Access To Urban Green Spaces Research Articles

Availability and Accessibility of Urban Green Spaces in a High-Density City: The Case of Raipur, India

Urban green spaces (UGS) can counter the ill effects of urbanization in high-density cities. Studies related to these aspects are rare in Indian cities, however. This article aims to assess the availability and accessibility of UGS in Raipur, India. The objectives are to identify the status of UGS alteration, determine the status of available UGS, and identify the optimum population density for which UGS can be made available and accessible. Land use change detection, fragmentation index, availability index, UGS per capita, and neighborhood accessibility are used to assess aspects of UGS. The results show an increase in built-up area (24.32 percent) from 2010 to 2020. They also show a decrease in the UGS availability index and an increase in the fragmentation index from the city center to the outskirts. Uneven distribution of UGS categories is found all over the studied urban area. Low-density areas have more UGS per capita available than high-density areas, whereas medium-high-density areas have the maximum UGS accessibility. The study concludes with density-wise implications to maximize the UGS benefits and identifies medium-high density as the optimum density that allows high accessibility to the available UGS.

Decrease in the residents’ accessibility of summer cooling services due to green space loss in Chinese cities

Urban green spaces (UGSs) reduce the surrounding temperature and create cooling areas as a buffer between people and high temperatures, thus helping residents adapt to the warming climate. However, the accessibility of UGS cooling services to the residents of cities remains largely unknown, which hinders decision-making regarding the formulation of climate adaptation and urban greening schemes. In the present study, we estimated the number of residents who accessed UGSs for cooling by analyzing the annual changes in such cooling areas during summer across 315 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2015. Approximately 93.3% of the cities showed significant decreasing trends (p < 0.05) of the total UGS area; as such the UGS coverage dropped from 12.23 ± 0.32% in 2003 to 7.69 ± 0.22% in 2015. Consequently, with the prevalent loss of UGS, the coverage of cooling spaces decreased from 32.55 ± 0.76% in 2003 to 24.39 ± 0.60% in 2015. This has formed a spatial mismatch between the growing urban population and the remaining UGSs. Accordingly, the number of residents of areas outside these cooling spaces increased by 4.23 million per year. In particular, the shortage of cooling services was more significant in cities with < 20,000 USD gross domestic product per capita and < 5 million residents than in the rest of the cities. To minimize the adverse impacts of increasing temperatures, focused greening plans are warranted, specifically in underdeveloped cities.

Enclave-Reinforced Inequality during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from University Campus Lockdowns in Wuhan, China

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted urban life and created spatial and social inequalities in cities. The impacts of lifting full lockdown restrictions once fast-spreading and community-acquired infection waves were under control are still not fully understood. This study aims to explore spatial inequality reinforced in the intervals between the waves of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enclave-reinforced inequality resulting from enclave-based lockdown policies in Chinese cities was investigated through an analysis of the impacts of university campus enclave closures on the accessibility and crowdedness of urban green spaces. Using a modified two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) and inversed 2SFCA (i2SFCA) method, accessibility and crowdedness were calculated and compared under two different scenarios. Additionally, the Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient, and Theil index were used to measure and compare intra-city global and local inequalities under each scenario. The results indicate that the lockdown of university campus enclaves decreased the supply of urban green spaces. Campus closures not only exacerbated the unequal distribution of urban green space, but also reduced the inequality of crowdedness in urban parks due to increased crowdedness in parks near the closed enclaves. Moreover, both accessibility and crowdedness worsened when the calculations were weighted for population size and the total supply of green space. Enclave-based lockdown in cities reinforced spatial inequality, and it is highly complex and has multidimensional impacts on urban inequalities and environmental injustice which should be considered by urban planners and decision-makers hoping to create healthy, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable cities in the “new normal” of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spatiotemporal patterns and inequity of urban green space accessibility and its relationship with urban spatial expansion in China during rapid urbanization period

