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Urban Sci. 2017, 1(3), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci1030024
Urban Nature: Perception and Acceptance of Alternative Green Space Management and the Change of Awareness after Provision of Environmental Information. A Chance for Biodiversity Protection
Institut für Evolution und Ökologie, Evolutionsbiologie der Invertebraten, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, Tübingen 72076, Germany
GAB München Gesellschaft für Ausbildungsforschung und Berufsentwicklung, Lindwurmstraße 41/43, München 80337, Germany
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 23 June 2017 / Accepted: 20 July 2017 / Published: 23 July 2017
Measurable ecological data, e.g., species diversity, provide inadequate information for achieving the comprehensive protection of biodiversity, because human acceptance attitudes can be important factors in undermining nature protection schemes. We have analysed an ecologically driven urban management system presented to urban habitants. A photograph-based survey answered by 424 participants was used to evaluate their impressions of natural meadows. The positive effect of provided information tables was demonstrated by pre- and post-test designs. Attitudes towards urban nature protection showed a statistical preference for green-area management systems optimising insect protection compared with more regularly mowed meadows and lawns. Thus, the perceptions of people should be considered in processes of biodiversity protection. Our results correlate with personal attitude and education, support the aims of extensive green-space management and should encourage urban planners to integrate biodiversity protection zones into urban planning.
Keywords:attractiveness; conservation; lawn; meadow; natural; mowing; spruceness; questionnaire; survey
1. Introduction
1.1. The Biodiversity Crisis and the Role of Urban Areas to Lessen the Loss
Urbanisation is one of the major environmentally relevant phenomena of our time. The expansion of urban areas is rapidly increasing. In western Germany, the area settled by humans has increased by about 140% in the past fifty years [1,2]. 13.6% of the area of Germany is covered by settlements and infrastructure [3]. Fragmentation and destruction of natural areas occurs as a result of these developments [4]. The biodiversity of urban areas has long been neglected [5], although cities possess many open spaces and public grassland (usually cultivated in the form of lawns) that could help to enhance biodiversity [6,7,8]. The protection of biodiversity in urban areas might thus contribute to the fulfilment of ecosystem functions such as pollination, oxygen production, human well-being and pest regulation [9]. This idea explains the current focus of conservationists on these easily introduced replacement biotopes [10]. In the last few years, mounting evidence has supported the expected improvement of biodiversity achieved by simple changes in vegetation management [11,12] and retention of native vegetation [13,14].
1.2. A University Student and Staff Initiative to Reduce Biodiversity Loss
In 2010, both students and employees of the University of Tübingen (Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) founded a pressure group to support national and international aims to protect biodiversity [15]. This group chose the name "Initiative Bunte Wiese" ("The colourful meadow initiative") and aimed at persuading decision makers to improve the maintenance of inner urban green areas with respect to conservation issues. This improvement involved (1) the reduction of mowing events towards a twice-a-year only regime; (2) the use of bar mowers instead of mulchers and (3) the removal of grass cuttings from the surface [16]. The effects of such a management reduction were evaluated in several research projects on grasshoppers [17], true bugs [18], wild bees [19], beetles [20] and butterflies [21]. All these investigations have revealed a statistically significant positive impact of reduced grassland maintenance towards species diversity and the occurrence of rare or endangered species. This shows that simple measures such as the reduction of grassed area maintenance [11] can make an important contribution to international efforts to reduce the loss of biodiversity (e.g., [22,23,24,25]).
1.3. Aesthetics and Perception of Urban Green Spaces
With its focus on ecological arguments, this project has shown the positive potential of urban nature protection. Even if urban natural green spaces seem to have a high aesthetic value in residents' opinions (e.g., [26,27,28]), there might be potential negative aspects when trying to protect biodiversity in urban areas. As little is known about the specific case of public acceptance of unspoilt natural meadows in urban areas (e.g., [29,30]), sociological arguments should also be carefully considered in biodiversity protection [31]. A focus on strictly scientific ecological arguments is not a satisfactory way of solving this human–nature conflict. Natural planning in urban green spaces has been disliked for a long period of time [32,33]. A change has nevertheless occurred in this discussion [30,34], as a study of natural awareness [35] has found that two out of three habitants prefer places with spontaneous nature in urban areas. The value of urban green spaces has been considered at several levels [36]. Smardon [37] discusses various functional aspects of vegetation in the urban environment and distinguishes (1) economic benefits; (2) instrumental and physiological functions (e.g., benefits for health and alternative use); (3) visual and sensory benefits (e.g., optical and acoustical recovery by nature and natural noises and smells) and (4) symbolic functions. Cameron et al. [38] specify these aspects by presenting ecosystem functions. Several studies underline the value of urban nature for public health [39,40,41,42,43,44].
As urban nature can fulfil several functions for the urban population, parameters are needed to measure the extent to which maintained green spaces in the city are assessed by its inhabitants. For instance, both aesthetic and ecological [45] values of nature in urban areas can be considered in two different ways when evaluating nature. To optimise the functions of urban nature, both for biodiversity and other benefits for humans, human perceptions and aesthetic preferences have to be investigated with respect to urban green spaces [46,47,48]. Even if specialised knowledge of species and species richness is poor, nature and biodiversity are known to form important topics for people [35,49,50,51,52].
The potential tension between quantifiable nature in natural meadows, functional aspects, knowledge and attitudes towards nature and the aesthetic perceptions and preferences of citizens must be considered in urban conservation issues [45]. Therefore, in this contribution, we set our scope on the first impression of citizens when being confronted with urban natural meadows. Moreover, we analyse the value and the effect of additional given information on the attitudes of citizens towards the aims of natural protection in urban green spaces.
In our study, we address the way that the inhabitants of a middle-sized town in Germany perceive and evaluate landscape sceneries resulting from various maintenance strategies.
1.4. Research Questions and Hypotheses
In order to understand this interaction better, we addressed the following questions: (1) what are the first impressions of citizens looking at urban green spaces under different management systems (Figure 1); (2) how do they perceive these systems; (3) do nature and environmental education (e.g., conveyed by information tables, brochures, etc.) increase positive awareness of natural urban green spaces?
Using a questionnaire, participants had to evaluate lawns and meadows in terms of "attractiveness", "spruceness", and their "potential to enrich urban settlements". Additionally collected demographic and behavioural data (e.g., perception and use of nature, knowledge and attitudes) were used to improve the interpretation of the survey results.
These research questions led us to the formulation of four hypotheses. (H1) The provision of additional environmental education raises the acceptance of natural urban meadows in terms of attractiveness, spruceness and the perceived value for urban areas. (H2) Differences in behavioural and demographic data play an important role in the overall acceptance of urban nature protection. (H3) Confronted with urban nature and asked about their willingness to change anything, citizens show a high acceptance for natural meadows with little support of any change, except (H4) an endorsement of expanding nature in urban areas.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Structure of Questionnaire
We designed a photo-based online questionnaire with Unipark (Questback GmbH. EFS Survey, Version 10.5. Cologne: 2005.) (Figure 1). The questionnaire was divided into a pre- and a post-test (see questionnaire as online attachment).
For this online survey, we presented images from typical green spaces, whose maintenance had been extended according to the recommendations of the initiative "Bunte Wiese Tübingen" (e.g., colourful meadow initiative). The images were taken in a standing position during cloudy weather and were not digitally edited.
We first (Figure 1A) presented seven pictures of meadows (5) and lawns (2) as a pre-test combined with four questions. The first question was an open one: (I) "What are your first impressions on looking at this photograph?". This first associative approach was chosen to generate a spontaneous assessment of the image, one more guided by (aesthetic) feelings and implicit knowledge rather than by rational thought. This approach can be seen in accordance with Fechner's aesthetic association principle [53], which says that not only the perceived objects stimulate the senses, but also the feelings and experiences associated with the individual perception. The second question, which could be answered with a five level Likert item, was: (II) "How do you asses this picture: attractive, spruce (e.g., horticultural, proper and tidy maintenance), enriching (e.g., educational, functional, social benefits) for urban areas", followed by question three: (III) "Would you change anything and, if so, what?" and the last question: (IV) "Would you like to have more meadows like this? Why - why not?". With these questions, we intended to specify the first association by encouraging further reflections on the photographs.
