Trends and status of urban green and urban green research in Latin America

Abstract

Urbanization is one of the key drivers of Latin America (LA)’s economic development, providing housing, education and employment. However, is also putting pressure on people and biodiversity in cities. Urban green (UG) represents an opportunity to mitigate adverse consequences by offering a habitat for flora and fauna and a healthy urban environment for its inhabitants. However, research to understand and improve the functioning of green infrastructures as well as their implementation has been limited in LA. To describe the current status and trends of UG and UG research in LA, a structured literature review of English and Spanish articles was conducted using various databases. The largest number of UG studies was performed in Brazil and its cities (Curitiba and São Carlos) had the largest reported area of UG per inhabitant. On the contrary, research output was lowest in Bolivia, El Salvador, Guyana and Paraguay. For these countries, we found no official records about the area of UG space. Importantly, in some of the larger cities (e.g. Lima, Buenos Aires) the available amount of green space is lower (6 m2/inhabitant) than that recommended by the World Health Organization. “Biodiversity” and “ecosystem services” were the most studied topics in urban research. Overall, our findings suggest that UG implementation and research on UG are still poorly developed. According to this review, only three countries are progressively investing in UG research, resulting in more peer-reviewed articles and international collaborations. Currently, Spanish databases do not allow structured searches, impeding the synthesis and progress of scientific research in LA.