Abstract
Providing conditions for health and well-being, especially for those most exposed to social and environmental inequalities, is a precondition for sustainable development. Green infrastructures in peri-urban areas have the potential to improve the quality of life of locals by fostering healthy practices, providing views, or bringing nature closer to the city. This work explores the local perception of well-being within urban green infrastructures (UGI) in the peri-urban fringe of Madrid (Spain) through a combination of qualitative methods: “go-alongs” and “semi-structured static interviews”. The grounded-theory based codification of the data using NVivo software and their subsequent analysis results in the identification of social, natural, and perceptual elements that prove to play a relevant role in locals’ perception of well-being. Among these, connectivity with other green spaces, panoramic views and place-based memories are aspects that seem to make UGI serve the community at its full potential, including perceived physical and psychological well-being. We identify in each case study both positive characteristics of UGI and dysfunctional aspects and areas of opportunity. Lastly, a methodological, geographical, and theoretical discussion is made on the relevance of the case studies and pertinence of the two interview methods as valuable tools for analysis and intervention in the peri-urban landscape.
Highlights
One of the main characteristics of the late 20th and early 21st century has been its rapid urbanization process, based on a substantial population growth, especially significant in the south-eastern countries of Europe [1]
We explore the local perception of well-being within urban green infrastructures in the peri-urban area, aiming to address the following question: Do UGI in peri-urban contexts foster or prevent a feeling of overall well-being in the residents who frequently visit them?
Amongst the most frequently used words for this area, we find ‘park’, ‘good’, ‘river’, ‘people’, ‘look’, ‘city’, ‘country’ and ‘Madrid’, coherent with an overall positive valorization of the UGI, a clear appreciation for natural elements, and the importance of connectivity from the city-center to the area of study. In this area, located on the east border of the Municipality of Madrid, we find strong differences in the landscape depending on which side of the UGI we visit
Summary
One of the main characteristics of the late 20th and early 21st century has been its rapid urbanization process, based on a substantial population growth, especially significant in the south-eastern countries of Europe [1]. Peri-urban areas in Europe are growing four times faster than urban areas; more so, they are predicted to double in surface in the 30 to 50 years [4]. These areas are subject to strong pressure to be urbanized, largely due to the accessibility that highways (among other grey infrastructures) offer, traversing these territories and connecting them with the city center. Known as ‘buffer zones’, UGI are often designed to soften the effects of urbanization in favor of a sustainable development in a process of ‘renaturation’ that, often ends up filling the pieces of wasteland in between grey infrastructures [6]
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