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This PhD study investigates the selection of plant species to create multi-species plant communities in Malaysian urban spaces, to develop a research tool to investigate public responses to spatial disorder and complexity in those planting communities. Eighteen species of mainly Malaysian tropical herbaceous perennial forbs have been selected on the basis of ecological, horticultural and aesthetic traits. These were used to create a gradient of communities with different levels of plant diversity. The work's overall purpose is to explore whether using these naturalistic plant communities as a contemporary, potentially more sustainable form of planting design is suitable in tropical climates involving a twelve-month growing season and very high growth and change rates. A preliminary assessment of the extent to which the tropical species in the communities are increasing, stable or decreasing in response to the management regime in operation is explained. Key species factors that underpin these behaviours were reviewed. Assessment through survey methods on the response of the maintenance staff involved and the general public to these communities are also provided. The study is in 2 parts. Part 1 involves vegetation types planted in three different spatial arrangements at two sites across social class, income, and educational gradients in an urban setting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Responses and feedback were obtained from questionnaires through a survey conducted at two selected public parks in Malaysia were presented to answer the research questions. Part 2 is another round of responses and feedback through the questionnaire survey, 12 months after planting. The respondents' response to the plots in both parks depicted that they perceived these three variable combinations as designs that they preferred and should widely be planted all around Malaysia. Low diversity vegetation is arranged in a random design and planted in three layers of different heights: base, low emergent, and tall emergent layers. Factors influencing this analysis include how nature connected or knowledgeable they are about nature, how nature-loving or eco-centric they are, and whether they have the anthropocentric view (controlled-nature).

This study focused on public perception and preference in relation to a range of typologies of woodland, shrub and herbaceous designed urban planting defined by planting structure and species character. An initial on-site questionnaire was conducted with a large sample of respondents, (n = 1410), at 31 sites in England, followed by in-depth interviews with a much smaller self-selecting sub-set of the original respondents, (n = 34). Findings indicated that planting structure, species character and flowering all had a significant bearing on perceptions of the attractiveness, neatness and the biodiversity of the planting. Respondents’ background socio-demographic factors, beliefs and values had a lesser influence on their reactions to the planting, and were also related to self-reported well-being. Relationships between perceived attractiveness, perceived biodiversity and well-being were identified.