Promoting urban greenery visits and conservation engagement through websites, virtual tours, and gamification: Experimental evidence and insights

Source abstract

Urban green spaces are essential for biodiversity conservation and human well-being. As digital technologies reshape how people engage with nature, digital media offer new opportunities to connect urban populations with natural landscapes. We conducted an exploratory empirical study comparing the effects of three forms of digital media—a website, a virtual tour, and a gamified virtual tour—that differed in their capacity to engage users. Using a randomized controlled experiment involving 88 university students and staff, we examined how these media influenced willingness to visit an urban green space and willingness to donate in support of conserving its biological community and promoting its importance to the general public. Participants who experienced the gamified virtual tour reported significantly greater willingness to visit than those who viewed the standard website. No statistically significant differences were detected in willingness to donate across the three conditions, although this outcome should be interpreted cautiously given the study's limited statistical power. Overall, the findings suggest that creative digital media, particularly gamified virtual tours, show promise for increasing public engagement with urban green spaces. We recommend that urban green space practitioners integrate digital media into landscape planning and outreach strategies to enhance the value co-creation within urban greenery service systems.