Public attitudes toward biodiversity friendly greenspace management in Europe
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Conservation Letters |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/conl.12718 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/conl.12718 |
| Keywords | biodiversity conservation; biodiversity friendly greenspace management; environmental education; environmental policy; environmental responsibility; lawn alternative; maintenance intensity; sustainable cityplanning; urban vegetation; urban meadow |
| Description | Increasing urbanization worldwide calls for more sustainable urban development.Simultaneously, the global biodiversity crisis accentuates the need of fostering biodiversity within cities. Policies supporting urban nature conservation need to understandpeople’s acceptance of biodiversity-friendly greenspace management. We surveyedmore than 2,000 people in 19 European cities about their attitudes toward near-naturalurban grassland management in public greenspaces, and related their responses to ninesociocultural parameters. Results reveal that people across Europe can support urbanbiodiversity, yet within the frames of a generally tidy appearance of public greenery.Younger people and those using greenspaces for a greater variety of activities weremore likely to favor biodiversity-friendly greenspace management. Additionally, people who were aware of the meaning of biodiversity and those stating responsibilityfor biodiversity conservation particularly supported biodiversity-friendly greenspacemanagement. Our results point at explicit measures like environmental education toincrease public acceptance of policies that facilitate nature conservation within cities. |