People and Green Roofs: Expectations and Perceptions of Citizens about Green Roofs Development, an Iranian Case Study

Abstract

Green roofs, an opportunity to simultaneously mitigate environmental problems and create life-enhancing value, represent a class of technology that can be considered Bioengineering or Biomimicry. The purpose of this study is to explore citizen’s expectations and attitudes towards participating in rooftop gardens development related to behavioural, social and demographic variables. To investigate citizen’s attitudes towards participation in green roofs development, surveys was conducted in the districts of Zanjan city, Iran. A questionnaire has been designed to solicit opinions from 313 citizens randomly chosen from residents. The statistical analysis of data is performed using the chi-square test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results show the opinion of citizens about most important benefits and barriers of developing living roofs. While people were interested in installing rooftop gardens, but there were not volunteers. The financial and technical support by municipalities and urban managers is the main expectation of people.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n2s2p138