Equitable access to urban green spaces (UGS) is an important component of social justice and can be quantified using indices such as urban green space accessibility (UGSA). However, the spatiotemporal patterns and inequity of UGSA among cities with different developments during rapid urbanization are unclear, especially lack evidence at a macroscopic national scale during rapid urbanization. Therefore, we evaluated the UGSA in 366 cities of China during 1990–2015 by the Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area method (Gaussian-based 2SFCA). Then, the inequity pattern of UGSA among cities with different economic developments was analyzed by the concentration curve and concentration index. Finally, the relationship between UGSA and urban spatial expansion was explored quantitatively by the spatial econometric model. The results showed that: (1) The overall UGSA in China declined significantly by nearly 57.23% during 1990–2015. From the regional perspective, the UGSA in the southeastern region was always lower than that in the northwestern region, the Eastern zone presented a downward trend. From the perspective of different sizes cities, the UGSA of the megacities kept decreasing during 1990–2015, while UGSA of the large, medium, and small cities had turned to increase since 2010. (2) During rapid urbanization, the equity of UGSA among the cities gradually improved, while the cities with low economic developments tended to have higher UGSA. (3) Urban spatial expansion led to the decrease of UGSA during 1990–2015, while the impact had spatiotemporal heterogeneity, and UGSA had a positive spatial spillover effect. Our research provides a comparative baseline for the improvement of UGSA from a macroscopic perspective for China's urbanization policy in the future and novel insights into the green justice issue. The results can be compared with the development of UGS in other countries at different urbanization stages to promote UGS design and policy.

Spatial patterns and inequity of urban green space supply in China

Urban green space (UGS) is essential to the improvement of human well-being and health, and the inequity of UGS supply has received widespread concern. The urban green space availability (UGSA) can effectively evaluate UGS supply. However, the UGSA under different daily transportation patterns has not received enough attention, as well as the potential of UGS that is not available by transportation patterns. Meanwhile, the inequity of UGS supply between cities with different economic development levels at the regional or national scale is still unclear. So, we constructed seven UGS indicators to represent the UGS supply: UGSA considering four kinds of daily transportation patterns (UGSA0.5 km, UGSA2.5 km, UGSA10km, and UGSA30km), the potential of UGS (PUGS), the proportion of PUGS (PPUGS), and stock of UGS indicator (SUGS). The spatial patterns of availability, potential, and stock of UGS in 366 cities on the Chinese mainland in 2015 were captured. Then, the concentration curve and concentration index (CI) were applied to describe the inequity of UGS supply between the cities. Finally, we used correlation analysis, regression analysis, and GeoDetector techniques to explore the driving factors of the spatial pattern of availability and potential of UGS. The results showed that: (1) The SUGS, PUGS, and PPUGS were lower in the southeastern region indicated by the Hu Huanyong Line than that in the northwestern region. Only 44.11% of China's UGS were available through the daily transportation patterns. The spatial patterns of the four UGSA were similar, while the UGSA30km’s hot spots appeared in Southwest China. (2) Less developed cities occupied more SUGS, PUGS, and PPUGS. With the increase of buffer radius, the equity of UGSA among cities was gradually improved, while developed cities always possessed more UGSA. (3) With the increase of buffer radius, the dominant driving factors of UGSA indicators gradually changed from social economy and infrastructure variables to physical geography variables. Our study provides new evidence for a comprehensive understanding of UGSA, and the results of UGS supply and its inequity will contribute to sustainable UGS development in targeting cities or regions in China.

Accessibility to and Availability of Urban Green Spaces (UGS) to Support Health and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic—The Case of Bologna

In accordance with SDG N11.7, each city should work on providing “by 2030, universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities”. This target became even more crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. This paper presents and discuss a method for (i) assessing the current distribution and accessibility of urban green spaces (UGSs) in a city using hierarchical network distances; and (ii) quantifying the per capita values of accessible UGSs, also in light of the restrictions in place, namely social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The methods have been tested in the city of Bologna, and the results highlight urban areas that suffer from a scarcity of accessible UGSs and identify potentially overcrowded UGSs, assessing residents’ pressure over diverse UGSs of the city in question. Based on our results, this work allows for the identification of priorities of intervention to overcome these issues, while also considering temporary solutions for facing the eventual scarce provision of UGSs and related health and wellbeing benefits in periods of movement restrictions.

Accessibility of public urban green space. A case study of Białystok city

Motives: Urban green spaces have many functions in cities. They are used for recreational purposes, and they contribute to improving social interactions and community cohesiveness. For this reason, the location and area of urban green spaces should correspond to the size of the city and its population. Aim: The main aim of this study was to analyze the accessibility of managed and publicly available urban green spaces, referred to as public urban green spaces (PUGS), in four functional and spatial zones in the city of Białystok. The analysis included parks, green squares (pocket parks, ornamental green squares, boulevards) and public forests. The accessibility of PUGS was determined in view of their size and role in the urban spatial structure. Spatial data were processed in GIS and quantitative analyses. Results: The study demonstrated that the area of PUGS per capita meets the requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO), but the area of parks and green squares should be increased. The accessibility buffers of public green spaces often overlapped, in particular in downtown Białystok (Central zone) which is most abundant in these green infrastructure components. The analysis also revealed locations that do not have access to urban green spaces. The results of the study were used to formulate guidelines for incorporating new green spaces in Białystok and improving the urban spatial structure.

