Approach to user group-specific assessment of urban green spaces for a more equitable supply exemplified by the elderly population

Abstract

The use of urban green spaces (UGS) depends on its quality, which is perceived very differently by diverse socio-demographic groups. In particular, elderly people have special demands on the UGS quality. It is essential to know these demands to create an equitable UGS supply. We present an approach to determining some qualitative aspects and the supply of cultural ecosystem services of diverse forms of UGS. This is realised by combining user demands with actual UGS features. In a concrete example, we assessed the UGS quality and supply for both the general population and the subset of elderly people. For the latter group, the activities of relaxing and observing nature, as well as the UGS feature of benches, were found to be significantly more important than for the general population. Nevertheless, this had only a minor impact on the assessed aspects of UGS quality and supply, with little differences detected between the two groups. In Dresden (Germany), we determined that almost half of the elderly population are not provided with high-quality UGS. In these areas, urban planning must increase the UGS quality while taking user demands into account to ensure just access to the positive benefits of UGS for the elderly.