Understanding user perception of podium gardens in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study seeks to explore the multi-dimensionalities of behavioural geography, public attitudes, landscaping preferences and public participation intentions of podium gardens (PG) through a territory-wide users’ perception survey, taking Hong Kong as a case study. PG comprises open and landscaped greenery elevated above the ground in the built environment for public enjoyment. They contribute a multitude of benefits to urban inhabitants, ranging from ecological, economic to social. The general public as the users harbour differential needs and expectations on PG as communal green infrastructure, but social-empirical evidence of human-land interactions in PG remains poorly understood. Hence, four distinctive avenues of investigations have been selected including behavioural geography, public attitudes, landscaping preferences and public participation intentions of PG. Simple random sampling was utilized and a total of 637 valid face-to-face interviews were conducted on sites. Visitors’ habits, attitudes, landscaping preferences about PG were evaluated and the likelihood of citizen engagement in PG planning and operations were assessed.

These results suggest that Hong Kong people have a bent for effectiveness. They were frequent PG afternoon-visitors who adopted the fastest access by walking within 15 minutes. They also realized recreational, time, and cost effectiveness by pursuing diverse active and passive recreational activities commonly within 30 minutes either alone or with friends in free-of-charge, shaded and vegetated PG. For perceptions, they found the personal wellbeing and aesthetic functions of PG the most important. Local users showed limited dissatisfaction towards PG mismanagement. Their health condition and childhood growth environment are predictors of the positive perception; their self-reported health and monthly household income are of the negative perception. For layout design, they preferred multiple paraphernalia in a single and sizeable floor with dispersed seats and naturalistic-artificial paths. At least 50% of the PG site were expected to be shaded by plants and covered by vegetated surface. PG goers’ environmental exposure in pupilage, the preferences for open-vegetated space, and information-direction facilities were the predictors of their positive PG perception. The preference for basic facilities, open-vegetated space and information-direction facilities covaried with users’ housing status and monthly household income to shape their negative perception. For citizen involvement, they were ‘heedless citizen participants’ who used PG without a strong participatory willingness. Their education background, district residence period, and positive PG perception were deterministic factors predicting visitors’ willingness to participate in decisions about PG operations.

This study proffers socially-relevant and policy-significant information to inform PG planning and operations. It enriches the literature by unraveling the public views of utilizing PG in an ultra-compact city with multi-compact centers. Variations in visitors’ behaviours, public attitudes, landscaping preferences and civic engagement proclivity are ascertained, and their socio-economic and demographic associations are demonstrated. These findings could trigger future inquiries. Deterministic potentials of socio-economic and demographic attributes of PG users are identified to inform changes in relevant PG design and management practices in Hong Kong. Evidence-based public opinions about PG are proposed to suggest future modifications in urban planning and city greening policy alongside with effective citizen participation strategies.