Community-Level Urban Green Space Equity Evaluation Based on Spatial Design Network Analysis (sDNA): A Case Study of Central Wuhan, China

Urban green spaces (UGSs) provide numerous irreplaceable environmental and social benefits to humankind, but the lack of baseline information makes it difficult to propose a reasonable greening strategy so as to achieve an equitable allocation of community green spaces. This paper divides UGSs into three classes using the spatial design network analysis (sDNA) and quantifies the UGS accessibility of communities in central Wuhan. Based on these results and the Gini coefficient, we analyze the UGS equity of the spatial distribution at the community level, then propose future greening strategies both at the city and community levels. The results show that the railway station and old Wuhan city are the core areas of traffic network strength (TNS). UGSs are evenly distributed in the core areas of TNS, but the number of UGSs in non-core areas is small, and their distribution is relatively uneven, and the number of communities with medium UGS accessibility is the largest, carrying the densest residential population. Most communities perform well in terms of UGS equity, but the UGS equity of 163 communities, covering a population of more than one million, remains to be improved. The method and conclusions of this study will contribute to the future greening policy making of 965 communities in central Wuhan, thus promoting the orderly planning and high-quality construction of community living circles.

Air Pollution and Urban Green Space: Evidence of Environmental Injustice in Adama, Ethiopia

While air pollution data in Ethiopia is limited, existing studies indicate high levels of both ambient and household air pollution; rapid urbanization also threatens the preservation of urban green spaces. In this study, environmental injustice, or the disproportionate burden of environmental exposures on persons of lower socioeconomic status (SES), was explored among women in Ethiopia using a mother and child cohort from the city of Adama. Land-use regression models were previously developed for modeling ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) throughout Adama, while household air pollution (cooking fuel type) and the presence of green space were assessed through questionnaires and home visits, respectively. The odds of being exposed to these environmental factors were analyzed in association with two SES indicators, education and occupation, using logistic regression. Our results indicate the presence of environmental injustice in Adama, as women with lower SES shouldered a higher burden of air pollution exposure and enjoyed less urban green space than their higher SES counterparts. These findings encourage the prioritization of air quality control and urban planning resources toward policy action within lower SES areas. From a societal perspective, our results also support more upstream interventions, including investment in educational and occupational opportunities. Still, a human rights approach is emphasized, as governments are responsible for protecting the right to a clean environment, especially for those disproportionately exposed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on environmental injustice in Ethiopia, and the first in Sub-Saharan Africa to investigate the inequalities of ambient and household air pollution exposure as well as urban green space access in the same cohort.

Exploring the impacts of urban expansion on green spaces availability and delivery of ecosystem services in the Accra metropolis

As Accra, Ghana's capital city, expands at an unprecedented rate, the fragmentation and loss of natural and semi-natural ecosystems may be the greatest challenge to achieving sustainable development. This study investigates the impact of Accra's growth and expansion on its natural green spaces, availability, and ecosystem services delivery. The study uses remotely sensed imageries (Landsat 1991–2018) for land use change analysis, the i-Tree Canopy model to quantify and value of urban ecosystems and stakeholder interviews to explore perceptions on green space value. Results showed that the overwhelming number of stakeholders understand and are aware of the beneficial values of urban green spaces but highlight poor planning, coupled with land tenure challenges, as a threat to the conservation of green spaces. Land use and land cover change analysis shows that the urban built environment has expanded from 55.1% to 83.79% at the expense of the natural environment, including green spaces, which have declined from 41% to 15% over 27 years. Existing areas of green spaces, including the Achimota forest, the University of Ghana campus and street trees on major roads, were valued at US$37,610,980 for carbon sequestration and storage, US$1,478,173 for air pollution regulation and US$458 for avoided runoff. A rapid assessment of the availability, accessibility and management of urban green spaces in the Accra metropolis can be an essential step towards identifying and mapping their consumptive and non-consumptive use-value and introducing appropriate interventions necessary for enhancing the city's resilience in an era of climate change.