In the second part of the questionnaire (Figure 1B), aspects of the personal attitude of the participant were investigated: (1) Does nature play a role in your life? (Six level Likert scale); (2) Do you have access to a garden? (Five level Likert scale); (3) Do you use the natural environment as a place for relaxation? (Five level Likert); (4) Do you observe plants and animals? (Five level Likert scale); (5) Are you knowledgeable about insects? (No, limited, yes); (6) Do you actively participate in protecting nature? (Five level Likert). These questions were correlated with the answers given in part one of our questionnaire (Figure 1A, question II).
After this block, we introduced an intervention (place in questionnaire: Figure 1C), whereby we presented the participants information given on public information panels from the initiative "Bunte Wiese Tübingen". We wanted to learn whether the evaluation of lawns and meadows changed after such an intervention presenting additional explanations of the conducted management measures. This intervention contained information about (A) the possibility of transforming lawns into meadows and the ecological and social value of these meadows; (B) the results of zoological investigations previously conducted in these areas [17,18,19,20,21], and (C) the problem of unnatural meadows with plants that are not autochthonous for the region.
In the third part of the questionnaire (Figure 1D), eight pictures were presented, showing meadows (6), lawns (1) and unnatural artificial meadows (meadows seeded with colourful non-native flowers) (1). We repeated some pictures from the pre-test and presented some new photographs, since our focus was on lawns and meadows in general and we did not want to test specific green spaces. As for part two of the questionnaire, we applied the same five level Likert item, i.e., "How do you asses this picture: attractive, spruce, enriching for urban areas?" Secondly, we inquired about the potential of the scenery for the items biodiversity, insects, grasses, bees, butterflies, beetles and birds. Therefore, another five level Likert item (low–high) was used.
In the last part (Figure 1E) of the questionnaire, we requested demographic data (sex, age, education and discipline) for their further correlation with other results (see below).
2.2. Participants
In August 2015, we distributed the link to the questionnaire across the collection of e-mail addresses of the university and the Facebook account of the initiative "Bunte Wiese Tübingen". The survey ran for eight weeks. 1376 participants finished only the first part of the survey, whereas we attained completely finished datasets from 424 participants. The total number of answers is indicated as "n" in our results. For each statistical analysis, we used the number of participants (n) who had finished the relevant questions.
2.3. Analyses and Statistics
We used Microsoft Excel 2011(Microsoft Office, Excel 2011) (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) and IBM SPSS 22 (SPSS 22 IBM) (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) for statistical analyses. For Hypothesis 1 (H1), we tested the values (means, normally distributed) of various picture pairs with Student's t-tests for dependent samples. Means were built from five level Likert values over the two management types (meadow/lawn) per participant.
The results of the first part of the questionnaire, which addressed the immediate intuitive impressions of various green spaces, are presented descriptively in percentages and means. Open answers (answers were unrestricted and individual text was required) were aggregated into our topics. These topics were submitted manually and were oriented to keywords in the answers. This helped us to sort the answers into various fields. This method is based on "grounded theory methodology" [54,55], a common method in qualitative social research, which does not define the themes in advance (the way that "classical" thematic coding does), but develops them out of empirical material. This approach also allows unexpected topics to be identified. After sorting, we were able to evaluate the number of given answers per field. The linkage between the demographic and behavioural data was evaluated via an analysis of variances (one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance), a posteriori Bonferroni tests) (H2).
Hypothesis 3 (H3) and Hypothesis 4 (H4) involved the use of Student's t-tests, whereas the descriptive part ("Would you change anything and, if so, what?" (H3) and "Would you like to have more meadows like this? Why - why not?" (H4)) is presented in percentages and means (numbers of "yes" and "no" votes). For this analysis, we used the total number of answers (n = 424) for each of the six meadows in the questionnaire and compared the means (n = 6) of the "yes" and "no" option (cf. Figure 3).
3. Results
3.1. Demographics of Participants
A total of 424 participants completed the entire questionnaire; their demographic data are summarized in Table 1. Only these completed questionnaires were further considered in our analysis. 309 (72.2%) women and 116 (27.4%) men participated. 60.1% of the participants were between 21 and 40 years old. Most participants had a university entrance diploma or higher qualification (94.6%) and studied natural sciences (41.3%).
Most participants could be described as living in close touch with nature. Our data were further analysed in relation to demographic characteristics.
3.2. Description Meadow/Lawn
In our questionnaire, we showed pictures of typical regional lawns and meadows (see material and methods) and asked the participants to describe their first impressions. These results were clustered into various topics: "insects", "flowers", "nature", "beauty", "colour", "value for nature", "ecology", "value for humans" using grounded theory methodology (GTM). Positive and negative statements and multiple answers (mentions of various topics in one answer) were also noted (e.g., picture meadow: Answer 1: "beautiful"—rated: meadow "beauty" positive; Answer 2: "fear of wasps"—rated: "meadow insect negative"). For this question, we received 522 answers. The perception of the topics was more positive for meadows compared to lawns. A negative perception of these topics was higher for lawns (see Table 2).
To improve the interpretability of the answers, we compressed these results into two major groups, comparable to Bogners "2meV model" (i.e., the two factor model of environmental values, that can be seen as a division of human-nature actions in the two factors of "use" and "protection") [56,57,58]. We categorised the aspects from Table 2 into "focus nature" and "anthropocentric focus" (human). This can also be seen as the differentiation of "nature protection" (hetero-referential) and "use of nature" (self-referential, egoistic (practical and aesthetic)). The aspects "insects", "flowers", "nature", "value of nature" and "ecology" were combined into the "focus nature" aspect. "Beauty", "colour" and "value for humans" were factors of the "anthropocentric focus" aspect. These two aspects are presented in Table 3.
5.8% of the participants had positive impressions of nature when being confronted with meadows, whereas only 0.04% mentioned such positive aspects when seeing a lawn. In both cases, anthropocentric factors gained higher values.
3.3. Results after Provision of Additional Information
After the first confrontation with the pictures, the intervention part of the questionnaire provided additional information on species-rich meadows. Following this section, another set of pictures was presented. In some cases, pictures of the previously shown set were repeated (see material and methods).
The effect of this intervention was tested by letting the participants rate the pictures according to (1) attractiveness; (2) spruceness; and (3) enrichment effect for urban areas. The statistical comparison of these three factors was made between various pairs, namely A: meadow pre-meadow post; B: lawn pre-lawn post; C: meadow pre-lawn pre; D: meadow post-lawn post; E: meadow post-unnatural; F: lawn post-unnatural.
Figure 2 allows the impact of the given expert information (see Hypothesis 1) to be evaluated. Before the intervention, meadows were considered more attractive and enriching, but less well cared for than lawns (C). The assessment of attractiveness, spruceness and the enriching factor of meadows rose after the intervention (A). Meadows were evaluated as more attractive and enriching than lawns before and after the intervention. However, lawns were seen as more spruce than meadows and unnatural meadows (C, D and F). Furthermore, lawns were seen as less attractive and enriching than unnatural meadows (F). Unnatural meadows were considered as being more spruce but less enriching than natural meadows (E). (B) Even on lawns, the effect of the intervention is measurable. It indicates that awareness campaigns lead to a higher awareness of topics and to an improvement in recognition.
3.4. Demographic Data and Personal Attitude Towards Nature and Conservation Issues
The analyses of the possible influence of the demographic data and the participants' attitude towards natural conservation issues (Hypothesis 2) revealed the following results (Table 4).
I. Age:
II. Perception of nature:
People who strongly appreciate, enjoy and protect nature (category I.1. of Table 1) and those for whom nature is very important (category I.2. of Table 1) rated meadows as more attractive and enriching than others. Category I.1 also rated lawns as less attractive and less enriching for urban areas (for detailed results see Table 4).
III. Access to a garden:
IV. Nature as a place for relaxation:
Participants who regularly used nature as a place for relaxation (category III.1. of Table 1) considered meadows more attractive than those who used it sometimes for relaxation (category III.3. of Table 1). The participants who turned to nature always or often for relaxation (category III.1. and category III.2.) considered meadows more cultivated than those who rarely (category III.4. of Table 1) made use of meadows for relaxation. Lawns were less attractive for the group who always use nature for relaxation (category III.1. of Table 1) compared to those who used it sometimes (category III.3. of Table 1) or rarely (category III.4. of Table 1) (for detailed results see Table 4).
