Biodiversity in the front yard: An investigation of landscape preference in a domestic urban context

It is being increasingly recognized that the success of efforts to preserve / restore biodiversity in urban areas is highly contingent on the preferences of human urban dwellers. We investigated preference ratings for photos of high- versus low-habitat-providing garden landscapes among residents (n = 487) in two specific areas of Perth, Western Australia, and their relationship with general environmental concern and attitudes toward native plants and urban biodiversity. We also investigated the impact of localized descriptive gardening norms. The findings indicate that the distinction between high-/low-habitat-providing gardens was important to respondents' landscape preferences. The attitudinal variable with the strongest relationship to garden-type preference was residents' attitudes toward native plants. Preferences were also highly related to prevailing gardening norms in respondents' local area. We discuss our findings in relation to the structure and dynamics involved in human perceptions of and interactions with urban landscapes.