Abstract
Urban growth in and around European cities affects multiple aspects of the environment including green spaces. On the one hand, many cities struggle with environmental problems, overcrowding and overuse resulting from high population densities. On the other hand, high densities result in better access to public green spaces, effective public transport, or less demand for resources. Consequently, finding a balance between density and high liveability in a green and sustainable urban environment is a major challenge for urban planning. Although many studies effectively report and discuss the provision of green spaces in European cities, they lack a systematic answer to what extent the provision of green spaces meets the potential population demand, and to what extent the differences can be detected between types of green. Against this background, this paper develops a systematic understanding of green space supply and its relation to the residential density of cities. In so doing, it detects turning points of green space supply in 905 European cities. The results show that green space supply is sensitive to the type of green space, population size and location of cities. While the supply for total green spaces is constantly decreasing with increasing residential density, the relation between residential density and the supply of urban green indicates turning points. At a certain residential density cities have a high potential to optimise the balance between sustainability and liveability. However, there is no single optimal residential density. Rather, with increasing residential density the green space supply is decreasing and cities need to define different qualities for differently dense neighbourhoods accounting for their specific character and their location within the urban continuum. As for most of the European cities a decrease of urban population or built-up area in the future cannot be expected. By systematically understanding the linkages between green spaces in cities and residential densities, this paper uncovers densities that indicate a turning point of green space supply, which can be used as a comparative instrument in order to respond to the growing need for better green space management planning in areas of high residential density.
Highlights
The draft action plan of the Urban Agenda for the EU acknowledges that Europe is one of the most urbanized areas of the world with more than 70% of Europe’s citizens being urbanites, and with an expected increase to 80% by 2050 (Netherlands Presidency, 2016)
The analysis has shown that the measurement of green space supply by UGpC and TGpC can be used to derive conclusions for urban green space provision, supply and demand
Using the European Green Capitals as showcases we have demonstrated that a high green space supply can be archived in cities with a low green space provision as long as residential density is low, like in Nantes, France
Summary
The draft action plan of the Urban Agenda for the EU acknowledges that Europe is one of the most urbanized areas of the world with more than 70% of Europe’s citizens being urbanites, and with an expected increase to 80% by 2050 (Netherlands Presidency, 2016). Artificial areas, with the exception of urban green and sport/leisure areas, are expected to increase from 3.6 to 4.3% of the entire land surface [own calculation based on 2000 to 2018 trend following EEA (2017), Copernicus (2019)]. This 0.7%-point increase until 2050 corresponds to an area almost the size of the Netherlands and is commonly related to urbanization. In order to make cities more environmentally sustainable and improve liveability, the European Commission promotes the Compact City Model (Commission of European Communities, 1990). For a city to be liveable, functions and population must be dispersed at lower densities” (Neumann, 2005, p. 16, see Figure 1)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
