Green Areas In City Research Articles

Challenges in the Valorization of Green Waste in the Central European Region: Case Study of Warsaw

Expanding green areas in cities results in growth in green waste generation. This study presents the findings of an investigation into green waste from selective collection in a large Central European city (Warsaw, Poland), which can be identified as a valuable biomass resource. The research objective was to identify the properties of garden waste from single-family housing to determine valorization opportunities, emphasizing the utilization of GW as a source of energy. The research yielded several findings, including a notable degree of variability in fuel properties, including moisture content (CV = 30%), lower heating value (CV = 14.3%), and ash content (CV = 62.7/56.2%). The moisture content suggests composting, while the fertilizing properties indicate suitability for anaerobic digestion. The instability of the fuel properties, coupled with the elevated levels of chlorine, sulfur, and moisture, constrains the use of garden waste in thermal processes and alternative fuel production. Pyrolysis could be a viable approach for green waste feedstock, offering value-added products depending on the processing conditions and pre-treatment. Nevertheless, implementing a selective collection system is a critical condition for the optimal utilization of bio-waste, facilitating the quality and property control of green and food waste. This is essential for their effective processing, including energy recovery, thereby contributing to the efficient valorization of biomass.

COVID-19 pandemic: the role of risk factors related to urban space (Analytical review)

Comfortable urban environment plays a key role in protecting health of people residing in large urban settlements. At the same time, urban space has some peculiarities including high population and building density, imperfect traffic infrastructure, irrational planning decisions, elevated levels of ambient air pollution, heat islands and lack of urban green spaces. All these features of any urban space are significant health risk factors able to facilitate spread of respiratory diseases. This was the most evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analytical review examines the results of studies focusing on impacts exerted by these unfavorable urban conditions on COVID-19 infection, incidence, hospitalization and mortality in cities across the globe. Influence of elevated population density on COVID-19 infection is shown to be ambiguous as compared to other risk factors. More reliable data are available on the impact of air pollutants, especially PM, on incidence and mortality rates from the infectious disease in question. Also, the COVID-19 virus and abnormally high temperatures were shown to produce combined effects on mental health during the pandemic. To reduce levels of infection in urban population, a suggestion is to further develop urban infrastructure providing people with retail and other necessary facilities within a walking distance (15 minutes). An important conclusion has been made by experts on elevated risks of infection in dense foot traffic as compared to public buildings. Therefore, it is important to improve communications about the necessity of social distancing. Urban development that aims to reduce infection with respiratory diseases should involve better street aeration. The results of these studies in various cities across the globe gave grounds for making management decisions on providing better mobility in suburban areas in a more comfortable natural environment, developing green areas in cities, and reducing negative effects of the warming climate on heat islands and elevated levels of ambient air pollution. Large open green spaces are the most effective in this respect.

Роль факторов риска городского пространства в пандемии COVID-19 (Аналитический обзор)

Comfortable urban environment plays a key role in protecting health of people residing in large urban settlements. At the same time, urban space has some peculiarities including high population and building density, imperfect traffic infrastructure, irrational planning decisions, elevated levels of ambient air pollution, heat islands and lack of urban green spaces. All these features of any urban space are significant health risk factors able to facilitate spread of respiratory diseases. This was the most evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analytical review examines the results of studies focusing on impacts exerted by these unfavorable urban conditions on COVID-19 infection, incidence, hospitalization and mortality in cities across the globe. Influence of elevated population density on COVID-19 infection is shown to be ambiguous as compared to other risk factors. More reliable data are available on the impact of air pollutants, especially PM, on incidence and mortality rates from the infectious disease in question. Also, the COVID-19 virus and abnormally high temperatures were shown to produce combined effects on mental health during the pandemic. To reduce levels of infection in urban population, a suggestion is to further develop urban infrastructure providing people with retail and other necessary facilities within a walking distance (15 minutes). An important conclusion has been made by experts on elevated risks of infection in dense foot traffic as compared to public buildings. Therefore, it is important to improve communications about the necessity of social distancing. Urban development that aims to reduce infection with respiratory diseases should involve better street aeration. The results of these studies in various cities across the globe gave grounds for making management decisions on providing better mobility in suburban areas in a more comfortable natural environment, developing green areas in cities, and reducing negative effects of the warming climate on heat islands and elevated levels of ambient air pollution. Large open green spaces are the most effective in this respect.

Nature on our doorstep: How do residents perceive urban parks vs. biodiverse areas?

