Valuing nature through attention to urban greening offers some remedy to ‘Extinction of Experience’ – the decline in diversity and quality of people’s relationships to nature. Unfortunately, while the role and value of greenspaces are increasingly recognised, recognition and valuing does not always translate into beneficial experiences for urban dwellers. This study examined people’s relationships to greenspaces in the central business district (CBD) of Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia. Liverpool is a rapidly growing hub in outer metropolitan Sydney, where provision of greenspaces is generally acknowledged as inadequate. Space for plants is limited in city CBDs and these environments are especially challenging places to green, meaning that the quality of vegetation available for users is also often limited. Here, we report on an online survey conducted over the summer of 2019–2020, coinciding with the catastrophic Australian ‘black summer’ bushfires. It explored how people valued, used and experienced existing greenspaces in the CBD. Quantitative and qualitative results from 196 respondents illustrate that although most people agree on the benefits of greenspace, value it positively and use it regularly, three persistent concerns mediate their experiences: lack of shade, poor maintenance, and poor facilities. Further, and in addition to within space variation, experiences of greenspaces are negatively influenced by distance travelled and other barriers to what might otherwise be quality spaces. As the urban environment of Liverpool’s CBD undergoes rapid transformation to a higher activity (business/retail/services) and denser residential environment, there is an opportunity to translate the differences between values and experiences illustrated here to improve the design and quality of future greenspace. More broadly, this study indicates why the spatial dimensions of people’s relationships to urban nature requires more explicit and critical consideration within experience research.

中文翻译：

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受到广泛重视，但体验不同;了解与 CBD 绿地的关系


通过关注城市绿化来珍视自然，为“经验的消亡”提供了一些补救措施，即人们与自然关系的多样性和质量的下降。不幸的是，虽然绿地的作用和价值越来越得到认可，但认可和重视并不总是转化为城市居民的有益体验。本研究考察了澳大利亚新南威尔士州利物浦中央商务区 （CBD） 的人们与绿地的关系。利物浦是悉尼外大都会区一个快速发展的中心，人们普遍认为那里的绿地供应不足。城市中央商务区的植物空间有限，这些环境特别难以绿化，这意味着可供用户使用的植被质量通常也很有限。在这里，我们报告了 2019 年至 2020 年夏季进行的一项在线调查，恰逢澳大利亚灾难性的“黑色夏季”丛林大火。它探讨了人们如何重视、使用和体验 CBD 中现有的绿色空间。来自 196 名受访者的定量和定性结果表明，尽管大多数人都同意绿地的好处，积极重视它并定期使用它，但三个持续存在的问题阻碍了他们的经历：缺乏阴凉、维护不善和设施差。此外，除了空间变化之外，绿色空间的体验还受到旅行距离和其他阻碍本来可能是优质空间的障碍的负面影响。 随着利物浦中央商务区的城市环境迅速转变为更活跃（商业/零售/服务）和更密集的住宅环境，我们有机会将此处说明的价值观和体验之间的差异转化为未来绿地的设计和质量。更广泛地说，这项研究表明了为什么在体验研究中需要更明确和批判性地考虑人与城市自然关系的空间维度。