V. Observation of plants and animals:
People who never (category IV.5. of Table 1) observe animals and plants rated meadows more negatively than others. Those who observe animals and plants often (category IV.2. of Table 1) or daily (category IV.1. of Table 1) rated meadows as being more cultivated and enriching than those who observe animals and plants rarely (category IV.4. of Table 1) or never (category IV.5. of Table 1). People who observe animals and plants daily (category IV.1. of Table 1) evaluated lawns more negatively than all the others, in all factors (for detailed results see Table 4).
VI. Knowledge of insects:
People with at least a limited knowledge of insects (category V.2. of Table 1) preferred meadows on the three scales (attractiveness, spruceness, and enriching for urban areas) compared with those with no knowledge of insects (category V.1. of Table 1). The participants who were experts in entomology (category V.1. of Table 1) rated lawns as less attractive and less valuable for insects (for detailed results see Table 4).
VII. Involvement in nature protection:
Participants who did not use their money or time to protect nature (category VI.4. of Table 1) rated meadows as less attractive, less managed and less enriching compared with all the others. They also rated lawns as more attractive. On the other hand, those who frequently spent money and time to protect nature (category VI.1 of Table 1) rated lawns as being less attractive, less cultivated and less enriching than the others (for detailed results see Table 4).
3.5. Benefits for Biodiversity
We were interested in the way that the various participants estimated the diverse aspects of biodiversity on the natural urban meadows (Figure 1, green marked pictures). We asked for the estimation of the value of "biodiversity in general", "diversity of insects", "grasses", "bees", "butterflies", "beetles" and "birds". The demographic data provided a closer view of the participants with the highest appreciation of biodiversity on urban meadows.
Women rated "Biodiversity in general" (p = 0.008) and the "diversity of insects" (p = 0.048), "grasses" (p = 0.027), "bees" (p = 0.01), "butterflies" (p = 0.037), "beetles" (p = 0.005) and "birds" (p = 0.006) higher than did males.
Participants < 40 years of age rated the "Biodiversity in general" (p = 0.006), "diversity of insects" (p = 0.001), "grasses" (p = 0.018) and "beetles" (p = 0.012) higher than did those between 40 and 60 years.
Perception of nature
People who strongly appreciated and protected nature and those for whom nature was important estimated the value for "diversity of insects" (p = 0.001), "grasses" (p = 0.01) and "beetles" (p = 0.017) higher than did those who had no connections to nature in urban areas.
Observation of animals or plants
The estimation of (a) "Biodiversity in general" (p = 0.003), (b) "diversity of insects" (p = 0.007), (c) "grasses" (p = 0.008), (d) "butterflies" (p = 0.01), (e) "beetles" (p = 0.009) and (f) "birds" (p = 0.011) by people who never observed plants and animals was significantly lower compared with those who observed plants and animals daily (significance for categories a, b, c, e, f), often (significance for categories a, b, c, d, e, f), sometimes (significance categories a, b, c, e, f), or rarely (significance categories b, c, e, f).
3.6. Willingness to Change Public Urban Green Spaces
As nature conservation in urban areas should always be closely linked to public opinion, we gave the participants the option to decide whether they would like to change anything on the visually presented natural meadows (Hypothesis 3). Most participants voted for no change (t-test, p = 0.000, n = 424) (Figure 3).
When we asked the participants to decide whether they would like to see more natural meadows (Hypothesis 4) in their surroundings, most participants voted for more of such areas (t-tests, p = 0.000, n = 424) (Figure 3).
We finally asked the participants to comment on their decision concerning questions on Figure 3. The wish for more biodiversity was articulated for both lawns and meadows. Shrubs, trees and benches were also requested for both lawns and meadows. Paths crossing meadows and the enlargement (number and size) of meadows were also mentioned.
As an argument against more meadows, "fear of nature" and "ugliness" were mentioned. On the other hand, both lawns and meadows were considered useful for the various requests of citizens as seen in Table 3.
4. Discussion
The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of people to urban natural meadows on several strata. In this context, we addressed four hypotheses regarding (1) the change of perception of green spaces after the provision of additional information; (2) the role of demographic and behavioural prerequisites; (3) the willingness to change the current appearance of urban natural green spaces and (4) the wish to enhance natural maintenance concepts. Following the positive results of biodiversity perception in rural landscapes [59,60,61] and in gardens [62] and the positive relationship of citizens to urban nature in general [26,27,35], we wished to deepen these results by investigating the impact of additional information and socio-behavioural aspects. Botzat, et al., [30] have reviewed more than 200 publications in terms of urban biodiversity perception and found a widely neglected role of informal green spaces, a gap in the knowledge that is picked up in our contribution. Furthermore, these authors [30] found out that biodiversity is mostly evaluated from an ecosystem scale, whereas our present study was performed in the context of personal attitude and knowledge about nature and species richness. The multifunctional role of urban green [36], i.e., its value for both intrinsic nature and human use, must be an issue in urban nature planning and makes it necessary to consider both natural scientific environmental and socio-cultural studies. Some studies have already combined both these ways of evaluating nature [28]. Perpetuating this approach, we set a green space management that was already optimized according to the recommendation of our insect biodiversity studies [17,18,19,20,21] in direct connection with peoples' attitudes towards urban nature. We also investigated the possible change of opinion after having provided additional expert information.
4.1. Participants
Academically educated persons dominated the field of participants in our questionnaire (Table 1), which is an effect of our use of the e-mail distribution list of the University of Tübingen. The results should therefore be seen as strongly dominated by participants with a university background and with the habit of living in a town with an established and increasing natural green space management since 2010. An expansion of the test group by including other parts of the population (e.g., less educated) would be of interest. Furthermore, we did not ask our participants whether they had any pre-knowledge concerning the ecological value of lawns and meadows but the finding that their awareness strongly changed when they were additionally given ecological expert information shows that even potentially pre-educated (in this field) participants are probably influenced by receiving this specific information. A next step could be to use two different versions of the survey (with and without expert knowledge input) answered by two different groups of respondents.
4.2. Evaluation of the First Intuitive Impressions of the Presented Images
The results of our analysis of the first impressions performed with the "grounded theory methodology (GTM)" [54,55] leads to more detailed results on meadows. Visual landscape perception is crucial for connecting humans with nature [45]. The finding that, in this part of the questionnaire, animals and plants were more often named in the context of meadows shows that living aspects are key factors in the positive perception of landscape issues. Insects were more often mentioned than plants, a result that agrees with other studies (e.g., [59]), which have found that animals are preferred aspects in natural landscape evaluation. According to Kovacs et al. [63], beauty is a very important factor affecting both our emotions and our ecological practices. Beauty is a highly ambivalent and complex concept, as we can see from both lawns and meadows often being linked with beauty. This shows that we must be wary of using the term "beauty" as an argument for conservation issues [64], because the beauty bias can conflict with scientific ecological considerations [65,66]. Following the idea of Bogner's 2MEV model (i.e., the two factor model of environmental values) [56,57], the results of the "first impression analysis" could be clustered into the aspects of "preservation" and "utilisation" or, as we named them, "focus nature" and "anthropocentric focus". The results of this re-classification showed that, on both meadows and lawns, the human-based factor "utilisation" (the egoistic practical and aesthetic use) was evaluated higher than the factor "preservation". These results must be seen as an argument for including the perceptions of people in the process of biodiversity protection, since selfish ideas (such as "well-being" [41]) seem to play a role in nature evaluation. Communication between diverse interests must be part of this process of protection [63,67] to obviate aesthetic goals coming into conflict with ecological aims [45].
