Public Perceptions of the Socioeconomic Importance of Urban Green Areas in the Era of COVID-19: A Case Study of a Nationwide Survey in Greece

Abstract

Considering the emerging challenges posed by the spread of COVID-19, this study was designed to evaluate citizens’ perceptions of the role of urban green areas in the era of COVID-19 in Greece. The evaluation was based on the implementation of an electronic questionnaire survey through the Google Forms platform, which was conducted nationwide. The survey was conducted in 2020 and 735 responses were collected in total based on 14 structured questions. Among the key findings of the study, of notable importance is that citizens considered urban green areas as an important means of improving public health, while citizens were willing to accept an increase of EUR1 to EUR20 in their municipal taxes for improving the services offered by the urban green areas. Results indicate that in a period of both climatic and public health crises, healthy and green urban environments can play a seminal role for alleviating and mitigating different challenges and impacts, while at the same time ensuring sustainability of urban ecosystems. A certain necessity arises for investigating the socioeconomic importance of urban green areas both from an ecosystemic and public health perspective considering the novel challenges of COVID-19 to public policy and decision making.

Keywords

• urban green areas
• socioeconomic welfare
• COVID-19 pandemic