The role of nature in enhancing urban well-being is well-established, but perceived naturalness may not always align with scientific definitions. Our study aimed to investigate whether areas selected for nature-related activities demonstrate increased biodiversity, offer diverse experiences, and integrate both social and ecological perspectives. We aimed to bridge the gap between perceived naturalness and objective ecological richness. Integrating social and environmental parameters, we considered both objective indicators, such as the presence of rare species, and subjective perspectives. Extensive geotagged surveys among 401 working-age Warsaw residents, coupled with field analyses, and biodiversity data collected for the scale of the whole city, allowed to juxtapose human perception with tangible ecological indicators. Our results revealed that only 14% of the locations identified by respondents as natural were associated with high biological diversity. In contrast, over 30% were in areas with low biological diversity, lacking rare species. Factors like presence of natural and semi-natural vegetation types, distance from buildings, population density, presence of water, noise, and extreme temperatures were found to be significant. We distinguished four types of natural areas: close to home, open grassland, high naturalness, and forested, reflecting different preferences and alternative choices when high-quality natural areas are not nearby. Most notably, urban parks emerged as key locations for nature contact, even though objective measures of biodiversity were often low. This underscores the need for a comprehensive understanding of how urban residents interact with and value natural spaces, bridging the gap between subjective experiences and objective ecological richness within the city's green areas. Our study highlights the complex interplay between the physical properties of urban green spaces, individual perceptions, and the ecological aesthetics influencing these interactions. In particular, the concept of perceived naturalness emerges as a critical factor, often contrasting with objective, quantifiable naturalness, and necessitating a nuanced approach in urban planning and public health contexts to cater to diverse needs and preferences of city dwellers.

Nature-Based Management of Lawns—Enhancing Biodiversity in Urban Green Infrastructure

Urban green areas have multifunctional benefits that may mitigate unfavorable health and ecological effects. Green areas represent important biodiversity hideouts in anthropogenic regions. Lawns are the most common elements of urban greenery, covering a considerable number of green areas in cities. The aim of this analysis was to gain knowledge on urban greenery and elaborate recommendations related to management that favors grass lawn biodiversity. The established working hypothesis is that the limited intensity of management in urban grass areas is reflected in the modification of their species composition, as well as their potential ecological functions. An experiment on the management of city lawns was conducted in 2010 (still ongoing). There are three lawn variants under different management methods: ornamental, city, and permaculture lawns. Vegetation was assessed using the method of phytocoenological relevés. The coverage values of the individual plant species were processed using multidimensional analysis of ecological data. The results showed that human decisions and activities affected the species composition of these grassy areas. There were 46 plant taxa found during the monitoring: 12 in ornamental lawn variants, 24 in city lawn variants, and 31 in permaculture lawn variants. Permaculture lawns with extensive management represent the most environmentally friendly variant with respect to biodiversity and soil moisture content. However, changes in species composition have raised questions regarding the extent to which they may perform other ecosystem functions. Increasing the intensity of lawn management has resulted in lower plant diversity. Extensive management alters the aesthetic value of lawns and creates spaces for species that may spread in urban environments.

Urban space use for outing before and during the pandemic: A case study of Daejeon, South Korea using social media posts

This study aims to investigate the popularly visited places and their spatial characteristics during the pandemic. To achieve this objective, semantic network analysis (SNA) and GIS spatial analysis were conducted using place-based words collected from Instagram posts from 2018 to June 2021 with the hashtag ‘Daejeon Nadri.’ The findings indicate that during the pandemic, the eigenvector centrality of words related to city centers decreased significantly, while words related to suburban areas increased. Before the pandemic, there was approximately a 10 km distance from the central node to the farthest node in the same modularity class. However, during the pandemic, the visited places were limited to their neighboring areas in the same modularity class. This study found that visited places during the pandemic were predominantly located in suburban areas, particularly around stream and forest areas. Green areas situated in city centers did not show a significant increase in visits during the pandemic. This indicates that people tended to visit less crowded green areas in suburban areas and showed a tendency to visit nearby places during the pandemic. These changes suggest that suburban green areas are also crucial for cities, not just for green areas in cities. In planning for future epidemics, easy access to green areas is crucial. Such accessibility can be made by allocating small green areas, creating linear green belts to link main greens, and strengthening public transport links to suburban areas. Management implicationsThe results of this study imply that individuals tend to prefer natural green spaces with low population density for their outings amid the COVID-19 crisis. This finding underscores the significance of green spaces that accommodate urban residents' leisure activities during specific circumstances such as epidemics. It is worth considering appropriate allocation of green spaces within the city to ensure equal access to public green in urban planning. Another challenge is to enhance the public transportation network to connect major green spaces in the outskirts and suburbs of the metropolitan region.

