Assessment of public attitude towards green infrastructure and its predictors in urban areas of Ebonyi State, southeast Nigeria

Adequate knowledge of public attitudes towards green infrastructure (GI) is very important for effective planning, implementation, and management of urban greening programmes. Despite this, there is limited research on how the urban population evaluates GI leading to poor development and implementation of urban green infrastructure (UGI) programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigated public attitude towards GI in urban centres of Ebonyi State, Southeast Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey involving 513 participants was done in the study area, and the data were subjected to descriptive and categorical regression analyses. The survey shows that the frequency of public contact with GI varies and the primary reasons for contacting GI for 37.4%, and 20.7% of the respondents were to enjoy nature, fresh air, and relaxation, respectively. A positive attitude towards the value, knowledge, willingness to pay for GI, engagement in advocacy, and participation in learning, planning, managing, and protecting GI was reported among the respondents. The regression model produced R2 = 0.481 with the respondents’ marital status, age, frequency, and reasons for having contact with GI and level of education, length of stay in the location, and preferred forms of GI having the most significant influence on their attitude towards GI. One key lesson from this study for urban planners and managers in sub-Saharan Africa is that to understand public attitudes towards effective policy-making and successful planning and implementation of UGI programmes, and maximising their benefits, greater attention should be given to the factors identified in this research.