Abstract
This article presents a characterization of the areas likely to integrate a Green Infrastructure (GI) for the Tunja city at local scale and spatial analysis is mainly applied to the land cover and land use of the study area. To identify the areas that could be integrated into the GI, four thematic dimensions were first zoned (ecological connectivity, multifunctionality, ecological status and accessibility to the population); they were later normalized on a scale of 1 to 10 to make them comparable; the dimensions were combined by an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and finally those areas whose pixel values were above the third quartile were selected in the integration of the dimensions. The zoned dimensions the following weights were obtained: ecological connectivity (48%), multifunctionality (30%), ecological status (13%) and accessibility to the population (9%). It was found that the main areas likely to integrate into the GI are concentrated in the western fringe of the city; however, the northwestern area has a greater fragmentation and lower ecological status than the southwestern zone (which refers mainly to the Protective Forest Reserve El Malmo). Likewise, several areas or patches were identified to the south of the city (referring mainly to wooded areas and presence of wetlands) as well as small wooded areas in the urban perimeter, but with greater isolation among the other areas of GI. Within the urban perimeter the zoning of areas that could be integrated into a GI was practically null.
Highlights
According to the European Commission [1] the Green Infrastructure (GI) is a strategically planned network of high quality natural and semi-natural zones with other environmental elements designed and managed to provide a wide number of ecosystem services and protect the biodiversity of both rural and urban settlements
In the identification of the areas that are susceptible to integrate to a GI the zoning was performed into a combination of four dimensions: multifunctionality, accessibility, connectivity and ecological status; according to the methodology proposed by Aguilera, Rodriguez and Gomez [8]
The urban area of Tunja and the main communication roads are the hugest obstacle for the ecological connectivity of the city
Summary
According to the European Commission [1] the Green Infrastructure (GI) is a strategically planned network of high quality natural and semi-natural zones with other environmental elements designed and managed to provide a wide number of ecosystem services and protect the biodiversity of both rural and urban settlements. Rincon [12] states that Tunja received the 21st century as a complex city due to the production of historic transformation of its spatial models: a compact, linear, dispersed, and fragmented city This last model creates huge challenges in the adequate ordination of the territory, and, thereupon, the sustainability of it, since in a fragmented space the delimitation and connectivity of landscapes with ecological values and ecosystem services for the population are completely lost. Tunja, in the TOP adopted by the Act 0241 of 2014, has delimited zones or areas with ecosystem importance where soils that take part of a Main Ecological Structure are included, but it does not have as such an explicit delimitation of such structure, and much less it has a zoning of networks or areas that achieve a definition or characteristics of a GI, which can be used as a supply for an appropriate ordination of the territory according to the sustainability criteria and the input in the quality of life of the population. The goal of this investigation was to characterize the areas susceptible to integrate to the GI of the city of Tunja in a local scale through a Geographic Information System analysis
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