Pemenuhan Keadilan Lingkungan dalam Penerapan Kebijakan Tata Ruang Wilayah Kota Palembang

This article aims to analyze the fulfillment of Ecological Justice in the implementation of spatial policy in Palembang City based on the implementation of the international regime, namely SDG's point 11. The achievement of sustainable cities is a focus to see how the fulfillment of environmental justice is formed in the process of implementing regional spatial policy carried out in Palembang city. Using Kuehn's concept of Ecological Justice, look at the implementation of regional spatial policy with four aspects, namely distributive, corrective, procedural and social. An exploratory descriptive qualitative method with data collection techniques used literature studies and interviews. The findings obtained include the implementation of distributive justice with various programs, however, the problem that is still the main obstacle is the need to pay attention to the city's green areas. In corrective justice, environmental policies already exist, but it is necessary to maximize law enforcement. In implementing procedural justice, policies are made that do not focus on targeting elements of community needs. The involvement of the community and NGOs in policy-making is still minimal. In terms of social justice, there is still a lot of community production land, open green areas, and protected land such as swamp land which is used as economic and residential areas which are exacerbated by regulations issued by the government which is a source of environmental damage. Through the findings above, it is hoped that policy formulation and implementation processes can be further maximized to achieve environmental justice in Palembang City.

Analysis of Çanakkale City Center Active Green Area Potential in GIS Platform

While cities are facing challenges such as uncontrolled growth, population growth, and climate change, environment and human-friendly solutions are sought to create more livable urban areas. Green areas in cities play an important role in improving the quality of life quality of life for residents and reducing the risks of the disasters. Urban green area planning is a holistic and strategic process in which qualitative and quantitative factors should be considered in detail. This study focuses on determining the qualities and potentials of urban green areas in the city center of Çanakkale province in western Turkey and determining the amount of green area per capita, which is one of the quantitative factors. In addition, the study also aims to draw conclusions about the distribution and accessibility of urban green areas. Determining the amount, accesibility and distribution of active green areas, which are intensively used by urban dwellers for recreational purposes and are the determinants of the presence of green area in the city, is important in terms of forming the basis for strategies that improve urban quality of life. In this study, the active green areas in various urban landscapes were determined by utilizing high spatial resolution satellite remote sensing images and the spatial distribution and accessibility analysis were performed in a geographic information systems (GIS) platform. The findings of this study provide a basis for the development of local green area strategies and contribute to the current discourse on livable and sustainable urban development.

CO2 SEQUESTRATION AND O2 PRODUCTION IN URBAN PARKS: THE CASE OF AN INTRODUCED SPECIES IN TROPICAL SOUTH AMERICA

Urban parks make up the most significant proportion of green areas in cities and significantly help to mitigate climate change and improve the physical and mental well-being of the city inhabitants. In Latin America, one of the predominant species within the vegetation in these parks is Ficus benjamina (F. benjamina). However, this species has a questionable history due to the damage it produces to public infrastructures and its invasive non-native origin has biased its potential to provide ecosystem services. This study quantifies the capacity F. benjamina has for storing carbon (C) and producing oxygen (O2) in seven parks of one of the most affected districts of Lima, the Peruvian capital. The average C captured ranged from 2.31 ± 0.27 to 8.19 ± 1.88 t C ha-1, ranging from 8.48 ± 0.99 to 30.04 ± 6.91 t CO2 ha-1 and producing between 6.17 ± 0.72 and 21.85 ± 5.01 t O2 ha-1. These results show the benefits of these species in urban areas and should be considered for conserving these trees. Further research on ornamental plants, management policies implementation based on an ecological approach and good arboricultural practices will guarantee urban center purification in this global context.

