Understanding the structure of public perceptions towards urban green spaces: A mixed-method investigation

Public perceptions of urban green space (UGS) qualities affect people’s decisions to go to such spaces. Although the multidimensional characteristics of public perceptions towards UGSs are widely recognised, they are context-dependent, and the internal structure of these attributes remains unclear. This research aims to explore the multidimensional attributes of the perceived qualities of UGSs in the context of modern China and uncover the internal structure of these attributes. A qualitative analysis combined with a quantitative survey was conducted to study how people perceive the qualities of three typical UGSs in a Chinese city. Our dataset consisted of 10,485 online review records left by UGS users and 9 semistructured interviews, which helped us identify the attributes of the perceived qualities of UGSs from the perspective of users rather than from the perspective of planners or policy makers. Results showed that people care about service quality, intelligent management and location, which is slightly different from the concept of distance-based location. These perceived qualities have a hierarchical internal structure and reveal people’s decision-making process from meeting their basic needs to evoking their highest level of sense of place. Policy implications and suggestions were also provided based on the results.