Neighbourhood character affects the spatial extent and magnitude of the functional footprint of urban green infrastructure

Erik Andersson,Dagmar Haase,Thilo Wellmann,Sebastian Scheuer

doi:10.1007/s10980-020-01039-z

Abstract

ContextUrban densification has been argued to increase the contrast between built up and open green space. This contrast may offer a starting point for assessing the extent and magnitude of the positive influences urban green infrastructure is expected to have on its surroundings.ObjectivesDrawing on insights from landscape ecology and urban geography, this exploratory study investigates how the combined properties of green and grey urban infrastructures determine the influence of urban green infrastructure on the overall quality of the urban landscape.MethodsThis article uses distance rise-or-decay functions to describe how receptive different land uses are to the influence of neighbouring green spaces, and does this based on integrated information on urban morphology, land surface temperature and habitat use by breeding birds.ResultsOur results show how green space has a non-linear and declining cooling influence on adjacent urban land uses, extending up to 300–400 m in densely built up areas and up to 500 m in low density areas. Further, we found a statistically significant declining impact of green space on bird species richness up to 500 m outside its boundaries.ConclusionsOur focus on land use combinations and interrelations paves the way for a number of new joint landscape level assessments of direct and indirect accessibility to different ecosystem services. Our early results reinforce the challenging need to retain more green space in densely built up part of cities.

Highlights

Maintaining or improving the quality of urban green infrastructure, Urban green infrastructure (UGI), is a widely recognized strategy for making cities more liveable, attractive and, in certain ways, resilient (Pauleit et al 2018; Andersson et al 2019)
This article uses distance rise-or-decay functions to describe how receptive different land uses are to the influence of neighbouring green spaces, and does this based on integrated information on urban morphology, land surface temperature and habitat use by breeding birds
Our focus on land use combinations and interrelations paves the way for a number of new joint landscape level assessments of direct and indirect accessibility to different ecosystem services

Summary

Introduction

Maintaining or improving the quality of urban green infrastructure, UGI, (here understood as including ‘blue’, i.e. water elements but otherwise used in the more restrictive sense as functionally connected larger green spaces of different types) is a widely recognized strategy for making cities more liveable, attractive and, in certain ways, resilient (Pauleit et al 2018; Andersson et al 2019). Many ecosystem services need to be generated where people live, work and spend most of their time rather than at a distance, which make the spatial arrangement of different land uses and cross boundary interactions critically important (Colding 2007; Blitzer et al 2012; Andersson et al 2015) On these grounds, strategically integrating UGI into the urban fabric has been presented as a direct instrument for changing the overall functionality and liveability of cities (Kabisch et al 2017). Whereas originally the urban landscape was depicted as green spaces embedded and often isolated in a matrix of built up and other sealed areas, more recent studies describe cities as small scale heterogeneous mosaics of different land uses or covers (e.g. Cadenasso et al 2007) This has two implications for applied ecology and ecosystem service research: First, we need a better understanding of multiple types of edges and transition zones.

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