Prospects for green infrastructure development to improve the living comfort for the population of Odesa

Abstract

The paper is aimed at identification of the prospects for development of green infrastructure as an element of the comfort of living for the urban population of Odesa.
 The authors briefly described the natural and climatic characteristics of the city. An overview of the research into the development of green infrastructure in urban areas and its connection with the comfort of living for the population in the latest papers of Ukrainian and foreign scientists, such as Bonetskyi, Carter, Cuthbert, Fisher, Henriquez, Huang, Liu, Martins, Nazaruk, Newell, Ocheretnyi, Pryshchepa, Rendekova, Rahman, Sakieh, Sholok, Vasylieva, Zheng, Zibtseva, etc., was performed.
 The percentage of the city's green space area per resident was calculated and compared to the normative value, a map of the provision of Odesa residents with green spaces was given, and the city districts with maximum and minimum green areas were identified.
 The paper characterized the species composition of the city’s flora, including the species of native woody, shrubby and herbaceous plants and those imported from other countries and continents.
 During identification of promising ways to develop green infrastructure within the territory of Odesa, the authors found that for improvement of the comfort of living in the city it is necessary to increase the share of green infrastructure, in particular, to form the green belt of Odesa and create green roofs and walls.
 The authors gave recommendations for the future expansion of the existing project on formation of the green belt of Odesa, which provides for a system of ecological corridors around the historical centre of the city, to all city districts and the outskirts.
 The main functions and advantages of green roofs and walls are indicated in terms of improvement of the quality of life of the urban population. In view of rather rapid climate change, when creating new green areas, the authors recommended to give attention to drought-resistant bushy trees, shrubs and perennial tall grasses, primarily of local origin.
 The paper also mentions the main possible directions of further research regarding identification of the optimal set of plantations and efficient approaches to the introduction of green infrastructure elements.