4.3. Impact of Additional Expert Information on Evaluation of Urban Green Spaces
The analysis of the first-image impressions underlines the importance of educational expert information (Hypothesis 1) in supporting the aims of biodiversity protection. In pre-tests, we found that meadows are considered more attractive and enriching for urban areas than lawns (Figure 2C) (see also [59]). Lindemann-Matthies et al. [48] have shown that people are able to differentiate between species-rich and species-poor plant communities, suggesting that meadows are preferred because of their higher diversity. This is supported by the differentiation between attractiveness, spruceness and the enriching effect. Lawns are considered more cultivated, and meadows more attractive and enriching for urban life.
The effect of the provided expert information can be verified in our pre- and post-comparison. After additional expert information was provided, meadows were considered even more attractive, spruce and enriching than before (Figure 2A). Lawns were still considered more cultivated after this information compared to meadows (Figure 2D), but unnatural artificial meadows did not outmatch natural meadows (Figure 2E). On the other hand, unnatural artificial meadows were seen as more attractive and more enriching than lawns (Figure 2F). This might be a result of the general appraisal of horticultural work. Interestingly, the educational expert input has led to increased values not only for meadows, but also for lawns (Figure 2B). This might be a result of a generally heightened perception of urban green infrastructure, which was not especially paid attention to before. We do not know yet whether the observed changes after additional information input constitute long-term effects or just represent temporary effects of the given information. Whereas additional explanations of the conducted management measures improved the perception of natural meadows compared with lawns and unnatural meadows, they did not lessen the perception that lawns and unnatural meadows are considered spruce. This is of importance, if spruceness (which is more easily influenced than the more abstract values of "attractiveness" and "enriching effect" by extra measures such as mowed 1–2 m wide edge strips) becomes a key factor in political decisions on urban planning issues. Thus, additional expert knowledge should be persistently presented (e.g., by information boards) and memorised.
4.4. Demographic and Behavioural Data and Estimation of Biodiversity (Hypothesis 2)
Age played an important role in our study, as younger participants (<40 years) rated lawns as more attractive and enriching than those > 40 years (Table 4). This is despite the assumption that younger participants should be better educated in terms of ecological relationships than older people [49]. Junge et al. [68] and Lindemann-Matthies and Bose [69] have found that older people prefer species-rich field margins compared with species-poor ones, a finding that might be explained by their greater familiarity with species-rich communities in former times. On the other hand, in our study, the participants < 40 years rated the value of meadows for "biodiversity", "insects", "grasses" and "beetles" higher than did the older participants. Being aware of the value of meadows and still preferring lawns must have other reasons. The number of people suffering from hay fever is higher in the group < 40 years than in the older population [70]. This might correspond to the fact that the participants < 40 years estimated the diversity of grasses as higher in meadows than in lawns but this was not the case in the older population. In addition, for younger participants, lawns fulfil more human-based functions (e.g., sports, relaxing, playing games, barbecue) than for older participants [35], so that human-based and selfish factors might play a more important role in the younger generation than in the older one.
The analysis of the behavioural data shows that meadows and biodiversity aspects are better rated by people who have a higher affinity with nature (Table 4). This is also reflected in the lower ratings of lawns by this group of people. Lindemann-Matthies et al. [48] showed that people overestimate species richness when biodiversity levels are low and underestimate it when biodiversity levels are high. In general, our questionnaire revealed that, in particular, (i) women; (ii) people with a good perception and an awareness of nature; and (iii) people who observe animals and plants are readily able and prepared to recognise biodiversity hot spots in urban areas.
4.5. Support of Urban Nature Protection and Ideas for Change
Our results concerning the acceptance and attitudes towards lawns and meadows revealed a high general acceptance for natural green spaces in urban areas. Most participants voted for an extension of naturally maintained meadows in urban areas and did not support any change of natural green spaces (Hypotheses 3 and 4). These results correspond to other studies on nature awareness [35,71]. The discrepancy between the given answers and the lack of implementation in urban areas may be explained by different interests and different patterns [67] and the missing connection of these levels [72]. Various aspects of biodiversity such as species richness and ecosystem functions must play a role for establishing biodiversity hot spots in urban areas. The human-based arguments that were strongly represented in our findings must also be considered in optimising urban biodiversity protection. Our results support the significance of education in traditional nature study (e.g., [51,52,73]) to improve the recognition and acceptance of unspoilt nature, although one must be aware that the messages from this will often be pushed aside by anthropocentric arguments.
5. Conclusions
Our results indicate that people perceive nature in a rather self-referential way (see Table 2). Their appreciation of nature is closely linked to egoistic (practical and aesthetic) use. We have shown that additional micro-learning in the form of additional expert knowledge presented on information panels increases the acceptance and self-referential perception (see Table 2) of nature protection. In our study, the group that approved natural urban meadows most were women aged between 20–40 and people who show a large perception of nature and often observe animals and plants. We therefore consider that the integration of this group into public relations and environmental education should enhance positive attitudes towards nature protection in other demographic groups in society.
Urban natural meadows are popular among respondents. The finding that most of the polled citizens support natural meadows and would like them to increase, supports the results of previous studies on urban biodiversity and nature protection (e.g., [28,30,36]). Moreover, additionally provided information increased the acceptance for urban natural meadows. Natural protection in urban areas is no longer an end in itself. It is supported by popular perception and must be seen as a chance to renew the image of urban areas. Both biodiversity protection and the increase of the aesthetic value of extended urban green areas have positive impacts on urban life on several strata. This should encourage stakeholders to intensify their natural green area management efforts in their master plans for the cities of tomorrow.
This work was supported by the "Competence Centre for Sustainable Development" of the University of Tübingen—a project of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg" (INE_2_A). Theresa Jones corrected the English. Matthias Hunger gave statistical advice. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of our manuscript and their insightful comments and suggestions.
Author Contributions
Philipp Andreas Unterweger and Nicolas Schrode conceived and designed the experiments; Philipp Andreas Unterweger performed the experiments and analyzed the data with Nicolas Schrode; Philipp Andreas Unterweger, Nicolas Schrode and Oliver Betz contributed ideas and wrote the paper.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Figure 1. Structure of our questionnaire. (A) Pre-testing with meadows (green) and lawns (red); (B) Questions on personal behaviour; (C) Expert knowledge input; (D) Post-test with meadows (green), lawn (red) and unnatural/artificial green space (blue); (E) demographic questions. For further explanations see text.
Figure 2. Arithmetic means ± standard deviations for the evaluation of the five level Likert item "attractiveness", "spruceness", "enrichment for urban area". The bars represent the means of the five-level Likert scale categories that could be selected in the answers. Paired t-tests for dependent samples were used to test for statistical significance. In this analysis, we tested pre (before additional information input) and post (after additional information input). A: meadow pre–meadow post; B: lawn pre-lawn post; C: meadow pre–lawn pre; D: meadow post–lawn post; E: meadow post–unnatural; F: lawn post–unnatural. Significant results (p < 0.05) are marked with * (p < 0.01 with **, p < 0.001 with ***; n = 424).
Figure 3. The graphic display of the questions: "Would you change anything?" (t-test, n = 6, 424 participants), p = 0.021 (*) and "Would you like to have more meadows?" (t-test, n = 6, 424 participants) p = 0.000 (***). Values are arithmetic means ± standard deviations.
