Perception of urban blue-green infrastructure during winter in Gothenburg

Abstract: Life in urban settlements is often associated with insufficient physical activity and continuous stress. By implementing blue-green infrastructure (BGI) consisting of parks, trees, ponds, and rain gardens, amongst others, recreational values can be provided for the residents. This in terms of opportunities for physical activities (active recreation), relaxation, and socialising (passive recreation), as well as visual appeal (aesthetics). To create appealing and functional outdoor environments, awareness of public perceptions is of great importance. Several studies have looked upon how greenery in general is perceived, both in terms of contribution to recreation and differences in perception between groups of people. However, an examination of how different types of BGI elements are perceived has not been well established, and above all, not during wintertime. In this thesis, a web-based questionnaire is conducted to investigate how greenery is visually perceived by residents of Gothenburg in Sweden, in terms of contribution to recreational values in winter in relation to summer, and how 20 BGI elements and related qualities are perceived during winter in terms of contribution to recreational values. Based on 298 replies, the results showed that greenery is perceived to contribute to recreational values in winter, however, to a less extent than in summer. The impact of gender and age shows that women tend to perceive BGI’s contribution to recreational values higher than men and that older adults perceive the contribution higher than younger adults, which is in line with previous research. In a comparison of 20 different BGI elements, it was seen that large park was perceived to contribute the most, followed by urban and peri-urban forests and green areas, small green space, and watercourse, whilst ditch was perceived to contribute the least, followed by porous pavement, small/immature single tree, green roof, and small/immature street tree. Qualities that generated high recreational values were larger areas, several elements together, and several layers of greenery. This in contrast to fragmented single or smaller types in connection to buildings or grey infrastructure. Water was seen to have a great impact on aesthetics. Findings from this study conclude that BGI contributes to recreational values in winter and that certain qualities of BGI elements are perceived to contribute more to recreation than others. These findings can have implications for urban planning in terms of knowledge that can be used for prioritisation and enhancement of BGI elements and qualities that contribute to recreational values in winter, thus, favour and are appreciated by residents.