Sustainable Management of an Urban Green Space in a Papua New Guinean City: Accessibility, Use and Preferences

Urban green spaces provide recreation opportunities that contribute to physical wellbeing, health, and social wellbeing. However, managing green spaces to promote access and use for recreation and at the same time meet the preferences of visitors is often challenging, especially in developing countries. Using Port Moresby Nature Park (PMNP) in Papua New Guinea as a case study, the objective of this study was to examine visitors’ perceptions of how to manage the park to improve its use for recreation, perceptions of acceptable user fees and preferences for nature types and recreation amenity alternatives. Data were obtained using interviews with 295 visitors to PMNP, of which 291 responses was valid for this study. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and a multinomial logit regression marginal effect model. The results showed that PMNP can be improved by constructing more toilets, providing more benches at strategic positions, providing water fountains, expanding the children’s playgrounds and training more PMNP staff in customer care. A picnic area was the most preferred and an area containing the Papuan hornbill was the least preferred. On average, the visitors would pay 35% more than the park user fee. A recreation amenity associated with reptiles and birds of paradise was the most preferred and an amenity with only reptiles was the least preferred. Multinomial logit regression model results revealed that preferences for recreation amenity alternatives were influenced by demographic characteristics, the nature type visited, recreation activities, the level of the park user fee, and the time spent at and distance of the interviewees’ dwelling to PMNP. The most important explanatory variables associated with the choice of each of the recreation amenities as reflected by marginal effects include the use of a children’s playground for recreation, grilling and partying during recreation, engagement in walking in natural areas during recreation, the use of animal-dominated areas during recreation and the use of picnic areas during recreation. These findings will assist park managers in making informed decisions by considering visitors’ preferences, the affordability of the park user fee and how to improve an urban green space in a sustainable manner.