Supplying urban ecosystem services through multifunctional green infrastructure in the United States

This paper summarizes a strategy for supplying ecosystem services in urban areas through a participatory planning process targeting multifunctional green infrastructure. We draw from the literature on landscape multifunctionality, which has primarily been applied to agricultural settings, and propose opportunities to develop urban green infrastructure that could contribute to the sustainable social and ecological health of the city. Thinking in terms of system resilience, strategies might focus on the potential for green infrastructure to allow for adaptation and even transformation in the face of future challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, and limited resources. Because planning for multiple functions can be difficult when many diverse stakeholders are involved, we explored decision support tools that could be applied to green infrastructure planning in the early stages, to engage the public and encourage action toward implementing a preferred solution. Several specific ecosystem services that could be relevant for evaluating current and future urban green spaces include: plant biodiversity, food production, microclimate control, soil infiltration, carbon sequestration, visual quality, recreation, and social capital. Integrating such ecosystem services into small-scale greening projects could allow for creativity and local empowerment that would inspire broader transformation of green infrastructure at the city level. Those cities committing to such an approach by supporting greening projects are likely to benefit in the long run through the value of ecosystem services for urban residents and the broader public.     

Towards a greening city: How does regional cooperation promote urban green space in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area?

Promoting Urban Green Space (UGS) is one of the major requests of green cities for urban planners and local officials, and it is linked to myriad environmental and social benefits. However, scant literature has positioned the UGS into the background of fast regionalisation to unravel their relationships and mechanisms. This study delves into the impact and mechanisms of regional cooperation upon the provision of UGS in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA), a dynamic city-region in southern China. Through social network analysis, panel data analysis, documentary review (analysis), and in-depth interviews, this study found that overall, regional cooperation has positive impacts on UGS provision in the GBA in the spheres of economic, social, institutional, and environmental affairs. We argued that economic cooperation encroaches on UGS by fostering infrastructure and economic zones; it also upgrades the industrial sectors and intensifies land use to positively affect UGS provision. Social cooperation reinforces population influx yet fosters social cohesion, sustainable lifestyles, and green economics to support the delivery of UGS policies. Environmental cooperation among local officials facilitates the implementation of urban greening projects, and institutional cooperation is conducive to urban governance in spatial greening planning. For the local government, the focal point for pursuing the green city vision is collaborative actions across the economic, social, environmental, and institutional spheres.     

Implementing urban greening aid projects – The case of St. Petersburg, Russia

Recent years have seen the introduction of the concept of urban greening, defined as embracing the planning and management of all urban vegetation to create or add values to the local community. Green-space development has become recognised by international agencies and donors as important tool in improving the quality of urban livelihoods and urban environment. This paper evaluates an example of an urban greening aid project, carried out by Danish and Russian partners in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. The project aimed to contribute to conservation and development of the cultural–historical, social and ecological values of St. Petersburg's urban green areas by implementing a structured, socially inclusive, well-informed planning and management approach. The project had three main components: (1) the development of a GIS-based information system to assist green-space planning and management; (2) on-site improvements in selected green areas and (3) awareness raising and public involvement activities. Ex post evaluation of the project showed that in spite of the limits of time and resources, important results were achieved. A more strategic approach to urban green-space planning and management, as promoted by urban greening, was adapted by some of the Russian project partners. Achievements also included notable physical improvements to one park. But the main project impacts were improved communication and collaboration between the local park department and local academia, as well as expertise developed in running a complex urban greening project. The project failed, however, in its public involvement ambitions.Moreover, the project should have facilitated discussion on some of the current premises of urban green-space planning and management in St. Petersburg, which insufficiently consider changing values and public preferences related to green spaces.     

