Urban agriculture has garnered increasing attention as a nature-based solution to achieve urban sustainability. Besides producing quality food for urban residents, urban agriculture could provide diverse and non-tangible ecosystem services that still need to be explored. While prior research has investigated direct stakeholders’ (e.g., urban farmers and growers) perspectives on ecosystem services from urban agriculture, the general public’s perception and underlying factors remain less understood. Such understanding is crucial as the broader community, beyond direct stakeholders, will benefit from urban agriculture and influence the policy and planning that determines its development trajectory. This study investigated the general public’s perception of ecosystem services associated with urban agriculture in the Miami Metropolitan Area, a region experiencing rapid urbanization and emerging urban agriculture development. Among 23 services surveyed, community-level cultural and regulating/supporting services were the most recognized. Conversely, individual-level cultural and provisioning services were the least recognized, underscoring the recognized contribution of urban agriculture to a much larger community and society. Respondents’ demographics, personal experience with farming/gardening, and awareness of urban agriculture in their surroundings were the significant factors, whereas geographic factors (e.g., land-use cluster) exerted less impact. Our findings highlight the perceived multifunctionality of urban agriculture from a public perspective and suggest a nuanced understanding of how urban agriculture contributes to social well-being. Our research provides empirical evidence of public support for urban agriculture development and has critical implications for urban regions interested in integrating urban agriculture to achieve urban sustainability.

中文翻译：

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公众对都市农业多种生态系统服务的看法


都市农业作为实现城市可持续发展的基于自然的解决方案越来越受到关注。除了为城市居民生产优质食品外，城市农业还可以提供多样化、无形的生态系统服务，这些服务仍需探索。虽然先前的研究调查了直接利益相关者（例如城市农民和种植者）对城市农业生态系统服务的看法，但公众的看法和潜在因素仍然知之甚少。这种理解至关重要，因为除了直接利益相关者之外，更广泛的社区将从城市农业中受益，并影响决定其发展轨迹的政策和规划。本研究调查了迈阿密大都市区公众对城市农业相关生态系统服务的看法，该地区正在经历快速城市化和新兴城市农业发展。在接受调查的 23 项服务中，社区层面的文化和调节/支持服务最为受认可。相反，个人层面的文化和供给服务最不受认可，这突显了城市农业对更大社区和社会的公认贡献。受访者的人口统计、个人农业/园艺经验以及对周围城市农业的认识是重要因素，而地理因素（例如土地利用集群）的影响较小。我们的研究结果强调了从公众角度来看都市农业的多功能性，并提出了对都市农业如何促进社会福祉的细致入微的理解。 我们的研究提供了公众支持都市农业发展的经验证据，并对有兴趣整合都市农业以实现城市可持续发展的城市地区具有重要意义。