Urban Green Space: Comparing the EU and Ukrainian Practice

Abstract

The goal of the paper is to compare the urban green space practice in the EU and Ukraine to find the advantages and drawbacks of both approaches. In order to reach the goal, following tasks has been raised: (1) to reveal the most common patterns of green space allocation in European cities; (2) to consider the urban green landscape in Ukrainian first-tier and second-tier cities; (3) to compare the trends and challenges of urban green space allocation in the EU and Ukraine. In Europe, a typical pattern of green space is a combination of greenbelts, regional green areas, green wedges, green middles, green infrastructure, etc. The main significant feature and advantage of green areas in European cities is the connectivity of the larger objects (parks and woods) and smaller ones (squares, boulevards, inter-quarter plantings, etc.). Urban territories in Ukraine involves quite large green areas (mostly by combining "communal parks" and "green infrastructure"). Transformation crisis leads to the vast decline of industrial zones, which were spontaneously transformed into de-facto green or brown spaces. After economic recovery green space is shrinking dramatically under the pressure of commercial and residential zones. For Ukraine, the challenge is the creation of small urban landscaping facilities and increasing functional content and quality of the existing green spaces.