Political ecology of exurban “lifestyle” landscapes at Christchurch's contested urban fence

This paper examines the relationship of planning ideals of sharply defining edges between urban density and greenspace and alternative urban greening arrangements as they are manifested in a case study of exurban “lifestyle blocks” on the fringes of Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. Exurban development outside Christchurch's urban growth boundary – called the “urban fence” – provides an example of tension between municipal attempts to curb sprawl and exurbanites’ desire to live in the dispersed settlements outside of urban boundaries. These struggles play out at different scales and in a range of different metropolitan contexts. This paper reports on the results of an ethnographic study of Christchurch urban fringe residents’ residential land-use narratives and practices. The paper focuses on landscape preferences and concerns of a sample of small-scale productive land users and explores the implications of their versions of urban greening in the context of policy visions for the urban edge. A political ecology interpretation highlights relationships in this case study between competing claims about fringe greening and fringe landscape practices. These contests over the landscapes of the urban edge illustrate ways that municipal and regional planning visions for the urban edge conflict with the ideals and practices of those residents and land use managers who might otherwise be some of the strongest supporters of urban greening initiatives. Competing discourses about the urban edge relate in different ways to concerns about abrupt urban containment and to practices that act on these concerns. I briefly discuss promising examples of edge greening in this case that may provide models for participatory management of contested and multi-use greenspace at the urban–rural fringe.     

Why don’t people plant trees? Uncovering barriers to participation in urban tree planting initiatives

Urban tree cover is inequitable in many American cities, with low-income and non-white neighborhoods typically having the least coverage. Some municipal and non-profit tree planting programs aim to address this inequity by targeting low-income neighborhoods; however, many programs face lack of participation or resistance from local residents. In this study, we aimed to uncover the economic, social, cultural, and physical barriers that community leaders face in planting trees and fostering engagement in a neighborhood with low tree canopy. In collaboration with an urban greening nonprofit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (US), twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with community leaders in a low canopy neighborhood, North Philadelphia. Half of these leaders were already involved with local tree planting programs, while the other half were not. Findings reveal that despite broad appreciation for trees and greenspaces, there are concerns about the risks and costs residents assume over the course of a tree’s life cycle, the threat of neighborhood development and gentrification associated with trees, limited plantable space, and limited time and capacity for community organizations. Additionally, these barriers to participation may be amplified among low-income and communities of color who face the legacies of historical tree disservices and municipal structural disinvestment. Addressing community concerns regarding the long-term care of trees beyond the initial tree planting would likely require further programmatic support. Overall, this research highlights the complexity of addressing inequities in tree canopy and the importance of integrating resident and community leader perspectives about disservices and management costs into tree planting initiatives.     

Developing a green infrastructure equity index to promote equity planning

The Philadelphia Water Department has committed to taking a green infrastructure (GI) approach to reduce stormwater runoff and prevent combined sewer overflow events. Promoting GI as a stormwater management technique in a city necessitates development of a more distributed urban environmental management system, through which the city's water department needs to coordinate with a wide range of public and private stakeholders, shifting power from the utility to these other stakeholders. We argue that distributed urban environmental management can lead to more inclusive outcomes but only if there is an intentionality about how funds are distributed, which communities are prioritized, how partners are chosen and cultivated, and which types of projects are implemented in which neighborhoods. We suggest the development of an equity index to help identify communities that would most benefit from GI investment as critical for equitable GI planning. Using Philadelphia as a test case, we develop a Green Infrastructure Equity Index, designed with the indirect benefits of green infrastructure in mind, to determine which communities could benefit the most from investment in GI based on their “equity void ranking”. We argue that developing a GI Equity Index provides a much more nuanced analysis of communities that takes into account the built environment as well as the underlying social and economic conditions. The GI Equity Index also allows for a shift in the way we define equity. In doing so, it (1) changes the conversation about equity in GI planning using careful data analysis that takes into account both socio-economic and built environment variables; (2) provides a visual tool that communities can use to understand underlying conditions and the existing placement of GI; and (3) serves as a framework that can be tailored to allow communities to weight their priorities, putting more power in their hands.     

