Planning Green Space for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: A Review of Green Space in the Central City of Beijing

Abstract

The ongoing rapid urbanization and its socio-economic impacts on Chinese cities have engendered numerous environmental issues, food insecurity and significant stress on water resources besides accelerating some ecological degradation. Among these issues, urban-heat-island (UHI) and climate change in large cities had drawn much attention so that many researches on climate change adaptation and mitigation emerged in recent years. How to make the cities cool down and more liveable is more important than before for urban planning. Urban planners have been placing more stress on green space planning and the green environment of cities where dwellers crowd together. This paper is a review of green space in the Central City of Beijing under current situation and puts forward some advice on green space planning in responding to the climate change in the new era of China. Planning green space with the principal objective of “green-sponge-city” and the key concept of “low-carbon-city” is the primary adaptation and mitigation approach to climate change for urban planners and policymakers. No doubt, more attention and support from the government regarding strengthening green space systems in response to climate change will improve the liveability, resilience, and sustainability of cities in China.