Abstract
Green spaces (GSs) are significant, nature-based solutions to climate change and have immense potential to reduce vulnerability to heat waves while enhancing the resilience of urban areas in the light of climate change. However, in the Saudi context, the availability of GSs across cities and their perceived role in climate change mitigations and adaptation strategies remain unexplored. This study aimed to examine the per capita availability of GSs in the Jeddah megacity in Saudi Arabia, and their role in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. This study assessed the per capita availability of GS in Jeddah city using GIS techniques, and a questionnaire survey (online and an onsite) was conducted to assess the GSs users’ perception of the role of GSs on climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Non-parametric tests were also used to find differences in roles based on socio-demographic attributes. The findings of the study revealed that: (i) the per capita availability of GS in Jeddah is relatively low in comparison to international organization recommendations (such as World Health Organization and European Union). As per the survey result, it was reported that GSs play crucial role for climate change mitigation such as temperature regulation, reduction in heat stress, enhancement outdoor thermal comfort, and the maintenance of air quality. More than 85% of the total respondents agreed with the very high importance of GSs for climate change mitigation. More than 80% of respondents in the city highly agreed with climate change adaptation strategies such as the enhancement of accessibility to GSs, ecosystem-based protection of GSs, and the improvement of per capita availability of GSs. The findings of the study will be very helpful to planners and policymakers in implementing nature-based solutions to reduce vulnerability to climate change in Jeddah city, and particularly other cities in a desert environment.
Highlights
Rapid rates of urbanization and climate change have emerged as serious challenges to urban areas [1,2]
The present study mainly focused on Jeddah city, in which the per capita availability of green spaces (GSs) has been assessed as well as the people’s perception on the role of GS on climate change. (Figure 2)
The responses from different genders, age groups (>20, 20 to 40 and >60) and nationalities (Saudi and Non-Saudi) were collected as perception regarding the climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies may vary; (ii) preferences for GS services as perceived by respondents; (iii) the importance of GS in climate change mitigation on a 5-point Likert scale with questions such as “do you think GSs are important in reducing temperature?”; and (iv) perceptions of climate change adaptation attributes on a 5-point Likert scale, with questions such as “do you agree that accessibility of GSs need to be enhanced?”
Summary
Rapid rates of urbanization and climate change have emerged as serious challenges to urban areas [1,2]. Air quality, energy, the health of the urban dwellers, and urban sustainability are profoundly affected by UHI [10,11,12]. In this context, effective management strategies need to be implemented to enhance the absorption of solar radiation, reduce heat storage, and use blue and green spaces to lessen the effects of UHI [1,13,14,15]. UGI contributes to reducing temperatures, and many studies have established that the development of urban UGI is significant for climate change adaptation because these spaces are eco-friendly and cost-effective and are acceptable from a political perspective [16,17,18]. According to McDonald et al (2016) [19], urban green spaces (GSs) are relatively cost-effective compared to cool roofs in improving outdoor thermal conditions
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