Factors Influencing Perceptions and Use of Urban Nature: Surveys of Park Visitors in Delhi

Abstract

Urban green spaces provide important recreational, social and psychological benefits to stressed city residents. This paper aims to understand the importance of parks for visitors. We focus on Delhi, the world's second most populous city, drawing on 123 interviews with park visitors in four prominent city parks. Almost all respondents expressed the need for more green spaces. Visitors valued parks primarily for environmental and psychological/health benefits. They had limited awareness of biodiversity, with one out of three visitors unable to identify tree species and one out of four visitors unable to identify animal species frequenting the park. Most of the daily visitors lived within 0.5 km of these parks, but a small fraction of visitors traveled over 10 km to visit these major parks, despite having smaller neighbourhood parks in their vicinity. This study demonstrates the importance of large, well-maintained, publicly accessible parks in a crowded city. The results can help to better plan and design urban green spaces, responding to the needs and preferences of urban communities. This research contributes to the severely limited information on people's perceptions of and requirements from urban nature in cities of the Global South.

Urban Land Systems: An Ecosystems Perspective

“…Paul and Nagendra [8] present the results of a survey of UGS perception by park visitors in the megalopolis of Delhi that aimed to understand the importance of parks for them. For example, large parks tend to attract more visitors from further distances, despite their having small neighborhood parks in the vicinity of their homes.…”

Communication Networks and Performance of Four New Delhi City Parks

“…These in-depth interviews provide crucial contextual information for understanding the SNA results [38]. On-site face-to-face questionnaire surveys helped to assess visitor perceptions [14].…”

“…The second set of questionnaires recorded information about visitor's satisfaction, expected improvements, knowledge about the park and distance and frequency of park visits (Table 1 of [14]). This questionnaire was also aimed at understanding the factors influencing the perception and use of urban nature [14], drawing on each other.…”

“…This questionnaire was also aimed at understanding the factors influencing the perception and use of urban nature [14], drawing on each other. Visitor responses were categorized and coded for analysis.…”

“…Property prices are often higher near green areas [10,11] and afforestation has very large potential for employment [12,13]. Access to urban green spaces contributes to psychological and physical wellbeing by providing opportunities for recreation, socialization and physical activity [14]. In recent years, awakened by the fact of depleting urban nature at the cost of sustainability, governments and policy-makers have focused on enhancement of urban green spaces, protecting and enhancing ecosystems and developing green networks [15,16].…”