RENOVATION OF INFORMAL GREEN SPACES IN OLD URBAN RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES IN CHINESE CITIES AND RELATED PUBLIC PERCEPTION INVESTIGATION

Abstract

Existing large-scale urban green spaces in a low distribution density can hardly meet citizens’ diverse and growing needs for convenient access and sharing modes, especially to those living in old communities. Compared with formal green spaces, informal green space (IGS) is a new urban green infrastructure contributing to the city’s coconstruction, co-governance, and co-sharing. This study was conducted based on a typical old residential community in the historic city center of Beijing, namely Beitaipingzhuang Neighborhood, acquired residents’ opinions, evaluation, and willing to participate in IGS governance, and investigated their preference of IGS renovation, activity, and the positive / negative perception of IGS scenarios through virtual renovation proposals upon the real scenes. According to the survey result, most residents have been aware of the existing IGS in communities as well as the advantages and disadvantages, and shown their support to IGS cogovernance; residents’ preference of IGS renovation scenarios is significantly affected by environmental factors—residents prefer the green spaces with a higher plant richness, a larger crown size, and a more complete leisure facility system. Therefore, residents’ positive perception can be enhanced through enriching plant species, adjusting green space ratio, and introducing proper planting patterns and facility types. Finally, the authors put forward several research interests for following up so as to provide targeted guidelines for the optimization of urban living environment.

Keywords

Informal Green Space / Old Residential Community Renewal / New Green Infrastructure / Landscape Perception / Community Governance / Activity Preference

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