Table 1. Demographic composition of the 424 participants who answered the questionnaire including their attitudes towards nature. The results are given in both total numbers and percentages.
|Total (n = 424)
|Contribution (%)
|Total (n = 424)
|Contribution (%)
|I. Perception of nature
|I strongly appreciate, enjoy and protect nature
|Nature is importent to me
|I appreciate nature
|Nature does not interest me
|Nature frightens me
|"Nature is just the forest"
|older than 60
|II. Access to a garden
|diploma (University)
|doctoral thesis
|III. Nature as place for relaxation
|state examination
|secondary school level 1
|diploma (technical college)
|postdoctoral qualification
|vocational training
|general school
|IV: Observation of animals or plants
|natural science
|social science
|service sector
|V. Knowledge of entomology
|VI. Involvement in nature protection
|I provide money and time for nature protection
|I sometimes provide money and time for nature protection
|I support people that protect nature
|I do not provide money or time for nature protection
|Nature does not play a role for me
Table 2. Results of the first intuitive impressions when the participants were confronted with pictures of natural meadows. We rated positive and negative responses for each topic that we found (using grounded theory methodology (GTM)). The value represents the mean numbers of mentions per topic and percentage (for further explanation see text) of the five shown meadows and the two lawns. Multiple answers were allowed. SD = Standard deviation. n = 522.
|(n = 522)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|Value for Nature
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
|Value for Humans
|mean (SD)
|mean (SD)
Table 3. Combination of results of Table 2 after re-arrangement of the answers, forming the new categories "focus nature" and "anthropocentric focus". Positive and negative entries are presented in mean numbers of mentions per category and percentages. n = 522.
|Focus nature
|mean total (SD)
|Anthropocentric focus
|mean total (SD)
Table 4. Influence of demographic and behavioural data on the perception of lawns and meadows. The significance level of the one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) and the results of the Bonferroni tests are given. The given categories correspond to the categories of Table 1. n = 424.
|Sig. ANOVA
|Bonferroni Tests
|attractiveness of meadow
|spruceness of meadow
|0–20 has higher values than 60+ (p = 0.058); 20–40 has higher values than 60+ (p = 0.015); 40–60 has higher values than 60+ (p = 0.001)
|enriching effect of meadow
|attractiveness of lawn
|0–20 (p = 0.021) and 20–40 (p = 0.000) have higher values than 40–60
|spruceness of lawn
|0–20 (p = 0.012) and 20–40 (p = 0.000) have higher values than 40–60; 20–40 has higher values than 60+ (p = 0.009)
|enriching effect of lawn
|0–20 has higher values than 40–60 (p = 0.010) and 60+ (p = 0.026); 20–40 has higher values than 40–60 (p = 0.000) and 60+ (p = 0.008)
|Perception of nature
|attractiveness of meadow
|Highest category has higher values than category 2 (p = 0.024), category 3 (p = 0.000) and category 4 (p = 0.036)
|spruceness of meadow
|Highest category has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.003)
|enriching effect of meadow
|Category 1 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.000) and category 4 (p = 0.014); category 2 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.000)
|attractiveness of lawn
|Category 2 (p = 0.000) and category 3 (p = 0.000) higher values than category 1
|spruceness of lawn
|enriching effect of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 2 (p = 0.030) and category 3 (p = 0.006)
|Access to a a garden
|attractiveness of meadow
|spruceness of meadow
|enriching effect of meadow
|attractiveness of lawn
|Category 1 has lower than category 3 (p = 0.006)
|spruceness of lawn
|Category 3 has higher than category 1 (p = 0.002) and lower values than category 4 (p = 0.014)
|enriching effect of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 3 (p = 0.001)
|Nature as place for relaxation
|attractiveness of meadow
|Category 1 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.034)
|spruceness of meadow
|enriching effect of meadow
|Category 1 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.000) and category 4 (p = 0.001); category 2 has higher values than category 4 (p = 0.010)
|attractiveness of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 3 (p = 0.020) and category 4 (p = 0.009)
|spruceness of lawn
|enriching effect of lawn
|Observation of plants and animals
|attractiveness of meadow
|Category 1 (p = 0.000), category 2 (p = 0.000), category 3 (p = 0.002) and category 4 (p = 0.020) have higher values than category 5
|spruceness of meadow
|Category 1 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.003) and category 5 (p = 0.024); category 2 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.017) and category 5 (p = 0.044)
|enriching effect of meadow
|Category 1 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.005), category 4 (p = 0.002) and category 5 (p = 0.000); category 2 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.004), category 4 (p = 0.002) and category 5 (p = 0.000)
|attractiveness of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 2 (p = 0.003), category 3 (p = 0.000), category 4 (p = 0.000). category 2 has lower values than category 4 (p = 0.007)
|spruceness of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 2 (p = 0.000), category 3 (p = 0.000) and category 4 (p = 0.004)
|enriching effect of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 2 (p = 0.000), category 3 (p = 0.000), category 4 (p = 0.001) and category 5 (p = 0.046)
|Knowledge of insects
|attractiveness of meadow
|Category 1 has higher values than category 2 (p = 0.004) and category 3 (p = 0.004)
|spruceness of meadow
|Category 2 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.000)
|enriching effect of meadow
|Category 2 has higher values than category 3 (p = 0.000)
|attractiveness of lawn
|Category 3 has higher values than category 1 (p = 0.021) and category 2 (p = 0.030)
|spruceness of lawn
|enriching effect of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 3 (p = 0.010)
|Involvement in nature protection
|attractiveness of meadow
|Category 4 has lower values than category 1 (p = 0.003), category 2 (p = 0.003) and category 3 (p = 0.001)
|spruceness of meadow
|Category 4 has lower values than category 1 (p = 0.000), category 2 (p = 0.001) and category 3 (p = 0.016)
|enriching effect of meadow
|Category 4 has lower values than category 1 (p = 0.000), category 2 (p = 0.000) and category 3 (p = 0.000)
|attractiveness of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 3 (p = 0.007) and category 4 (p = 0.000). category 2 has lower values than category 4 (p = 0.015)
|spruceness of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 3 (p = 0.000) and category 4 (p = 0.020)
|enriching effect of lawn
|Category 1 has lower values than category 3 (p = 0.004) and category 4 (p = 0.000)
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1. Morozoff
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. ☆☆バレンタイン限定商品のご紹介☆☆ #チョコレートチーズケーキ (クリオロ種カカオ使用) 「世界一」のチョコレートを使用した贅沢なチョコレートチーズケーキ。 クリームチーズをベースとした生地に、ココアパウダーでチョコレートの風味を加え焼成し、その後にイタリアンアカデミーオブチョコレートの2004年クーベルチュール部門で世界一第一位を受賞したチョコレート(マカライボ産クリオロ種カカオ使用)を使用したガナッシュを天面に流しました。 フルーティな香りのクリオロ種カカオを使用したチョコレートガナッシュが合わさった贅沢なチョコレートチーズケーキです。 販売期間:2019年1月5日(土)〜2019年2月14日(木) ※お取扱い期間につきましては、ホームページ店舗一覧内、 洋生菓子取扱店舗にてご確認ください。 #モロゾフ #morozoff #バレンタイン #バレンタインデー #valentine #チョコレート #chocolate #チーズケーキ #cheesecake
More than a decade after its stint in Singapore from 1984 to 2003, this popular Japanese chocolatier and confectionery made its comeback in 2017 and has whetted our taste buds ever since. The chain offers a range of sweet and savoury snacks such as chocolates, cookies with roasted nuts or cookie sandwiches and packaged baked goods such as madeleines.
Founded as a chocolate shop in Kobe in 1931, it is now one of Japan's leading luxury confectionery makers, with over 1,000 shops and 33 cafes in Japan, as well as outlets in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Dubai and Singapore.
Morozoff's goodies are air-flown to Singapore at least once per week. Its signatures include the Feuillage (thin leaf-shaped cookies topped with almonds or hazelnuts), glace au chocolat (bite-sized chocolates), and the Hokkaido mascarpone cheesecake.
Check its website for store locations.
2. Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory
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Introducing Cow Cow Kitchen by Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory in Jewel Changi Singapore B2-265! Indulge in freshly baked Milk Pie (Choux & Pie dough combination) with imported Japanese mascarpone cheese & cream filling. Also available – our Japanese soft serve as well as our popular range of Cookies! #milkpie #mascarponecheese #milk #tokyomilkcheesesg #jewel #newproducts #dessert #tokyomilkcheesefactory
With nine outlets in Tokyo ever since it was established in 2011, Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory has been in Singapore since November 2017. The popular confectionery chain specialises in sweets such as cookies, cakes and soft serves made of Hokkaido Jersey milk, French camembert cheese and guerande salt.
It sources ingredients from various parts of the world, such as rosemary honey from Spain, sea salt from France, gorgonzola cheese and porcini mushroom from Italy. The signature item is the salt and camembert cookies, where the Camembert cheese white chocolate filling provides a savoury-sweet pairing.
The milk cheesecake is another popular item. Made of cream cheese from France and Hokkaido and blended with Hokkaido fresh milk, it comes with a crepe base layered with a cheese and milk mousse. Other must-tries include the strawberry milk roll cake made from homemade strawberry jam and the Cow Cow Sundae, a soft-serve cup made from cream cheese and gouda cheese from Hokkaido.
