Application of land suitability analysis and landscape ecology to urban greenspace planning in Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

Urban green spaces, an important component of urban ecosystems, provide many environmental and social services that contribute to the quality of life in cities. One of the key tasks of planners is how to optimize the benefits of urban green spaces. This study introduces a program for developing green spaces in urban areas through (1) land suitability analysis based on GIS; (2) quantifying green areas based on the ecological factor threshold method to maintain ecological balance; and (3) applying landscape-ecology principles in organizing green spaces in urban areas. A case study was made for Hanoi, Vietnam and its results show that most of the planned green spaces in the 2020 Hanoi Master Plan are suitable for development. However, the recommended 18 m 2 green area per capita seems not to be enough to maintain ecological balance and organization of the green spaces in the 2020 plan seems to lack a theoretical basis, or a holistic framework, at different scales. From this perspective, we propose that Hanoi should set aside an extra green area from 6842 to 10,228 ha, and that the 2020 Hanoi green structure plan at regional, city and neighborhood scales includes three green wedges, one green belt, various parks and other green ways to create a green network ecologically more effective than the sum of the individual green spaces. This green structure and the combined data approaches used here will form a base for building a garden city or an eco-city in the future.