How do people use and experience urban green spaces in Brussels?
In September 2019, we launched a map-based survey to understand how people in Brussels use and experience green spaces. We asked people to tell us which green spaces they most often visit, what they do in these spaces, and how they feel about them. We wanted to know whether different groups of people use and value green spaces in distinct ways.
Below, you can see some results from this survey.
We identified two "types" of green space users:
Nature-oriented users
Who use green spaces to be close to trees, plants, and animals and for peace and quiet.
Social users
Who use green spaces to gather with friends and family, attend events, or bring a child to play.
Social users more often feel that the green space they visit is too busy, does not look natural, and is missing important facilities/equipment.
Nature-oriented users travel longer than social users to reach their most often visited green space.
We also found that age and household composition played a role in green space use and valuation.
Older respondents tended to value green spaces for the trees, plants, and animals and quietness (nature-oriented qualities), while younger respondents valued spaciousness and the presence of lawns.
Respondents between the ages 30 and 44 who have children more often enjoyed the lawns and facilities provided by green spaces, while respondents without children more often value trees, plants, and animals as well as quietness.
