Does urban gardening increase aesthetic quality of urban areas? A case study from Germany

We tested in two corresponding studies the hypothesis that urban gardening is of visual aesthetic value to the public. With the help of photo-realistic visualizations and a written questionnaire, 109 students and employees of the Karlsruhe University of Education (study 1) and 200 passers-by in the city of Karlsruhe (study 2) were asked about their opinion on different urban gardening scenarios, and attitudes towards urban gardening. Our results indicate that urban gardening can contribute to perceived attractiveness of urban areas, but that not all approaches are perceived as equally positive. While flowerbeds or flower meadows and orderly-managed vegetable plots, in comparison to conventional lawns, increased the aesthetic appeal of urban green space, container gardening approaches, which were often characterized as chaotic, did not. Although flower scenarios were preferred over vegetable scenarios, participants were rather positive about the idea of having more vegetable plots around. Socio-demographic variables had only minor influences on preferences and attitudes. As people were fonder of flowerbeds or flower meadows than of vegetable plots, a mixture of both might be advisable in urban gardening sites. This would also increase overall diversity, which is not only beneficial from an aesthetic, but also from an ecological point of view. (C) 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.