From The Past to The Present: Footprint of Urban and Forest Ecology in Istanbul

Istanbul is an important city whose population has been increasing continuously from the past to the present. This increase has led to the emergence of new residential areas, and therefore, to the constant expansion of the boundaries of the settlement. Today's core of the city of Istanbul is the historical region called the city wall. Until the 1950s, the settlement was mainly concentrated in this area and its immediate vicinity. There were more industrial facilities outside this region. In the time leading up to the construction of the first bridge into the Bosphorus, the population was generally gathered between the coastal and the D100 highway. After the construction of the first bridge in 1973, the boundaries of the settlement began to shift to the north of the D100 highway. When the second bridge to the Bosphorus (Fatih Sultan Mehmet) was built in 1988, the boundaries of the settlement expanded further north. Since this year, the bridge has been built together with the II. The area between the Ring Road (TEM) and the D-100 highway has been the scene of a busy settlement. During these years (1970-1990), which constituted the highest period of migration from the countryside to the city, the population of Istanbul increased more than twice. In the time leading up to the construction of the third Bosphorus bridge (Yavuz Sultan Selim), the settlement experienced a rapid expansion to the north of the TEM road. Istanbul, which has experienced the same periodic process twice in the past, is experiencing it again with the construction of the third bridge. This time, the city's borders have entered a continuous expansion circuit towards the Black Sea. During these processes, the city's green areas have rapidly declined and the urban areas have continuously increased. In order to detect this change in periods, periodic satellite images were classified through GIS and Remote Sensing programs and the evolution of green areas were revealed. The findings revealed that the green areas have been decreasing continuously since 1975 and this is closely related to the bridges and connection roads. It has been revealed that the process that the city has experienced in the past will live again with the newly built bridge, and this time the process will be faster. In this new period, the Black Sea will form the new border of the city. This shows us that the city is pushing the boundaries of expansion and that the new green spaces will lose their function.

Determination of Flood Risk Areas and Carbon Sink Areas in The Scope of Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: Case Study Of Çiğli, İzmir

With the industrial revolution, the boundaries of urban and rural areas have expanded and the rural periphery has disappeared. Structural areas and transportation networks have dominated the cities and the spaces with natural character have begun to wear out. On the basis of this, increasing heavy metals and the inability of nature to renew itself have started to bring the phenomenon of climate change to the agenda. The decrease in the rate of green areas in cities and the loss of function of wetlands with strong natural characteristics have caused the ecosystem services not to continue throughout the city and countryside.
 Çiğli District emerges as an important example for analyzing the interaction between the natural environment and the built environment, as it has been exposed to rapid industrialization and housing and contains an important Ramsar Site. Today, the biggest problems of Çiğli are the increasing amount of carbon and the flood risk. Within the scope of the study, areas with flood risk throughout Çiğli district were determined, in addition to this, the areas with the highest carbon emissions were determined and solution suggestions were presented.

Mitigating urban heat island effects in urban environments: strategies and tools

In the twenty-first century, urban heat islands (UHIs) have become a major problem for humanity as a consequence of urbanization and industrialization. The main causes of UHI are the vast amounts of heat generated by urban structures as they consume and re-radiate solar energy and anthropogenic heat sources. The two heat sources cause an urban area’s temperature to rise above its surroundings, a phenomenon known as Urban Heat Island (UHI). Many approaches, methods, models, and investigative tools have been implemented to study and analysis this phenomenon. In general, green areas in cities are thought to be an effective approach to mitigate urban heat island effects and bring comfort to residents. The improvement of microclimatic conditions in urban environments is mostly influenced by evapotranspiration. Most of the studies show a rising trend in the UHI, which is linked to decreased plant cover and land-use changes. The main objectives of this paper were to explain the concept, formation factors, and influential factors of UHI. In addition, the most common strategies and tools that are applied in mitigating rising temperatures in urban areas were reviewed and summarized. The finding of several studies showed that increasing urban vegetation areas in addition to optimizing their spatial distribution and configuration is an effective strategy to reduce the impact of UHI.

A Case Study on Green Areas Change-Detection in Baghdad Using Artificial Intelligence

As our cities expand and more people migrate into already crowded regions, green areas in cities minimize the effects of pollution and help reduce the urban heat island effect. Adhamiya in Baghdad is one of these urban fabrics that are suffering nowadays from crowded urban fabric with a shortage of green lungs; therefore, in response to these rapid changes and the need to keep an eye on them. This research presented a study based on artificial intelligence, which took advantage of HSV spectrum by restricting it to a group of colors that represent the colors of the green areas, as well as the generation of masks and use of them in the design of the study, as these technologies might provide speedy findings and contribute to the formulation of real-time judgments to examine examples of tissue changes and their influencing elements. Changes in the Green areas of urban fabric were analyzed using artificial intelligence has made considerable progress in exploring and deducing real-time changes and monitoring the environment. The results revealed a drop in the ratio of green areas from 22.45% to 5.46%. This serious indicator necessitates intervention by decision leaders to rectify the situation due to an important correlation between the decline in green areas and the increase in temperature in the region.

