Accessibility and Pressures of a Growing Student Population on Urban Green Spaces

Abstract

Student populations, and purpose built accommodation complexes, are increasing in university cities. This continued increase could result in rising pressures on existing infrastructure. Pressures on green spaces are of a key concern. The purpose of this study is to analyse how students living in purpose built accommodation use, access, and value green spaces. Southampton (UK) was chosen as the city for this study, due to its high quantity of green space and the presence of higher education institutions. The methods used to analyse this were a face to face survey and GIS analysis. The survey looked into students’ perceptions of benefits, access, and issues regarding green space and the GIS section analysed walkability through network analysis and spatial distributions. The results of the survey found that students values green space and perceived there to be a good quantity of them. Maintenance and safety issues were most frequently raised by respondents. Students were willing to travel longer to access events and organised sport. This alludes to a better personal valuation of these benefits. Natural spaces were more highly valued than highway green space. The impact of different halls and their location did not impact students’ views, however the results of the GIS analysis indicate there is differing accessibility. A key finding was that students do use green spaces and therefore increasing student populations could result in rising pressures in these areas. A possible solution to this could be the incorporation of innovative green space designs within newly built student accommodation.