B model to understand behaviour [ [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] ] and in reviews of the literature to inform decision making in public health [ 20 , [22] , [23] , [24] ]. AH, AA, VO and JD, brought into the research team as ‘knowledge users’ (detailed below), coded one or two reviews each.…”

Bringing nature into private urban housing: Environmental, social and food connections for urban resilience

“…the presence of insects; the development of weeds, including in pots) may or may not be perceived as constraints to gardening, depending on how urban citizens make sense of the opposition between wildness and domestic planting. A current growing trend for rewilding private gardens has been observed and recent research has been aimed at understanding the motivational and behavioural factors ( Webb & Moxon, 2021 ).…”

Audience segmentation of New Zealand cat owners: Understanding the barriers and drivers of cat containment behavior

“…A broad range of domains have applied the COM-B model [30] to understand the barriers and drivers of behavior related to health [40][41][42][43][44][45][46], pro-environmental behavior [47][48][49], agriculture [50,51], and invasive animal management [52][53][54]. COM-B is an integrative model developed by Michie and colleagues [30], which builds on previous behavior change frameworks and states that behavior is the result of three main factors: capability, opportunity, and motivation (COM).…”