Users' Behaviors and Evaluations of Allotment Gardens

—An Empirical Research of Four Allotment Gardens in Beijing

Abstract

The demand for allotment gardens is increasing at unprecedented rates in Beijing, China, and allotment gardens have also shown a trend towards being developed by civilians, but little is known regarding users' characteristics, user behaviors, user evaluations, and their differences, all of which are essential for the improvement of allotment gardens in terms of satisfying their users and being preserved in China's urban areas. The allotment garden's overall evaluation is between good and general, with high evaluations given to landscape and facilities, including public facilities, infrastructures, and landscape environments, with low evaluations given to service and guidance, agricultural festival activities, rent, sanitary facilities, and skilled labor. Users' evaluations about the provision of farm tools, seeds, and fertilizers, as well as sanitary facilities have positive impacts on an allotment garden's overall evaluation. Users are inclined to give positive overall evaluations in case in which the allotment garden is equipped with sufficient and premium farm tools, seeds, and fertilizers, as well as clean sanitary facilities. Overall, the evaluations of northern and southern allotment gardens are statistically significantly different, in that northern gardens are better evaluated than their southern counterparts. There are statistically significant differences in terms of the overall evaluation of allotment gardens among the four operation modes. The consortium mode earned the best evaluation, whereas the individual mode had the lowest evaluation.