Evaluation of Resettled Residents’ Engagement in Community Gardens and Preferences for Garden Development Factors in Beijing

Resettlement communities arising from China’s urbanization process accommodate both landless resettled villagers and non-resettled villagers who migrate to cities for work. Community gardens help increase interactions in resettlement communities and facilitate the integration of resettled residents into the community. This paper, based on the differing characteristics of resettled and non-resettled villagers in China’s resettlement communities and the scarcity of outdoor public space, studies the participation willingness of resettled residents and their preferences for the construction of community gardens. Firstly, this study establishes a system of community garden construction elements for resettlement communities and conducts a Likert scale survey of residents in 30 resettlement communities in Beijing (n = 832). Secondly, variance analysis is used to explore the impact of demographic characteristics on garden preferences. Finally, a multiple linear regression model is employed to study the correlation between resettled residents’ willingness to participate in community gardens and the construction elements. The results show that (1) both resettled villagers and non-villagers have a willingness to participate in community gardens, and the spatial enhancement, facility supplementation, economic compensation, community integration, and identity recognition of garden construction elements are positively correlated with residents’ willingness to participate, with spatial enhancement having the strongest effect; (2) community gardens help achieve integration between resettled and non-resettled villagers; (3) gardens help enhance the identity recognition of resettled villagers. In summary, integrating community gardens into resettlement communities helps increase residents’ social interactions, enhances their sense of belonging, and assists resettled residents in integrating into urban society.

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