Values of penang botanic gardens as green space to users / Mohd Ali Waliyuddin A Razak

The increasing number of botanic gardens in Malaysia indicate they are really important to people thus making them one of the most visited green spaces. A common perception on botanic gardens management in Malaysia is that educational values are the main attraction among their users but this assumption is not always correct. Lack of studies related to other values in botanic gardens contribute to the misunderstanding of the present role of botanic gardens as green space to users. The aim of the research is to determine the values that contribute to the success of botanic gardens as a green space Hence, this study looks into other values in botanic gardens that are positively related to users' visitation motivation. Based on the value ranking results, the recreational and leisure values with the cumulative mean of 4.14 were deemed the most important values followed by social value at 3.96 , visual value at 3.90 and the educational value as the lowest among its visitors with a cumulative mean of 3.66. This shows that the educational value is not the most important value among its users. In term of demographic variables, results show that demographic factors affect the findings minimally. For the important values of the Penang Botanic Gardens and the reasons for visiting the gardens, the demographic variable of occupation (Table 4.14 and Table 4.23) shows more significant differences compared to other demographic variables. Meanwhile, for visual assessment the variable race (Table 4.29) displays more significant differences compared to the others variables. This study also provides ideas and guidelines on how the botanic gardens management can identify the most vital values, hence providing the best facilities and services for botanic garden users and to increase visitation.