Greening cities through urban planning: A literature review on the uptake of concepts and methods in Stockholm

Nature-based solutions (NBS) represent the most recent of several "greening" concepts proposed to support spatial planning and decision-making towards sustainable metropolitan regions. Despite similarities, the concepts stem from different disciplines and policy arenas and reflect various models of people-nature relations. This paper aims to analyze the uptake of greening concepts in scientific planning literature focusing on (urban) nature and landscape in the metropolitan region of Stockholm, Sweden, over the last three decades. It investigates what changes this evolution has brought in terms of the topics adopted, methods applied, and types of planning support put into practice. We identified 574 articles that reflect substantial research on greening concepts in the Swedish planning context. The articles demonstrate an initial prevalence of biodiversity with later increases of interest in ecosystem services and NBS. A detailed analysis of the studies focusing on Stockholm revealed Population growth/densification, Green space management and Biodiversity conservation as the most commonly addressed societal challenges. The most frequently mentioned type of green and blue element is Parks and (semi-)natural urban green areas, including urban forests. Methods applied were mostly quantitative, while mixes with qualitative approaches were only apparent in ecosystem services articles. Half of the studies involved practitioners or decision-makers, but only four seemed related to real-life planning processes. Taken together, the influence of scientific literature on the uptake of greening concepts in spatial planning seems to have been limited. Future mainstreaming of greening concepts in Stockholm and beyond could benefit from available data, methods and experiences, but will require more active translation and boundary management. Further research into science-policy-planning interfaces at city scale is thus imperative to advance more sustainable pathways for people and nature in metropolitan regions.     

Estimating the willingness to pay for green space services in Shanghai: Implications for social equity in urban China

The willingness to pay can be considered as the fiscal dimension of equity in a planning context. The common solution in most western countries for such fiscal inequity is to apply taxation to rebalance; however, there is no equivalent tax category in China, where residential segregation has already occurred and intensified. This paper re-examines the traditional economic aspects of urban green space in relation to size, type and proximity level, and questions whether green fiscal equity appeared in China by exploring how homebuyers in different price ranges value green space services. Specifically, this paper uses the empirical case of Shanghai, China, to test the hypothesis via the quantile hedonic approach. The results show that people at the lowest percentile level paid a higher value for accessing urban public goods than people at the higher income percentiles, and that wealthy people prefer to purchase green space services privately. These results indicate that the traditional social equity problem may not appear in the Chines context, instead urban China’s problem with social quity may be more related to the privatisation of green space provision, which is only accessible to homeowners and the resulting decline of public green space developments, which primarily affects low-income renters.     

Optimizing urban green space patterns to improve spatial equity using location-allocation model: A case study in Wuhan

Green space allocation aims to support the UNs sustainable development goals (SDGs) and to mitigate the conflicts between supply and demand. Previous studies have shown that the uneven distribution of populations and natural locations of green space results in environmental inequity. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on strategies for reducing mismatches of supply and demand by optimizing spatial patterns in highly dense cities. Developed urbanized areas are featured in fewer spaces for greening. In this study, we set three scenarios for coordinating the provision and demand of urban green spaces at a block scale. Taking the main city of Wuhan as an example, we apply the location-allocation model in order to identify potential sites for new green spaces. Then, the simulations of the three scenarios are used to depict various development strategies by evaluating the improvement of green equity. Our results show that the levels of green space accessibility are lower on the west side of the city center, while relatively higher on the east side, due to abundant natural resources. The Gini coefficient is 0.715, indicating unequal access for citizens to green space. Increasing green areas could enhance green equity, and the most effective way to allocate new increments is based on the accessibility. For developed cities, blocks with lower accessibility should be given priority when increasing green areas; doing so could offset the shortage of large green areas and reduce green inequity within daily walking distances. Optimal green space planning of small and functional parks near communities has the potential to meet higher recreational demands in densely populated areas.     

道路景观规划设计如何体现城市风貌——以河南省周口大道为例

良好的绿化美化环境和赏心悦目的道路景观,是城市道路不可或缺的功能之一,道路绿化就是实现这一功能的主要手段。文章通过对周口大道"简洁、明快、大方"的绿化规划设计,以突出周口大道绿化景观强劲的时代感,反映周口城市建设取得的丰硕成果。     

郑州市屋顶绿化现状及分析

屋顶绿化在城市绿化美化中占有重要作用,拥有巨大的市场潜力。通过对郑州市现有及施工中屋顶花园的调查勘测,从屋顶绿化的设计和工程两大部分进行研究分析,并对比两种屋顶绿化的建造形式(简单式屋顶绿化和花园式屋顶绿化)。总结郑州市屋顶绿化规划中存在的问题与不足,并针对这些问题和不足提出改进措施和规划意见。     

