Impacts of population density and wealth on the quantity and structure of urban green space in tropical Southeast Asia

Abstract

Urban green spaces provide ecosystem services, including climate regulation, food, and opportunities for recreation. The quantity and structure of green space in a city may therefore have consequences for human well-being. Cities in Southeast Asia are rapidly changing as they must accommodate larger populations, and their residents are becoming wealthier. Such changes may have impacts on urban green spaces and the ecosystem services that they provide. To assess the potential impacts of future urbanisation in the region, we analysed existing relationships between city size, wealth, and population density, and (1) the percentage cover of green space, (2) the quantity of green space per capita, and (3) the aggregation of green space. We used remote sensing analysis of Landsat 7 data to classify green space in 111 urban areas in Southeast Asia. Cities with higher population densities had less green space and less green space per capita. Cities with higher GDP per capita had higher percentage coverage of green space. Larger cities had lower percentage coverage of green space and less green space per capita. Cities with higher percentage cover of green space had more aggregated green spaces. Authorities in developing cities should consider protecting ecological assets such as remnant forest patches and river corridors, as re-creating habitats at a later stage of development rarely provides comparable levels of ecosystem services.