Measuring socio-economic disparities in green space availability in post-socialist cities

Since the collapse of communism, countries in Central and Eastern Europe have experienced significant socio-economic changes that have affected the urban landscape and the spatial organization of cities. These processes have also generated significant changes in the availability of urban green spaces for local residents, resulting in new forms of inequalities. In the light of recent debate on socio-spatial segregation, the concept of environmental justice has gained increasing attention. Using three Hungarian post-socialist cities as case studies, this paper explores the relationship between different types of residential areas in terms of the age, education, and income level of people, and the availability of urban green spaces. To do this, we introduce a demand-supply composite index that contains featured indicators of urban green space availability. The results show that in terms of UGS availability, major disparities exist both among different socio-economic groups and different types of neighbourhoods in the investigated cities. Although legacies of the past are still important, the emerging disparities of green space availability can be linked to new forms of segregation including highly segregated neighbourhoods of urban poor and the new upmarket housing developments of the affluent. Our results also suggest that regardless of local governments’ recebt efforts to provide residents with equal access to urban green spaces, environmental justice remains a concern for urban planning in post-socialist cities.

Relationship between Green and Blue Spaces with Mental and Physical Health: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Observational Studies.

There is growing interest in the ways natural environments influence the development and progression of long-term health conditions. Vegetation and water bodies, also known as green and blue spaces, have the potential to affect health and behaviour through the provision of aesthetic spaces for relaxation, socialisation and physical activity. While research has previously assessed how green and blue spaces affect mental and physical wellbeing, little is known about the relationship between these exposures and health outcomes over time. This systematic review summarised the published evidence from longitudinal observational studies on the relationship between exposure to green and blue space with mental and physical health in adults. Included health outcomes were common mental health conditions, severe mental health conditions and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). An online bibliographic search of six databases was completed in July 2020. After title, abstract and full-text screening, 44 eligible studies were included in the analysis. Depression, diabetes and obesity were the health conditions most frequently studied in longitudinal relationships. The majority of exposures included indicators of green space availability and urban green space accessibility. Few studies addressed the relationship between blue space and health. The narrative synthesis pointed towards mixed evidence of a protective relationship between exposure to green space and health. There was high heterogeneity in exposure measures and adjustment for confounding between studies. Future policy and research should seek a standardised approach towards measuring green and blue space exposures and employ theoretical grounds for confounder adjustment.

Metropolitan children's physical fitness: The relationship between overweight and obesity prevalence, socioeconomic status, urban green space access, and physical activity

Children’s access to green spaces in urban areas is highly associated with their physical and psychological wellbeing. In the last two decades, children’s access to urban outdoors has reduced, and concerns about children’s physical health have increased. The number of overweight and obese children has considerably risen from both developing and developed countries. Turkey is a developing country, where studies about childhood obesity and its relationship with access and use to urban green spaces are limited.Therefore, this study first investigates the relationship between children’s visits to urban green spaces and age, gender, proximity, quality and physical health; Second, it also investigates obesity prevalence in school children (aged six to eighteen) and identifies the relationship between physical fitness and availability of green spaces close to children’s living arrangements, visits to green spaces, regular physical activity in green spaces and socioeconomic status (SES). This study includes 2668 student from 24 state schools in 4 different districts of Istanbul. In each region, two schools from each education level (primary, secondary and high school) were retrieved. Physical fitness indicators (weight and height) were measured, and children were asked to take part in questionnaires about their green space use.This study identified that children were more likely to visit green areas, if they were existed within proximity to their homes and quality of urban green spaces was an essential factor for visits. Visiting green spaces were significantly correlated with age, and younger children were more likely to visit compared to older children. A quarter of children (25.67 %) were overweight or obese. Gender [0.82; p=0.038), and age [Age<10 was 2.06; p= 0.000 and Age 10−14 was 1.93; p = 0.000) were statistically significant variables for overweight and obesity. It was identified that odds of children who lived in gated communities, being overweight or obese were 29 % [1.29; p=0,048] higher then children living in traditional neighbourhoods. Children visiting urban green spaces for physical activity were 29 % [0.71; p=0.032) less likely to be under the risk of being overweight or obese. The study identified obesity prevalence is higher in younger children, which might indicate a growing number of overweight and obese children and needs monitoring in the future.

Dynamic Changes in Community Deprivation of Access to Urban Green Spaces by Multiple Transport Modes.

