Residents’ Spatial Preference for Urban Forest Park Route during Physical Activities

Abstract

Urban parks positively affect the life quality and health of urban residents as well as the environment where they live. When it comes to the design of a future urban forest park, it is necessary to consider the protection of ecological environment, landscape sustainability and practicability. This study explored residents’ spatial preference for urban forest parks based on preference survey data. According to the rating scores obtained for four urban forest park routes during physical activities, this study used cognitive maps and multinomial logit models to figure out the potential influencing factors affecting residents’ spatial preference while they engage in physical activities. The results suggest that forest routes are still the primary choice for urban residents. Although familiarity with the spatial image preference for urban forest parks varied from person to person, residents’ choice of route shows certain commonalities, which was reflected in the sequential cognitive maps obtained from them. In addition, residents’ route preference is influenced by their exercise habits, environmental preference and residential location. There is also a certain correlation between residents’ preference and their characteristics. This study provides additional information for planners, developers, engineers, architects and foresters in building a more suitable environment that is aesthetically appealing and ecologically sound for physical exercising.

Sustainable Urban Forest Conservation: Assessing Public Attitudes towards Urban Forests in Nairobi City

“…The study has also exposed Nairobi's residents desire to have more opportunities for urban forests access. This desire, which is also recorded by other studies done globally (Arnberger & Eder, 2015;Barron et al, 2021;Cai et al, 2021;Han & Yeo-Chang, 2021) confirms the universal human affinity to nature. Interestingly, the residents further expressed willingness to participate in conservation activities of these spaces.…”

“…Conservation strategies and successes reported in past studies highlight the importance of values attached to the subject to be protected (Arnberger & Eder, 2015;Cai et al, 2021;Endreny et al, 2017;Lamhamedi et al, 2021;Levandovska et al, 2020;Massawe et al, 2021;Wajchman-Świtalska et al, 2021) meaning, people protect what they value. The rank for conservation measures and efforts in this study can be attributed to the recognition of the benefits of urban forests outlined in the first theme above.…”

“…Access to urban forests is vital in promoting the utilisation of the resources in the forest environment as reported by Arnberger & Eder, 2015;Cai et al, 2021;Macháč et al, 2022. Attitude statements on affordability of access and the need to increase access points that ranked 11 and 17 respectively provide a good indicator of the role of accessibility in forest conservation.…”

“…These preferences (Barron et al, 2021) sometimes contradict expert opinions on urban forests preferences and opinions on design and planning as noted by Barron et al (2021). Another study conducted by Cai et al (2021) examined the residents' spatial preferences for urban park routes during physical activities and established that routes through the forest are preferred for physical activities. These studies illustrate the need to focus on the residents or users of a particular urban forest in generation conservation and planning strategies.…”

Audio-Visual Preferences for the Exercise-Oriented Population in Urban Forest Parks in China

“…As a new type of park arising from urbanization in the era of ecological civilization [1], urban forest parks have multiple functions such as recreation, recuperation, and avoiding the heat, which help improve air quality [2], reduce noise [3], and provide a pleasant environment for people to promote physical and mental health development [4]. Forest parks can meet the needs of urban residents for environment, leisure, and sports, thus attracting an increasing number of urban residents for physical exercise close to nature [5]. In China, where urbanization is accelerating, the relationship between the health level and quality of life of urban residents and urban forest parks has become increasingly important [6], especially in the context of COVID-19, where the demand for parks and outdoor green spaces has increased rather than decreased [7].…”