Land Use and Global Environmental Change: An Analytical Proposal Based on A Systematic Review

Global environmental changes are multifactorial and affected by multiple forms of land use. For this reason, and also in view of the current world climate scenario, they have become highly relevant and are subject to analysis and discussions on the best uses of land. The research presented here offers a systematic analysis on the priorities related to the multiple uses of land and their implications in urban planning. An exploratory and descriptive analysis is used with a qualitative approach based in a systematic literature review. General findings indicate that land uses arise amid the duality between economy and environmental concerns, while increasing frequencies of heat islands, desertification, suppression of green areas in cities, and other phenomena are the backdrop. Urban planning tied to social and environmental dynamics becomes a powerful engine to predict rational uses of the land, enabling and balancing the economic–environmental dynamics without overriding each other. Proper planning of urban land governs both the infrastructure itself and the human influence over space in addition to predicting future uses and disuse as well as actions not consistent with sustainable development.

Functional-Environmental Evaluation of Pocket Parks in Urbanized Areas - The Case Study of Gliwice

Abstract The article presents the role and importance of creating new green areas in the areas of urban agglomerations. Particular attention was paid to the processes of creating new green areas in post-industrial areas and urban wastelands and their restoration for cities. The issue of the formation of pocket parks is raised and the results of the detailed research carried out by the authors in 2020 are briefly discussed. The article presents a comparative analysis of several selected examples of pocket parks, describes the role they play in cities. The purpose of the research was to determine what elements of pocket parks play an important role for the microclimate of cities and their communities. An example of the creation of a new pocket park in the city center of Gliwice, Poland is presented. The conclusions of the research and the evaluation of the experiment carried out by the authors can be useful for the creation of urban policies, planning of green areas in cities and the creation of utility-functional programs for new green areas.

Evaluating the potential of suburban and rural areas for tourism and recreation, including individual short-term tourism under pandemic conditions

Limited mobility and restrictions in social life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic changed people’s recreational behavior and made them seek more contact with nature. As a result, the provision of new recreational spaces in the vicinity of cities gained importance. In conditions of social distancing, rural and suburban areas can be an attractive alternative to individual short-term tourism, satisfying the need for recreation and mental and physical health restoration of urban residents. In the study a methodology for assessing the tourist and recreational potential of the area (METPRET) concerning the recreational behaviors identified in the pandemic was proposed. It includes the Recreational Potential Index (RPI), which comprises four criteria: landscape values and socio-economic conditions; environmental protection; air quality; transportation accessibility. The application of the methodology is exemplified in the Mazovia Voivodeship, Poland. The research allows the determination of characteristics that potential recreation areas should have under pandemic conditions. The RPI makes it possible to select new rural and suburban areas attractive for short-term tourism. Designating additional recreational areas may contribute to the dispersion of users in existing green areas in cities, which is particularly important during a pandemic.

The urban ecosystem services index as a new indicator for sustainable urban planning and human well-being in cities

Nowadays, more and more people appreciate the presence of green areas in cities. These spaces have many functions, including ecological, social, and cultural ones. Urban ecosystems, understood in this article as areas of a natural character, are a very important element of the landscape structure of urban areas. Their existence makes it possible to live in cities. Urban ecosystems have been analyzed using a variety of methods in terms of their type and quantity, as well as the ecosystem services they provide. However, it is useful to complement these studies by assessing which urban ecosystems provide the most ecosystem services. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the ecosystem services provided by urban ecosystems for sustainable urban planning but using a novel approach. A new Urban Ecosystem Services (IUES) indicator has been developed for this assessment. It reports on the intensity of ecosystem services provided. The test area for the application of this indicator was the largest cities in Poland, with a particular focus on the Silesian Metropolis (GZM). The Silesian Metropolis is the most anthropogenically changed area in Poland due to the mining activities occurring there since the 18th century. Thus, it is a good example for checking whether such areas have ecological value and what that value is. In this study, special emphasis was placed on the identification of urban ecosystem services and their effectiveness. It was concluded that urban ecosystems are essential to cities and should make up a significant percentage of their land area. They provide essential ecological services to urban residents, and their presence provides a higher standard of living in anthropogenically altered areas.

A one-hour walk in nature reduces amygdala activity in women, but not in men.