Check out its website for store locations.
3. The Maple Mania
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#maplemania #2018 #toronto #comingsoon #goodfood #torontofood
Established in 2013 with its first outlet in Tokyo Station, The Maple Mania is well-known for its Maple Butter Cookie, which ranked for three consecutive years (from 2015 to 2017) as the best-selling product in Tokyo Station, according to the annual Tokyo Station Popular Souvenir Ranking. It is the sister company of Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory, the famous cheese cookie confectionery chain mentioned earlier.
The Maple Mania uses pure maple syrup sourced directly from Quebec, Canada to create its own mixture of maple syrup, toffee, herbs and spices, with a tinge of floral flavour. The sweet syrup is then incorporated into its products.
Apart from the maple butter cookies, other crowd favourites include the maple financiers and caramel-topped maple baumkuchen (which it says symbolises longevity and unity), where the tree cake is infused with maple syrup and sprinkled with crystallised maple sugar for a crunchy texture.
At 2 Orchard Turn, B3-K2 ION Orchard, Singapore 238801, visit www.themaplemaniasg.com
4. Chateraise
This confectionery chain needs no introduction. You can find one in almost every corner of the island. Established in the Yamanashi prefecture, Chateraise uses fresh eggs, milk and other ingredients from Japan to produce a range of classic Japanese-western cakes such as cream cakes, choux pastries and Swiss rolls. Every outlet also carries the delectable animal-themed cakes and seasonal offerings, such as the Shine Muscat and Pione confectionaries.
Signature items include the Legendary Fresh Cream Cake, Dorayaki red bean pancake and Hokkaido-style cheese tarts. You can also purchase its exquisite gift boxes of assorted sweets. For a place to sit down and chill, visit the Toa Payoh outlet, which has an al fresco area, if you'd like to people watch over a Hokkaido milk latte and cheese tarts.
Check out its website for store locations.
5. Kyushu Pancake
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***************** 季節のメニュー ***************** ・ ・ 明日5月21日よりスタート🥞 ・ 宮崎もいよいよ夏本番! シーズナルメニューが夏ver.スタートです! ・ ✳Seasonal Pancake✳ 熊本産🍈 肥後グリーンをのせた"メロンパンケーキ" 1,200円 すっきりとした甘さの"肥後グリーンメロン"をたっぷりと使ったシーズナルパンケーキ。 ・ 自家製のメロンシロップとヨーグルトホイップを添えて爽やかに仕上げました! ・ 見た目にも味も初夏を感じさせるパンケーキをお楽しみください! ・ 【熊本県産肥後グリーンメロン:翡翠色をした濃い緑色が特徴の肥後グリーンメロン。 果肉が厚くジューシーな果汁。甘みの豊かなメロンです】 ※フルーツの種類が季節・仕入れによって異なります。詳しくはスタッフにお尋ねください。 ・ [提供店舗] ・九州パンケーキcafe宮崎本店 ・九州パンケーキkitchenイオンモール宮崎店 #九州パンケーキ #kyushupancake #宮崎パンケーキ #miyazaki #宮崎カフェ #九州 #kyushu #japan #asia #九州小麦 #九州雑穀 #世界があこがれる九州をつくる #九州パンケーキキッチン #kyushupancakekitchen #メロンパンケーキ #melnpancake @kyushupancakecafe @k.p.k_aeonmiyazaki
Established in 2012, Kyushu Pancake is famous for its multi-grain pancakes, which are made with seven different types of grains grown in Kyushu (arguably Japan's agricultural gem): Wheat from Oita Prefecture, Aigoma farmed sprouted brown rice in Aya, Miyazaki, millet from Unzen, Nagasaki, pressed barley from Saga Prefecture, purple rice and red glutinous rice from Kumamoto and Fukuoka Prefecture, non-glutinous rice from Kagoshima and raw sugar from Okinawa and Kagoshima. The pancakes are free of artificial flavourings, additives and emulsifiers.
Some of the store's highlights include the Kyushu buttermilk classic pancake, matcha montblanc, eggs benedict pancake, salted caramel French toast and matcha azuki waffle.
If you'd like to try your hand at whipping up your own pancakes, you can also purchase the Kyushu Pancake Mix. For a savoury dish, try the karaage chicken waffle (one of the two dishes that can only be found in Singapore), which is served with Kyushu's special sauce and white wine honey made of Taiwanese wildflower.
At 275 Thomson Road, 01-08 Novena Regency, Singapore 307645. Visit www.kyushu-pancake.sg
6. Hattendo
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Amaou Cream Bun 🍓 あまおうくりーむパン . Amaou strawberry the seasonal fruits available in Cream Buns now! It taste sweet with hint of sourness and combination of our whipped cream 😋 . Seasonal cream bun launching from 1st March. . #hattendo #hattendosingapore #八天堂 #八天堂シンガポール #あまおうくりーむパン #あまおう #amaoucreambun #amaou #tanjongpagarcentre #tripadvisor #yelp #hungrygowhere #sgcafe #singaporecafe #burpple #since1933
Known for its impossibly soft cream buns, this chain store had tried thousands of recipes before arriving at the final product — a delicate sweet bread that tastes best when it is chilled.
The buns come in five flavours: fresh cream, custard, chocolate, matcha, and sweet red bean paste (azuki). Custard and fresh cream are the brand's best-selling flavours, but the Azuki fillings are made by simmering Hokkaido-grown azuki beans and the matcha cream is made with a Fukuoka brand powdered green tea for a tinge of bitterness.
Each bun is painstakingly made by hand, from making the bread to the cream to the final packaging. This is because the cream buns are so soft they might be torn if handled by a machine.
Aside from its cream buns, try Hattendo's coffee, an original blend made by a specialty coffee shop called Itsuki Coffee, located in Miyajima in the Hiroshima prefecture.
At Tanjong Pagar Centre, 01-05 7 Wallich Street, Singapore 078884. Visit http://hattendo.jp/en/overseas/
7. Henri Charpentier
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\本日発売!ブルターニュチーズ・スフレ/ 人気のWチーズケーキに続き、ふんわり食感のチーズ・スフレが本日から販売です! ミルクのコクをしっかり感じながらスッキリとした後味が特徴のブルターニュ産のチーズを使用し、中には甘さと芳醇な香りが特徴のサンマスカットの貴腐ワインレーズンが散りばめられています。 貴腐ワインレーズンとは・・・🤔 『貴腐』⇒貴腐菌が完熟ブドウの水分を蒸発させ、糖度が高まり芳香を帯びる現象です。鼻に抜けるフルーティーさに、名前の由来である「高貴な腐敗」を感じることができます! こだわりのレーズンを使用したブルターニュチーズ・スフレを是非ご賞味ください😋 #アンリシャルパンティエ #henricharpentier #アンリ #ashiya #ブルターニュ #チーズスフレ #貴腐ワイン #8月新発売 #ブルターニュチーズスフレ
First established in Japan in 1969, Henri Charpentier is a French-inspired Japanese patisserie named after the nineteenth-century French chef. It started out as a small coffee shop in Ashiya, and built a name for its Crepe Suzette and flambéed crêpes.
Get ready to splash some cash on the exquisitely made signature cakes, pastries, madeleine, financiers and flambé desserts. Some of the signature items include the fragrant financiers, made with almonds and an original cultured butter recipe, madeleines made of Hokkaido flour, rum, honey and Japanese lemons, and the strawberry shortcake, a light almond sponge cake layered with whipped cream.
A favourite for forty years and counting, the financiers are made with cultured butter from Hokkaido and two types of top-grade almond flour, then baked until they are buttery, fluffy and perfectly golden brown.
Check out its website for store locations.
8. Chef Yamashita
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If you're a fan of French-Japanese pastries, then Chef Yamashita is right up your alley. This artisan patisserie was established by Chef Yamashita Masataka, who was trained at the reputable Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka. With years of baking experience under his belt, Chef Yamashita is an esteemed patissiere who cut his teeth at many patisseries around Japan before managing one of the top patisseries in Nara.
His search for a new challenge saw him move to Singapore, where he continues to create delightful treats such as strawberry shortcakes, Japanese mont blancs, shell-shaped financiers, peach souffles, mille feuille and luna cakes (sponge cakes made with cream, custard and studded with fruits).
