Urban park visitor preferences for vegetation – an on-site qualitative research study

Michelle L. Talal, Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel; Environmental Sciences Graduate Program, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, Mary Santelmann, Water Resources Graduate Program, Oregon State University - Corvallis, OR, Corvallis, OR; Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University - Corvallis, OR, Corvallis, OR and Jenna H. Tilt, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Background/Question/Methods
With more than half of the human population living in cities, urban parks are some of the most significant places for human-nature interactions and their vegetation can provide a range of ecosystem services; however, the vegetation may not always meet the preferences of visitors. There is a need for additional on-site research, which has the potential to gauge vegetation preferences in a more authentic and multi-sensory context. The focus of our qualitative and exploratory study with a phenomenological inquiry approach was to better understand the degree to which the vegetation in urban parks meets diverse visitor preferences by performing on-site semi-structured interviews with visitors at 15 different urban parks of three general types (i.e., natural-passive use, recreational-active use, and multi-use parks) interspersed throughout Portland, Oregon, a mid-sized city in North America with a temperate climate. We transcribed the participant interviews and coded them for themes and patterns of meaning, compared and contrasted their responses, and then reflected on the subjective meanings of their lived experiences and perspectives.
Results/Conclusions
By conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews with visitors at a range of urban park types in Portland, Oregon, we explored vegetation preferences that may be used to improve park planning, design, and maintenance. Visitors across demographics groups discussed trees, size, and diversity/variety as some of their favorite aspects of the vegetation. Trees were important for visitors, particularly for their large size/shade, but vegetation preferences tended to vary across park type and slightly more than half of participants suggested changes. Many recreational-active and multi-use park visitors desired more flowers, color, grass, middle growth, trees, and food-bearing plants, as well as improved placement, while visitors to natural-passive use parks preferred additional invasive/harmful plant removal. Incorporating visitor vegetation preferences into plant selection, layout, and maintenance has the potential to increase ecosystem services of urban parks. For example, the addition of colorful, native flowers for visitors can also provide habitat for native species. Visitors across park types also desired to learn more about plants, and so additional interpretive signs/labels and multi-sensory gardens can help to engage and educate visitors.