Data for "Do environmental attitudes and personal characteristics influence how people perceive their exposure to green spaces?

Background

This study aimed to explore the relationship between perceived and objective greenspace exposure, and how sociodemographic traits and environmental attitudes influence peoples’ perceptions of greenspace.

Methods

We leveraged a cross-sectional survey on green space exposure among residents of Denver, CO that ran from November 2019 through April 2021. We measured objective greenspace using the average NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index), average percent vegetation, and median GVI (green view index) from aerial and street-level imagery within 300, 500, and 1,000 meters of participants’ residences, and in participant-drawn polygons representing their neighborhoods. We measured perceived greenspace exposure based on survey responses to five questions about greenspace abundance, visibility, access, usage, and quality near participants’ home and assessed relationships between perceived and objective greenspace measures. Using the responses from the five dimensions of perceived greenspace, we used latent class analysis to create perceived greenspace exposure classes and used linear models to assess the relationship between perceived green space exposure classes and sociodemographic and environmental attitude variables.

Results

We found that the strength of the relationship between perceived and objective measures was strongest for abundance and visibility; there were not strong correlations with perceived access, usage, and quality. Objective greenspace exposure was a substantial factor in predicting perceived greenspace classes, as were environmental attitudes, whereas most sociodemographic variables were not statistically significant when adjusted for other stronger predictors.

Conclusion

Our work suggests that objective greenspace exposure is only one factor influencing peoples’ perceived greenspace exposure, and that environmental attitude variables play an additional role in shaping peoples’ perceptions.