Urban green spaces (UGSs) improve the quality of life of urban inhabitants. With the acceleration of urbanization and changes in traffic networks, it remains unclear whether changes in the distribution of UGSs can satisfy the needs of all inhabitants and offer equal services to inhabitants from different socioeconomic backgrounds. This study addresses this issue by analyzing dynamic changes in UGS accessibility in 2012, 2016, and 2020 for inhabitants of the central urban area of Fuzhou in China at the community level. The study introduces multiple transportation modes for an accessibility estimation based on a framework using the two-step floating catchment area method and examines the dynamic changes in community deprivation of UGS accessibility using Kernel regularized least squares, a machine learning algorithm. The results demonstrate that spatial disparities of UGS accessibility exist among the multi-transport modes and vary with time. Communities with high accessibility to UGSs by walking are scattered around the urban area; for accessibility by cycling, the high accessibility regions expand and surround the regions with low accessibility in the core urban areas, forming a semi-enclosed spatial pattern. However, the core urban spatial orientation of UGS accessibility by public transit demonstrates a reverse trend to the above two modes. The spatial pattern of UGS accessibility also varies over time, and the growth rate of accessibility slightly declined during the study period. Furthermore, the increase in UGS accessibility tended to slow from 2016–2020 compared with 2012–2016, and the trend toward equality was also erratic. The degree of deprivation for communities first weakened and was then aggravated, corresponding to the slowdown in the growth rate of accessibility, leading to the persistence existence of social inequality. Moreover, significant deprivation mainly exists among less educated people or those using the cycling and integrated travel modes. Although public transport is developing, deprived communities, such as communities with large proportion of older people, have experienced a decline in access to UGSs by public transport. Based on these findings, the study proposes a policy framework for the balanced distribution of UGSs as part of urbanization.

Mapping the maximum extents of urban green spaces in 1039 cities using dense satellite images

Spatial data of urban green spaces (UGS) are critical for cities worldwide to evaluate their progress towards achieving the urban sustainable development goals on UGS. However, UGS maps at the global scale with acceptable accuracies are not readily available. In this study, we mapped UGS of all 1039 mid- and large-sized cities across the globe in 2015 with dense remote sensing data (i.e. 51 494 Landsat images) and Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Also, we quantified the spatial distribution and accessibility of UGS within the cities. By combining the greenest pixel compositing method and the percentile-based image compositing method, we were able to obtain the maximum extent of UGS in cities while better differentiating UGS from other vegetation such as croplands. The mean overall classification accuracy reached 89.26% (SD = 3.26%), which was higher than existing global land cover products. Our maps showed that the mean UGS coverage in 1039 cities was 38.46% (SD = 20.27%), while the mean UGS accessibility was 82.67% (SD = 22.89%). However, there was a distinctive spatial equity issue as cities in high-income countries had higher coverage and better accessibility than cities in low-income countries. Besides developing a protocol for large-scale UGS mapping, our study results provide key baseline information to support international endeavors to fulfill the relevant urban sustainable development goals.

Challenges of Urban Green Space and Its Accessibility in Planning District 12 Mysuru City

Improving the Accessibility of Urban Green Space (UGS) is an integral part of city planning system. People with better access to green space enjoy a wide range of health benefits. Therefore, it is a crucial element to be taken care and nourished in a land use framework. Mysore City is one of the planned large cities in India. The City had a population of about 0.9 million in 2011 and it is estimated to cross the million mark by 2021. There is a growing consciousness on health and wellbeing among the people resulting an increasing demand for urban green spaces both at neighbourhood and city levels. The accessibility helps in promoting usage of UGS and maintaining the balance in environment within the city areas. The main aim of this paper is to study the existing scenario of the UGS within the planning district-12 and to analyse the green space accessibility. The land use of Mysuru city is analysed to understand the city and the micro level land use analysis of Planning district-12 is made. The existing scenario of the UGS within the study area and its accessibility is analysed using different accessibility indicators. Considering the key findings, issues and challenges are identified. Later the suggestions and recommendations for the identified issues is proposed to enhance the green spaces quality and accessibility at neighbourhood levels. The Accessible Natural Green space Standard (ANGst) type of accessibility analysis has been carried to know UGS functionality. Henceforth urban green space network at Planning District levels (local levels) in the City of Mysuru is prepared as a model which can be implemented to the city as whole at the later stages

Permeability of the city – Physical barriers of and in urban green spaces in the city of Halle, Germany

