Understanding the potential loss and inequities of green space distribution with urban densification

Lin, Brenda B.; Meyers, Jacqui; Barnett, Guy

doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2015.09.003

Cited by 188 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…More than half of urban Sydney is devoted to residential land use, representing the single largest contribution to Sydney's green infrastructure, which may be largely unrecognised and is under growing threat from urban consolidation [40]. This finding is consistent with McPherson et al [29] who found vegetation cover in Los Angeles, USA, was highest in low-density residential areas and decreased as density and urban land use intensified.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…This finding is consistent with McPherson et al [29] who found vegetation cover in Los Angeles, USA, was highest in low-density residential areas and decreased as density and urban land use intensified. Parkland vegetation cover also tends to decrease with increasing urban consolidation, threatening the second largest green infrastructure contributor in Sydney [40]. For the analysis of average park temperature, the overall model comparing the average park temperature at each point to the percentage of the four land use classes (pavement, bare ground/dry grass, green grass, tree cover) was highly significant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Urban Green Infrastructure Impacts on Climate Regulation Services in Sydney, Australia

et al. 2016

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Abstract:In many parts of the world, urban planning has a renewed focus on addressing the multiple challenges associated with population growth and climate change. Focused on local needs and priorities, these planning processes are raising tensions between more compact and dense urban form to reduce energy use and associated emissions and the provision of urban green infrastructure for ecosystem services and climate adaptation. In this study, we investigated the spatial distribution of green infrastructure at the neighbourhood scale in Sydney, Australia and examined how a mix of landscape types (pavement, bare soil/dry grass, green grass, and tree cover) affect temperature variation in three important locations for urban residents-around the home, in the roads and footpaths where people walk, and in parkland areas. Considering that residential and parkland areas contribute to the majority of green space in Sydney, it is important to understand how changes in landscape mix within these three neighbourhood areas will affect local temperature for urban residents. For residential houses, it was found that the percentage of tree canopy cover around the house had a significant negative relationship (p = 0.002) with surface temperatures of rooftops where greater tree cover led to lower rooftop temperatures. In streetscapes, both the percentage of tree cover (p < 0.0001) and the percentage of green grass (p < 0.0001) within the road segment had a significant negative relationship with the surface temperature of the road pavement. In the parks, the percentage of pavement (p < 0.0001) and the percentage of bare soil/dry grass (p < 0.0001) showed a significantly positive trend with land surface temperatures where greater land cover in the form of pavement and bare soil/dry grass led to higher temperatures. Collectively, these findings highlight the importance of promoting or reducing certain landscape covers depending on the land use type in order to maximise the cooling potential of green infrastructure.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Urban Green Infrastructure Impacts on Climate Regulation Services in Sydney, Australia

et al. 2016

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“…Suburbs of higher socio-economic advantage have significantly more overall vegetation cover, more private green cover (but slightly less public green cover), more street trees, higher plant species richness and vegetation abundance than areas of greater disadvantage [6,17,[27][28][29]. Hoffimann et al [30] found that green spaces in lower socio-economic areas raise more safety concerns, have more signs of damage, less equipment and fewer amenities (such as seating, toilets, cafes).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Cares? The Importance of Emotional Connections with Nature to Ensure Food Security and Wellbeing in Cities

2018

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Abstract:To be "connected" is "to care", because how and what we care about is influenced, and influences, what we are connected with. Emotional connection predicts environmental concern and children exposed to green environments take this appreciation of nature with them into adulthood. However, the majority of the human population is now living within urban areas, where opportunities for people to interact and bond with nature are greatly diminished, thereby potentially threatening the liveability of cities into the future. Connection with nature has been shown repeatedly to benefit human wellbeing and predict pro-environmental behaviours. By definition "nature" includes urban agriculture, which is also an integral component of a city's foodscape, thereby providing opportunities to improve the wellbeing of city inhabitants as well as help ensure food security. This will only be attainable if the next generation has an emotional connection to nature, and the necessary life skills to help them enter adult life as informed food citizens who make healthy and sustainable decisions for themselves as well as others. This paper reviews existing literature on foodscape (or one's food environment) and biophilia (the love of life or living systems) to highlight the need for inter-disciplinary research that combines urban agriculture and food literacy to ensure future food security and wellbeing of urban inhabitants.

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“…Urban greening can improve cities by meeting residents diverse recreational needs (Lin et al 2015), cooling ambient temperatures , intercepting urban storm water (Fitzgerald and Laufer 2016) and providing spaces for locally-grown food (Lafontaine-Messier et al 2016). While urban greening offers manifold benefits, some scholars contend that we need 'more democratic, diverse and just' greenspaces in cities (Curran & Hamilton 2012, 1039.…”

Section: Political Ecology(ies) Of Just Urban Greenspacementioning

confidence: 99%

Informal Urban Green Space as Anti-Gentrification Strategy?

Rupprecht¹,

Byrne²

Just Green Enough

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Note: This manuscript represents a preprint version of a book chapter. The book chapter has been accepted to be published as part of the book Just Green Enough. AbstractAccess to urban greenspace is vital for urban residents' wellbeing. Yet investment in new parks can trigger housing price inflation through a process termed environmental gentrification. This can in turn potentially displace marginalized and vulnerable residents. In this chapter, we examine cases from Japan and Australia, investigating how informal urban greenspaces (IGS) (e.g. vacant lots, street or railway verges, brownfields, and power line corridors) could function as an 'anti-gentrification' urban greening strategy. Employing conceptual insights from political ecology and environmental justice, we use spatial and statistical analysis to test whether IGS is socio-spatially differentiated by (dis)advantage, and whether factors such as income and education affect residents' perception and use of IGS. Results suggest that IGS holds considerable potential as a 'just green enough' intervention, because it does not appear to trigger gentrification as occurs with more 'intentional' green spaces. We argue that a key difference between intentional and informal greenspaces is the apparent empowerment of residents as co-creators, designers, managers and users of greenspace -not as passive consumers. Informal greenspaces may thus fulfill recreational needs while avoiding demands for a 'return on investment', a driver of environmental-gentrification. Insights from Japan suggest that planners and urban managers should identify and reduce IGS use barriers, provide better information (e.g. IGS maps), and work with residents to promote its use.

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Understanding the potential loss and inequities of green space distribution with urban densification

Cited by 188 publications

References 36 publications

Urban Green Infrastructure Impacts on Climate Regulation Services in Sydney, Australia

Urban Green Infrastructure Impacts on Climate Regulation Services in Sydney, Australia

Who Cares? The Importance of Emotional Connections with Nature to Ensure Food Security and Wellbeing in Cities

Informal Urban Green Space as Anti-Gentrification Strategy?

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