Urban dwellers are more likely to develop mental disorders such as mood and anxiety disorder as well as schizophrenia compared to rural dwellers. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that even short-term exposure to nature can improve mood and decrease stress, but the underlying neural mechanisms are currently under investigation. In the present intervention study we examined the effects of a one-hour walk in an urban vs. natural environment on activity in the amygdala, a brain region previously associated with stress processing. Before and after the walk 63 participants underwent an fMRI paradigm inducing social stress. Since there is a pronounced gap in the literature regarding interindividual differences in stress-related neural effects of urban and natural environments, we set out to explore sex differences. We observed that amygdala activity decreased after the walk in nature, but only in women, suggesting that women may profit more from salutogenic effects of nature. Moreover, performance on the arithmetic tasks improved in women after the walk in nature, whereas men performed better after the walk in the urban environment. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report differencial tendencies in men and women concerning the stress-related neural activity as an effect of acute exposure to urban vs. natural environments. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance of sex differences when exploring effects of the environment on brain function and stress. Evidence for beneficial effects of nature on stress-related brain regions may inform urban design policies to focus on providing more accessible green areas in cities and this study suggests that sex differences in experiencing the environment should be taken into consideration.

Classification of network social movements in the cities of Southwestern Siberia regions

The article presents the results of the study of urban Internet communities of a causal nature in the regions of Southwestern Siberia. Communities are analysed by variables: the degree of their development, the number of participants, the goals and objectives set, the forms of activity used. These communities were identified in social networks and messengers such as VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Odnoklassniki, Instagram, Telegram, as well as among YouTube channels and specialized sites. The informatisation of modern society provides citizens with more and more opportunities to participate in public life and establish horizontal communications. This is combined with the processes of raising the level of civic consciousness and the search for "workarounds" for participation in public politics. Both of these tendencies lead to more and more active involvement of citizens in the processes of self-organisation and participation in various associations. This leads to an increase in the number of urban problematic (causal) communities and in the number of their participants, the creation of new projects, and the massisation of their actions. There can be distinguished two main vectors for the development of such urban communities: urban protection and environmental. The first direction deals with the issues of arranging the living environment of citizens and creating "places of application" of causal civil activity, with problems of combining commercial, social, historical and cultural principles in the development of cities. The second one deals with the issues of protecting the natural environment, improving the living conditions of citizens, changing the consciousness and behaviour of people towards those more environmentally friendly. The set of methods used by all these communities is very wide: information campaigns in media and the Internet, filing petitions and appeals, organising of practical activities in the direction of their work, educating citizens, holding pickets and other public events, establishing contacts between civil society and government. It should be noted that there is no strict distinction between the communities of the two main problem areas, since the tasks they strive to solve (for example, the preservation of green areas in cities, the fight against landfills, etc.), as well as the composition of the participants, partially coincide.

The Trajectory of the Landscape and Functionality of Urban Watercourses: A Study of Lavras City, Brazil

The growth of the urban population promotes a strong pressure to occupy open spaces in urban center, including around watercourses. Canalization and drainage techniques favored urban expansion and occupation of these spaces. In long term, this has not been efficient, since it is not a sustainable decision, mainly in view of the challenges provided by climate change. The purpose of this work was to analyze the modification of the landscape and multifunctionality of the urban watercourses in relation to socioeconomic and environmental scope of the evolution of an urban area using Lavras city, Brazil, as model. For that, city's hydrographic grid was drawn from the digital elevation model (DEM) corrected by manual vectorization after field visits and analysis of high-resolution images. To understand natural and sociocultural evolution processes, a compilation of geo-historical information about the origin and formation of the city was made using Patchwork Quilt methodology. To understand the actions and perceptions of different actors from urban watercourses in Lavras, questionnaires were applied to the population, and interviews were directed to the public and private managers. It was observed that the watercourses and their surroundings lost a large part of their natural, social, and economic functions, after the 1980s, only having a drainage function. The areas in expansion prioritize the natural function preservation but lack the incentive to implement the other functions such as social and economic. With the economic valuation of land, the implementation of green and blue infrastructure has not yet been prioritized. Even with the legislation that provides multifunctional uses for rivers and their banks, the urban watercourses from Lavras remained largely monofunctional. This did not contribute to increasing the city's green areas and the reintegration of watercourses into the urban landscape. The population values the water present in the urban landscape and yearns for multifunctional solutions such as green areas and urban gardens. Public and private actors recognize the lack of clarity in the legislation, and in the definition of concepts and techniques to be adopted. Multifunctional solutions can be in favor of reconciling different interests, promoting the reintegration of rivers into the urban landscape.