Urban green spaces (UGS) provide important ecosystem services in cities as they support human health and wellbeing with fresh and cool air, beauty and space for physical activities. To benefit from the positive effects, citizens need access to UGS. Multi-layered barriers can restrict accessibility to green–blue infrastructure (GBI) and accompanying benefits. This study aims to quantify and visualize physical barriers to public and semi-public UGS in the city of Halle, Germany, focusing on three spatial dimensions regarding UGS. For each dimension, three indicator classes are defined as proxies for varying aspects of accessibility: inside, boundary, and outside. A barrier index was calculated for all public and semi-public UGS of the city that cumulated the ratings of each indicator class. The aggregation of all ratings for all three dimensions creates a final barrier index that illustrates all physical barriers of, to and within UGS. We can show to which degree UGS accessibility might be restricted in Halle. As the results show, inside barriers exhibit the highest barrier index indicating that accessibility is most restricted on this dimension of UGS throughout the city. Comparatively low barrier indices in the inner city indicate the best accessibility to UGS in the five districts. Moreover, semi-public UGS like gardens or cemeteries show higher levels of physical barriers than public ones. Linking the barrier index to current urban planning and examining how the indicators defined in this study are addressed in planning documents concerning the improvement of accessibility can be a useful tool for spatially identifying potential planning measures that can reduce physical UGS barriers.

Analysis of urban green space accessibility and distribution inequity in the City of Chicago

Urban green space (UGS) has positive impacts on people’s physical and mental health. Equal access to UGS for all people, regardless of their individual characteristics, is key to the achievement of better public health outcomes. Existing studies have focused largely on inequity in spatial UGS accessibility distribution but failed to uncover the disparities of UGS accessibility among different racial/ethnic and income groups as well as inequity in income-based UGS accessibility distribution within the same racial/ethnic groups. By using the city of Chicago as the study area, we adopt the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method to measure census tract-level UGS accessibility and compare distribution disparities among white-majority, black-majority and Hispanic-majority census tracts as well as low-income and non-low-income census tracts. In addition, we employ the Palma ratio to measure the income-based UGS accessibility distribution inequity within respective racial/ethnic groups. The results show that white-majority census tracts generally enjoy significantly better UGS accessibility than minority-dominated census tracts, while black-majority census tracts have higher UGS accessibility than Hispanic-majority census tracts. In terms of the intra-racial/ethnic income-based UGS accessibility inequity between the richest and the poorest, inequity is the lowest among white-majority census tracts and the highest among black-majority census tracts, with inequity in Hispanic-majority census tracts in the intermediate range.

Accommodating green spaces in cities: Perceptions and attitudes in slums

The growing assumption in urban studies literature is that residents of slum communities struggle to find space to live but not a place to recreate and enjoy green space. However, at present no research has explored slum residents' perspectives and attitudes towards urban green spaces. The purpose of this study is threefold: (i) to establish a spatio-temporal analytical evidence of urban green spaces in slum communities; (ii) to examine slum residents' perceptions on urban green space availability and use; and (iii) explore how their perceptions have influenced their attitudes towards urban green space management. Using two slum communities - Nima and Agbogbloshie - in Ghana's national capital Accra as case studies, household surveys, focus group discussions, secondary data analysis and agency interviews were conducted. Spatio-temporal analysis showed significant loss of green spaces (about 83% in Agbogbloshie and 92% in Nima) between 2000 and 2018. Yet, slum residents generally expressed positive attitudes towards urban green spaces despite government agencies reporting otherwise (χ2 = 16.140, p < 0.000). The challenge with green spaces in slums was more of an urban planning's neglect of slums as part of the urban system rather than residents' attitudes.

Microscale socioeconomic inequalities in green space availability in relation to residential segregation: The case study of Lodz, Poland

Socioeconomic disparities in urban green space (UGS) availability and environmental injustice may occur not only at the scale of whole cities, selected districts/neighbourhoods, but also at lower spatial scales, such as urban blocks or even individual buildings. The latter – microscale UGS disparities – reflect differences in UGS availability among inhabitants who belong to different socioeconomic status groups and inhabit different buildings or parts of buildings. This article evaluates whether disparities in UGS availability and environmental injustice may occur in microscale in cities characterized by low socioeconomic segregation in general, such as those located in Central and Eastern Europe. For this purpose, we identified microscale socioeconomic disparities in UGS availability in the central zone of Lodz (Poland) using the localized modelling technique. Then, using a spatial microsimulation experiment, we demonstrated that an increase of segregation in Lodz's central zone would increase disparities in UGS availability and the occurrence of environmental injustice there. We demonstrated that the way the patterns of segregation interplay with microscale disparities can be further linked with temporal evolution of housing stock and local housing policy. Our findings may be useful for urban planners to stimulate the spatio-social diversity of inhabitants by focusing on microscale UGS disparities.