Abstract
With the aging of society, allotment gardens for aged are expected to play an important role as leisure facilities. This study seeks to clarify the state of the user radius and attitudes of users of allotment gardens in the city of Gifu, Japan. The results are summarized as follow:
1) The average distance from users homes to the gardens (“user radius”) was 1, 280 meters, although there was wide variance ranging from a minimum of 316m to a maximum of 2, 322m. Of the 19 gardens surveyed here, a slight majority of 10 had a user radius of 1, 000 meters or less.
2) There was a significant negative correlation found between the user radius and residential density within 1km of the gardens.
3) An investigation of garden location showed because there are no allotment gardens in the city center, there was an expansive user radius. This indicates the necessity to develop allotment gardens on a planned basis.
4) At least 90% of users continued to use gardens. They expressed a high level of satisfaction with the gardens, and were strongly inclined to continue to use them in the future.
5) The distance to a garden had an enormous effect on frequency of use and time spent per visit.
6) There was a negative correlation between users' assessments of distance and the user radius of a garden.
7) When users lived within 1km of their garden, their assessments were high, but beyond 1, 500 meters, they tended to decline dramatically.
