Urban green spaces (public gardens, parks, urban and peri-urban forests) offer multiple-use opportunities and spaces for recreational activities and played a key role in supporting mental and physical health of dwellers during covid-19 pandemic, being ones of few places where outdoor and social activities where allowed. This study was conducted in Brașov city (also known as Kronstadt, by its German name), the second largest metropolitan area of Romania and surrounded by a significant area of peri-urban forests in Transylvania. Brașov city own just 5.62 sqm of urban green space/inhabitant, one of the lowest in the country, so the presence of a large peri-urban forest area become very valuable for locals and tourists visiting the area. Due to its importance and because understanding visitors' expectations and perceptions is a key element to support decision-makers and ensure proper management of these forests, the Brașov’s forests administrator (Kronstadt Local Public Forest District – RPLPK) decided to investigate how dwellers generally interact with the peri-urban forests and to identify opportunities for improving the capacity of forests in providing social and recreational services. Data were collected through the administration of CAWI (computer assisted web interview) to 314 respondents at beginning of 2021, at exactly one year distance after the pandemic lockdown was imposed all around the country. Analyzing the participants responses, a surprising fact become evident: the use of peri-urban forest is not gender equal, women being less able than men to access these green natural spaces and, therefore, to uptake the benefits provided by the peri-urban forests.

Cities are affected by the impact of rapid urbanization on changes to soil properties. The aim of this study was to assess the physical and chemical properties of the soil of urban and peri-urban forests and to define which soil property is more significant for these two types of forests. The research took place in urban and peri-urban forests in the metropolitan area of Brasov, Romania. Among the properties determined were: particle size distribution, reaction, soil organic matter content, and the base saturation degree. As supplementary data, for plots from urban forests, the heavy metal content was determined. The results revealed that soils from urban forests had an alkaline reaction and the ones from peri-urban forests had a moderately acid reaction. The soil from the peri-urban plots was sandier and the other ones were more clayey. Testing the differences between the forests led to significant differences in the case of seven properties of which we mentioned pH and sand and clay content. Using PCA, the most significant and important soil properties for urban forests were the sum of basic exchangeable cations, cation exchange capacity, soil organic matter, and silt and clay contents. This study is more relevant in light of the EU Soil Strategy, which sets out a framework and concrete measures to protect and restore soils.