sustainability-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Urban Green Areas: Benefits, Design and Management Strategies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 1797

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human and Economic Geography, Faculty of Geography and Interdisciplinary Center of Advanced Research on Territorial Dynamics (CICADIT), University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: deindustrialization and tertiarization; impact of economic activities on the environment; territorial dysfunctions; urban regeneration; built heritage and territorial identity; preservation of local identity values; creative industries; graffiti and street art
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi and Geographic Research Center, Romanian Academy, Iasi Branch, 700506 Iasi, Romania
Interests: environmental geography; urban geography; air quality; urban sustainability; green transition; environmental impact assessment; territorial resilience; urban resilience; risk assessment; quality of life; smart cities

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human and Economic Geography, Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: economic development; tourism management; tourism, economics and development of urban tourism; sustainable development; cultural heritage

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 700505 Iasi, Romania
Interests: urban geography; economic geography; territorial disparities; quality of urban environment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The enlargement of green areas in cities was accelerated at the beginning of the 20th century in order to increase the quality of urban life. Furthermore, the idea of the garden city, inspired by the progressive models of pre-urbanism in the 19th century, which criticised the industrial city and promoted open and green areas, is being gradually applied to many urban environments. Throughout the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st century, under the impact of urban surface enlargement, built space density, economic diversity and pollution, preoccupations with preserving and growing urban and suburban green areas have increased, and subsequent efforts have become more visible in some cities than in others. If planning policies do not support green areas, they will remain peripheral at the city level in comparison to more dynamically constructed developments and traffic areas.

Urban green areas have evolved from terrace-shaped gardens of the Renaissance to landscape gardens of the 18th and 19th centuries to the present-day ideal of green cities, and their role has become increasingly complex, encompassing the decoration and masking of elements considered unaesthetic, protection against excessive heat and filtering atmospheric pollution, moderation of daytime thermal extremes, reduction in urban noise, creation of public places, etc.

This Special Issue aims to collect research focused both on the benefits and development models of urban green areas as well as on the management, conservation and growth interventions that take place in order to respond to the objectives of different international strategies, programs and projects meant to contribute to the better integration of green areas with other elements of towns and cities (Urban Green Infrastructure Planning, Green City Accord, Urban Greening Platform, etc.).

The Special Issue invites researchers and academics from various fields to publish their original contributions. Papers may include, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • History, values and perceptions of urban green areas;
  • Dynamics of urban green areas under real estate pressure;
  • Accessibility to green areas for residents: amenities, inequalities and neglected green urban areas;
  • Green urban areas in post-COVID-19 cities;
  • Connected green infrastructure in cities;
  • Remote sensing of urban green areas;
  • Urban heat islands and green areas;
  • Role of green areas in developing public spaces;
  • Green areas and recreational activities;
  • Green areas as places for creativity and socialization in cities;
  • Urban green and blue areas, population health and quality of life;
  • Metropolisation, dynamics of urban areas, pollution and ecological issues;
  • Role of green areas in sustainable urban development;
  • Structuring green cities;
  • Green architecture for sustainable cities;
  • Placing green areas in urban regeneration policies.

Dr. Andreea-Loreta Cercleux
Dr. Alexandru Bănică
Dr. Elena Bogan
Dr. Marinela Istrate
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • green areas
  • urban pollution
  • climate change
  • urban planning
  • public spaces
  • accessibility
  • participatory approaches
  • social interactions

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

25 pages, 5964 KiB  
Article
Land Cover Patterns of Urban Lots and Their Contribution to Ecological Functions
by Marise Barreiros Horta, Sònia Maria Carvalho-Ribeiro, Jean François Mas, Francisco Medeiros Martins, Fernando de Moura Resende, Fernando Figueiredo Goulart and Geraldo Wilson Fernandes
Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 3063; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16073063 - 07 Apr 2024
Viewed by 462
Abstract
The green infrastructure of urban lots performs socio-ecological functions and provides several ecosystem services (ESs) in urban environments. By assessing the land cover patterns of such sites, one can deduce ecological functions and potential ESs. We represented the various land cover combinations of [...] Read more.
The green infrastructure of urban lots performs socio-ecological functions and provides several ecosystem services (ESs) in urban environments. By assessing the land cover patterns of such sites, one can deduce ecological functions and potential ESs. We represented the various land cover combinations of lots by mapping and classifying the vegetation quality of 2828 lots in the city of Belo Horizonte, Southeast Brazil. We performed cluster analysis of land cover with weighting according to ecological functions, potential for ES provision, and performance. Most lots (1024, 36.21%) were in the moderate vegetation quality class (trees/native vegetation between 25% and 50% or >50% herbaceous-shrubby vegetation), which included the largest plot of 383,300 m2 and a median plot size of 403 m2. A total of 244 (8.63%) lots were in the highest vegetation quality class (trees/native vegetation between >50% and 100%). The lots included diverse vegetation cover combinations of up to ten land cover types, with two dominant types: herbaceous-shrubby vegetation and tree clumps. Among the four land cover patterns obtained, those covered by tree clusters (1193 lots; 42.18%) had the highest ecological performance and the greatest potential for regulating and supporting ESs. This cluster had the highest average land cover of tree clumps (49%) and the highest averages for native vegetation formations (2–6%). Our study showed a variety of land cover patterns and an expressive percentage of lots with capabilities to provide ecological functions and ESs, which can support urban sustainability policies that have yet to be addressed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Green Areas: Benefits, Design and Management Strategies)
Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 3913 KiB  
Article
Ecological Benefits and Plant Landscape Creation in Urban Parks: A Study of Nanhu Park, Hefei, China
by Shaowei Wu, Xiaojie Yao, Yinqi Qu and Yawen Chen
Sustainability 2023, 15(24), 16553; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152416553 - 05 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 875
Abstract
Plant landscape creation in urban parks is an important aspect of urban ecological construction under the goal of “carbon neutrality”. In this study, the plant community of Nanhu Park in Hefei City was considered the research subject, and its tree species’ composition and [...] Read more.
Plant landscape creation in urban parks is an important aspect of urban ecological construction under the goal of “carbon neutrality”. In this study, the plant community of Nanhu Park in Hefei City was considered the research subject, and its tree species’ composition and diameter at breast height (DBH) were analyzed. The ecological benefits of the park’s green space were evaluated using the i-tree Eco model, and the carbon sequestration, runoff retention, air pollution removal, and oxygen production benefits were quantified as economic values and combined with the landscape effect evaluation method. The results show that Nanhu Park is rich in tree species types, with 5871 trees of 41 species in 23 families and 32 native species, among which three species of Sapindus mukorossi, Eucommia ulmoides, and Triadica sebifera accounted for 43.7% of the total number of trees. The dominant tree DBH was intermediate (7.6–15.2 cm). In Nanhu Park, the economic benefits were ordered as follows: carbon sequestration > runoff retention > air pollution removal > oxygen production benefits. The dominant tree species strongly contributed to the total ecological benefit of urban park green space; the ecological benefit of individual trees was not positively correlated with the number of tree species; native tree species had better ecological and landscape effects, while plant communities with growth changes and hierarchical depth of landscape were more popular. The analysis of ecological benefits and landscape evaluation of urban park green space provide a theoretical basis for enhancing the plant landscape, thus providing a case reference for promoting the construction of park green space in Hefei. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Green Areas: Benefits, Design and Management Strategies)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop