The perception of public green spaces in Portugal with the focus on Lisbon

The expansion of urban forests in many cities by implementing more green infrastructures has been reported as a way to promote health, well-being, and resilience. Urban trees contribute to the quality of urban life, with positive impact in improving air quality, reducing the ambient temperature, increasing humidity, promoting biodiversity, mitigating climate change and enhancing the landscape. We implemented a survey of 924 random Portuguese adults in 2024 to investigate the use of public green spaces in Portugal by identifying their frequency of use and perceived benefits of green spaces. Our findings reveal that half of the respondents has a green space within a 5-minute walk from their home, with 85% indicating less than a 15-minute walk to a nearby green space. Moderating temperature and reducing air pollution emerged as the main benefits that respondents found in having more green spaces in their cities with many prioritizing urban comfort and relaxation over physical activity or social interaction. Over 95% of the respondents consider that green spaces are positive for public health and well-being. Even though, 6% of those respondents consider that trees cause more damage than benefits. We focused on the city of Lisbon to compare the use of green spaces in a time span of 20 years. By comparing the 2024 results with those of a 2004 survey, with 1010 respondents, we concluded that there was a twofold increase in the use of green spaces mainly by active female aged 45-65 years. Physical activity and urban comfort still are the main reasons for using these spaces. Over 90% of the respondents supported the idea that a percentage of the municipal tax should be allocated to urban tree management and for planting more trees in green spaces. These results are in line with other survey outputs from European cities, mainly after the pandemic periods, revealing that citizens are now more aware of the impact of trees and green spaces in improving health and well-being.