Exploring the Willingness of Chinese Urban Dwellers to Support Community Gardening: A Case Study of Wuhan, China

Abstract

As a new project associated with urban agriculture and community forestry in China, developing community gardens has been a concern of urban planners and managers. However, the response of urban residents to this project is still unknown, creating an awareness gap between communities and policy makers. This gap limits the successful implementation of the project. A combined method of on-site and online questionnaire was performed in eight sample residential areas in Wuhan. Results showed that the majority of the 496 respondents had favorable views, although the specific willingness varied. Lack of awareness about community gardens was considered the biggest obstacle restricting residents’ willingness, accounting for 69.15%. Other factors included confused relationships with neighbors (66.13%), imperfect policies (55.44%), and high planting costs (41.94%). The local government was highly expected to plan more land for agriculture use by 76.61% of the respondents. In addition, the respondents desired the government to conduct training on cultivating technologies (58.67%), address possible conflicts (57.46%), supply seeds and fertilizer (54.23%), and provide guidance in processing food products (34.48%). These findings will help local governments and managers draft scientific proposals closely related to the public’s perspectives in implementing community gardens in urban areas and provide informative references for other cities.

Keywords

• community collaboration
• community forestry
• resident participation
• urban agriculture
• urban food security