At 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, 02-44 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, Singapore 082001. Visit https://chefyamashita.com/

subset: commoncrawl


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KYIV. Oct 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow have emphasized the need to strengthen political dialogue between the two countries at the highest level and deepen trade cooperation on trade, economic, energy, financial, scientific, technical, cultural, humanitarian, and other areas.
A joint statement signed by the two presidents was posted on Poroshenko's official website on Thursday.
"The presidents have reaffirmed their intention to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in the international arena. The two leaders stressed the need for coordination and mutual support within the framework of universal and regional organizations which Ukraine and Turkmenistan belong to," the statement said.
Both leaders also reaffirmed the importance of enhancing the role of the UN and its institutions in addressing global issues, ensuring sustainable development, and strengthening security and stability in the world. The two leaders also declared their readiness to boost their efforts in the fight against terrorism, organized crime, and illicit drug trafficking.
"The parties reaffirm their commitment to comply with the generally recognized principles and norms of international law, including the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, as well as the peaceful settlement of disputes. The leaders of the two countries noted the need to enhance bilateral and multilateral cooperation of regional security and stability," the statement said.
The two presidents reaffirmed their mutual intent in ensuring the growth of bilateral trade and its diversification, the development of long-term forms of economic cooperation, and further investment cooperation.
The sides also confirmed their readiness to develop and deepen bilateral relations on culture, education, science, tourism and sports. In particular, they agreed to take measures to organize Days of the Culture of Turkmenistan in Ukraine and Days of the Culture of Ukraine in Turkmenistan.
Poroshenko is on an official visit to Turkmenistan on October 28-29, 2015.
KYIV. Oct 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Austria's ASTEBO, an industrial boiler manufacturer, is mulling the possibility of launching boiler production in Ukraine – at the Karpaty experimental mechanical plant in Lviv region.
According to a press release of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, the project was discussed at the Ukrainian-Austrian business forum that took place last week in Vienna.
"Soon ASTEBO representatives with the help of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry would visit the Karpaty plant to study the technical conditions and prepare bids for a tender," reads the press release.
Karpaty experimental mechanical plant LLC produces chemical and mining equipment and spare parts to it, fuel storage and transportation reservoirs for filling stations and autohydraulic hoists. The plant also produces hopper cars and gondola cars.
According to the state register, 41.3% of the limited liability company belongs to Yevhen Pohrebniak, around 41% to Olegro Ltd. (Cyprus) and 17.7% to the company head Hryhoriy Bevz.
ASTEBO is a global leader in designing, manufacturing and installation of industrial boilers and steam and hot water systems.
KYIV. Oct 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Novotech-terminal LLC (Odesa) plans to start building an elevator with a grain storage capacity of 110,000 tonnes at Odesa maritime merchandise port.
"Near berth 25 an elevator with a storage capacity of around 110,000 tonnes will be built. As far as I know our partners have drawn up the blueprints which are being examined," Deputy Head of Administration of Odesa seaport Ruslan Sakhautdinov said at the investment forum "New projects of grain and oilseeds terminals in the ports of Ukraine" in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He said that construction and assembly works will start soon and that the Novotech-terminal has shown good results in grain handling.
"The wagon turnover is 3.5 days compared to eight days at large elevators in Odesa region. This is a very good indicator," he said.
It is also planned to create a grain complex at berth 7, which is operated by Metals Ukraine.
"[The berth] requires reconstruction. We're at the stage of designing with the port's administration. The length of the berth is 350 meters. All the required permits have been received. Next year we're ready to start construction and assembly works and it could take around two years to finish them," he said.
Sakhautdinov said that two stevedoring companies – Metals Ukraine and Olimpex Coupe International – are mulling the technology of uniting their elevators into a gallery and would create a "grain hub" on the territory of Odesa seaport.
KYIV. Oct 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom in Brussels on Wednesday signed several documents on cooperation with Belgian companies Transnubel Engineering and Tractebel Engineering, the company's press service has reported.
The press service said that during the negotiations with Transnubel, the possibility of delivering fresh nuclear fuel to Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs) from Sweden's Westinghouse plant was discussed.
"Transnubel is one of the European leaders in the area of transportation of radioactive materials and affiliated services. The procedures and service provision standards are in line with the EU requirements, ensuring the highest safety level during transportation of radioactive materials," reads the report.
The protocol of on cooperation with Tractebel Engineering foresees the participation of the Belgian company in the implementation of the comprehensive program on increasing the safety of reactors of Ukrainian NPPs being realized by Energoatom.
The sides are also interested in joint work on a project to increase the capacity of reactors of the VVER-1000 type at Ukrainian NPPs. In addition, Tractebel Engineering is ready to provide engineering and technical support during the completion of construction of reactors three and four of Khmelnytsky NPP and take part in the realization of other projects of new construction by Energoatom.
Energoatom is the operator of all four Ukrainian-based operating nuclear power plants, which have 15 VVER reactors with an overall generating capacity of 13.835 gigawatts.
Tractebel Engineering is a global engineering consultancy company with worldwide expertise in energy, water and infrastructure projects. Tractebel Engineering's services cover the whole lifecycle of these projects, from feasibility studies to decommissioning.
Tractebel Engineering is part of ENGIE Energy Services, which is the European leader in provision of engineering services in the energy sector.
KYIV. Oct 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Izmail maritime merchandise port state enterprise (Odesa region) plans to attract investors to develop the port's grain handling capacities, Head of the Infrastructure Development Service of the port Liudmyla Hirus has said.
"Since 2002 we've been working on the issue of special terminals and today we've finished only with technical offers where we discuss two land parcels not far from berth 12 with a gross area of around 1.5 ha and behind berth 26 with area of 3.2 ha," she said at the investment forum "New projects of grain and oilseeds terminals at the ports of Ukraine" in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Hirus said that the option of a separate railway track to these parcels is foreseen. A capacity of up to 700,000 tonnes a year is planned for the first land parcel with the possibility of servicing vessels of up to 145 meters long and with the draft of up to 5.5 meters.
She said that the cost of the project for the first land parcel as of 2009 was estimated at UAH 27.1 million of capital investment. Today, it is UAH 81 million.
She said that the second site foresees two construction stages. Its capacity is 550,000 tonnes.
The cost of the project in 2001 was UAH 32 million, and today it is around UAH 100 million.
KYIV. Oct 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – PJSC Kyiv Plant Radar in January-September 2015 saw its net profit rise by 7.3 times under international financial reporting standards (IFRS) compared to the same period in 2014, to UAH 870,000.
According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and the Stock Market, its net income for the first nine months increased by 2.4 times, to UAH 46.36 million.
In January-June 2015 Radar saw a net loss of UAH 4.72 million, while in the same period of 2014 the company posted a net profit of UAH 140,000, its net income in the first half of 2015 increased by 41.8%, to UAH 25.64 million.
Kyiv Plant Radar is a basic enterprise in Ukraine's aviation industry which focuses on the production of airborne radar systems, navigation complexes, and special purpose equipment. It is a monopolist in the production of radar stations, including the Hroza, Buran, and 9B-1101K models.


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Please Note: This page has Amazon Affiliate links. It's a simple way to support my Website without costing you anything.
The recommended piano lessons books are based on my current students' needs. This is not a comprehensive list for all students at all levels. I choose quality learning materials that give students what they need at the lowest possible cost.
Be careful to only buy books that are marked "ships from and sold by Amazon.com", else you may be price gouged by a third-party seller.
Method Books
Music Tree – Time to Begin (2 separate books)
The Music Tree Student's Book: Time to Begin
The Music Tree Activities Book: Time to Begin
Music Tree – Part 1 (2 separate books)
The Music Tree Student's Book: Part 1
The Music Tree Activities Book: Part 1
Music Tree – Part 2A (2 separate books)
The Music Tree Student's Book: Part 2A
The Music Tree Student's Book: Part 2A
Music Tree – Part 2B (2 separate books)
The Music Tree Student's Book: Part 2B
The Music Tree Activities Book: Part 2B
Older Child/Adult Beginner
[Book to be introduced soon]
Repertoire Books
Music for Millions Series
Introduction – Classics to Moderns
Vol. 17 – Easy Classics to Moderns
Vol. 27 – More Easy Classics to Moderns
Vol. 37 – Classics to Moderns in the Intermediate Grade
Vol. 47 – Early Advanced Classics to Moderns
Multiple Composer Collections
Sonatina Album: A Collection of Favorite Sonatinas, Rondos, and Other Pieces for the Piano
Single Composer Collections
Bach, J.S.
