*3.2. Influence of Personal Attributes and Environmental Contexts on Use of Individual Types of Green Areas*

This section explains the results of the analysis of the influence of socioeconomic attributes and environmental contexts on the use of individual green areas. The number of respondents to visit parks, agricultural land, and gardens was analyzed, whereas other green areas, including mountains, did not have enough respondents to apply statistical analysis. The Chi-square and *t*-test were applied to the groups of respondents who visited at least one type of green area during the emergency period (*n* = 542).

The results indicated that socioeconomic attributes and environmental contexts that influenced the use of green areas varied among parks, agricultural lands, and gardens (Table 2). Gender, location of residence, age, and ratios of land use categories had a certain influence on park visits. For example, female respondents and residents of Nagoya City tended to visit parks (Table 2). The respondents who visited parks were relatively young compared with those who did not visit. The average values of zip code areas were statistically and significantly varied between the respondents who visited and did not visit parks. Because the zip code areas tended to be larger in rural areas and smaller in urban areas, the results implied that the respondents who visited parks lived in urban areas. This implication was supported by the results of the *t*-test applied for the average values of the ratios of urban areas, agricultural lands, and forest lands. The ratios of those land use categories in zip code areas that are the residential places of respondents who visited parks indicated that the respondents lived in urban areas.

The results revealed that visits to agricultural lands were significantly influenced by location of residence, age, and ratios of land use categories. As for agricultural lands, socioeconomic attributes, except age, were not major factors influencing the motivation and action to visit there. The respondents who visited agricultural lands were relatively old and lived mainly outside Nagoya City (Table 2). The zip code area sizes and the ratios of land use categories implied that they did not live in urban areas. Because of their environmental contexts, those who visited agricultural lands during the emergency period had easy access.

The results indicated that the number of children, location of residence, age, and ratios of land use categories had a certain influence on visiting gardens. As indicated in the Materials and Methods section, "garden" listed in the questionnaire referred to common and private gardens. Respondents who visited gardens tended to have one or more children. Respondents who visited gardens tended to reside outside Nagoya City (Table 2). The ratios of urban areas were relatively lower, and the ratios of agricultural lands were higher in areas of their zip code and residence. These results implied that the respondents who visited gardens tended to live in non-urbanized areas. The average age of the respondents who visited gardens was slightly older than those who did not visit.

As an overall trend, parks were visited by relatively younger respondents who lived in urban areas, and agricultural lands and gardens were visited by the older respondents who lived in rural areas or areas in between. Income level was not a major factor influencing motivation and action to visit the three individual types of green areas.