Inventions and Sinfonias: Two- and Three-Part Inventions (Alfred Masterwork Edition)
Burgmüller, Friedrich
Twenty-Five Easy and Progressive Studies, Opus 100
Kabalevsky, Dmitri
24 Pieces for Children, Op. 39: Piano Solo (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics)
Olson, Lynn Freeman
Beginning Sonatinas: Five Original Works in Varying Styles for the Early Grades
Fun Books
34 Super Mario Themes Arranged for Easy Piano
Theory Aids
Key Covers
Bea's Keys – Not sold on Amazon
Music Theory
Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory: A Complete Self-Study Course for All Musicians (Book & 2 CDs)
Scales Book
The Complete Book of Scales, Chords, Arpeggios, etc
Little Red Book
Wide Staff Manuscript Paper – Can also be purchased at Musicworks or any music store
Digital Audio Recorder
Zoom H4N PRO Digital Multitrack Recorder
Piano Parent book
Playful Preschool Piano Teaching – Great softcover book by Nicola Cantan explaining learning theory for teaching young pianists. Although best matched to 3- to 5-year-olds, some of the principles also apply to those up to age 8 or so.
Playful Preschool Piano Teaching – Kindle version of softcover book


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Welcome to the Palos Verdes Peninsula Democratic Club's secure ActBlue page. You can pay your membership dues or make a contribution to the club here.
Any registered Democrat or a person who intends to register as a Democrat as soon as s/he is eligible may join the club.
Please select the "Donate" button corresponding to your membership level:
♦ Individual membership is $25
♦ Family memberships are $40 for 2 people
♦ To make additional donation, please click on the "Other amount" button


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Sold out
Vinyl Window Stickers
All profit goes to New Car fund for Hashtag Hope.
6" #HOPE logo SOLD OUT
19" You Are Not A Wasted Life
14" It's ok to not be ok
10.5" You Are Loved SOLD OUT
Vinyl Decals. Peel and stick.
Perfect for your vehicle.
$10 each


text: Retail Oka-B's shoes and sandals are adorned with items such as natural seashells, gemstones and ribbons, without compromising on comfort. OKA-B Walking in Comfort Oka-B expands its product line this year to offer a broader selection of shoes and sandals that are not only comfortable, but also affordable and fashionable. BY JANICE HOPPE O Page Timmerman, director of sales www.oka-b.com Budford, Ga. 72 ka-B was founded on the principle that fashion and comfort should never be mutually exclusive. Delivering on its promise to offer fashionable yet comfortable shoes and sandals, the company has been able to expand its line and develop a loyal customer base over the past 10 years. The Budford, Ga.-based company was founded in 2005 and began by making comfortable footwear for the spa and resort market. Oka-B started with two basic styles - a slide and a thong, which are designed to feel like a spa shoe by integrating the principles of reflexology and ergonomics. "We were selling to spas and had a great response," Director of Sales, Spa/Resort Market Kara Conrad says. "The spas and resorts wanted to start to sell the shoes in their boutiques, so we had the idea to start embellishing the sandal design and launched Oka-B as a fashion sandal." RETAIL-MERCHANDISER.COM January/February 2015 Today, Oka-B offers dozens of styles and colors adorned with natural seashells, gemstones and ribbons, without compromising on comfort. The company makes a shoe or sandal for every occasion from bridal collections to casual weekend flip-flops. Oka-B shoes and sandals are sold for $24 to $50 in upscale resorts, spas, hotels and fine gift shops around the world. Built for Comfort Oka-B designs and manufactures its shoes and sandals at its headquarters and prides itself on offering American-made products, Conrad says. "Less than two percent of shoe manufacturers are based in the United States and that's a huge part of our brand marketing," she adds. "Our brand is affordable luxury because we make our products in the U.S. andhttp://www.RETAIL-MERCHANDISER.COM


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Additional Blog Posts
The Saints have 10 players in the Pro Bowl. Will that entice you to watch the game?
It's Your Call: Can a conservative and liberal have a civil conversation about the protests during the national anthem?
Tommy Tucker, WWL First News
June 27, 2018 - 11:05 am
Every morning, we talk about things in the news and give you a chance to call in and express your opinion. On this edition of IYC (It's Your Call), we're talking about civility and if it's even possible for those on polar opposites of the political spectrum to have a CIVIL conversation. This discussion between Bob and Matthew started down the right path but soon took a detour.
Where do you think it went wrong and who's responsible…the conservative or the liberal? I think it's pretty obvious but see what you think. With whom do you agree?
Now IT'S YOUR CALL. Who sunk the S.S. Civility: Bob or Matthew?
Be sure to listen and call in between 6 and 10 weekday mornings to WWL First News with me Tommy Tucker because, after all, IT'S YOUR CALL!
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text: Lisa from Orangewood Foundation showed up at GCHope this morning with an amazing story to share with us. Orangewood has been working with a family for years to try and get them into a permanent housing situation. The parents and their four kids have been sharing a single room for the last five years. Today we celebrate with them as they move into their own apartment! GCHope couldn't wait to give twin mattresses, bedding, and linens that will be set up and waiting to surprise the kids when they get home from school today. It's an honor to be a part of this family's story but most importantly the kids get to come home from school today and see their parents as the heroes they really are. These parents have worked multiple jobs, provided for their family, and today we revel in their success.


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Eleven people are dead after a landslide hit southwest China's Guizhou Province late Tuesday, local authorities said Wednesday.
At about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, a landslide lashed a village in the city of Liupanshui, burying 21 houses. More than 50 people were living in the affected area when the landslide struck, according to rescuers.
As of about 11 a.m. Wednesday, 11 people were found dead, another 11 were rescued, and an estimated 34 remained missing. Rescue work is still underway.
The Ministry of Emergency Management said Wednesday that it immediately activated an emergency response for the landslide and sent a work team to the site to assist local governments in disaster relief.
Currently, some 560 professional rescuers are searching the site thoroughly for the missing to minimize casualties, the ministry said.
The ministry called for intensified geological and meteorological monitoring to prevent secondary disasters, and efforts to ensure the safety of rescuers.
Another landslide struck a construction site in a village in Hezhang County, Guizhou Province, at around 4 p.m. Tuesday, leaving one dead and six others missing, according to the county government.


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Somalia: President Hassan off to Germany for medical check-up
MOGADISHU, Somalia Feb 11, 2015 (Garowe Online)-Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has jetted off to Germany for medical examination according to officials on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports.
Mohamud and his entourage including first lady and presidential officials departed at Adan Adde International airport for Turkey where he will make brief stop over prior to Germany trip.
The move marks the second medical check-up overseas since being elected to the top political job in September 2012.
In February 2014, Mohamud underwent baseline examination at Turkish hospital, spurring nationwide hoax.
Somalia President locked horns with Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed in November, more recently followed by stiff opposition from MPs who refused to vote in favor of the country's newest cabinet.


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A time, and times, and half a time 2011
Video Installation
The Belfry, St John on Bethnal Green, London
Reflecting on the history and architectural space of St John on Bethnal Green, this collaborative installation by visual artists Arabella Lee and Pauline Thomas with poet Samuel Brenton hovers on the themes of time and oblivion. The images and sound resonate and repeat within the confinement of the Belfry Tower in solitary beats of time that suspends between, beside, and across many other durations.
This installation was comprised of three video projections of the bells that hang in the bell tower above the belfry. Only one bell has been restored and is able to be rung. The projections reflect this by one bell ringing in a random order within the architectural space.
With reference to St John the Divine, who the church is named after, the image is overlaid with his apocalyptic words from the 'Book of Revelations' taken from the King James Bible.


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