Trees stocks in domestic gardens and willingness to participate in tree planting initiatives in low-cost housing areas of the Eastern Cape,South Africa

Increasing human populations and rapid urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa have prompted the development and maintenance of urban green infrastructure, including urban trees for sustainability, human wellbeing, liveability and climate resilience. However, there are still insufficient amounts and large inequities in the distribution of trees between and within towns and cities of the Global North and South. In South Africa, urban green space planning and planting are encoded in several policies at national level. However, these policies are rarely translated into specific guides, standards or actions, and consequently disparities in urban trees and green space distribution persist. This study assessed the prevalence of urban trees in domestic gardens in low-cost housing areas (LCHAs) of eight small to medium-sized towns in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa and examined residents’ perceptions in this regard. This was done via surveys with 800 households in old and recently developed LCHAs. The results revealed that most households (52 %) had at least one tree in their yard, with more households in the older neighbourhoods (60 %) reporting having trees than in the newer ones (44 %). Most of the trees (66 %) had been deliberately planted as opposed to natural regeneration. Experience of formal urban tree planting programs was low, but 75 % of residents expressed willingness to participate in the future, preferably in tree planting and maintenance. Urban green spaces and trees cannot be an afterthought in the development of sustainable human settlements, and municipal plans should reflect tangible commitments in this regard. Meeting goals for greener LCHAs requires the involvement of local residents, and for municipal authorities to be receptive to the wishes of residents and willingness to green their residential areas.     

Stakeholder perceptions of the socio-ecological role of nature-based solutions in the Les Glòries Park,Barcelona

The ongoing effects of the climate emergency and the recognition of the need to redesign cities to cope with future socio-environmental changes and increase the quality of life of urban inhabitants has pushed many cities to embrace the ‘re-naturalization’ of public space through Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Les Glòries park (Barcelona) is an ongoing massive urban transformation project that incorporates NbS as a multifunctional tool. It attempts to respond to complex environmental, social, and economic urban problems while at the same time mitigating and adapting to hazards, such as floods and droughts, both predicted to increase in the Mediterranean region due to climate change. While NbS are also expected to improve environmental quality, not much attention has been given to how those strategies would intersect with citizens’ expectations and visions of public space and the uneven socio-environmental relations they can enforce. Through a case of urban development of a new large green area in Barcelona, this article aims to discern different perceptions by the local community and planners on the socio-ecological role of NbS and the implications this has for sustainable urban transitions. In-depth interviews were held with 25 key stakeholders and users, complemented by the analysis of secondary data from the town council of Barcelona about the perception of the space by residents living in the surrounding neighborhoods of the park. The results of this paper show that perceptions around NbS are strongly divided into three groups: the believers, the opposers and the skepticals. These results contribute to nuance NbS, as they do not provide universal benefits, neither for nature nor for society, and that they are subject to urban tensions derived from inequities, conflicts, tradeoffs, and particularly from divided visions of what the ‘re-naturalization’ of cities should look like.     

Qualities and functions ascribed to urban cemeteries across the capital cities of Scandinavia

Cemeteries are not only burial places that provide a public service. They are also green urban spaces with cultural and natural qualities and could be integrated into the green infrastructure planning system. In this study, we explore the extent to which environmental qualities and functions are ascribed to urban cemeteries in the municipal master plans, green infrastructure plans and websites of the capital cities of Scandinavia. In addition, we conduct a focus-group interview in Oslo with six municipal employees representing green space planning/management, cultural heritage and cemetery administration/management, focusing on a broad perspective of qualities ascribed to urban cemeteries. The document study shows that, across the Scandinavian countries, cemeteries are mainly included in the concept of green infrastructure but they are not ascribed qualities similar to those ascribed to public green spaces; instead, most qualities are related to cultural history. However, Copenhagen municipality has a more inclusive approach, describing the cemeteries as green spaces and inviting people to use them for recreational purposes. The municipality even has a policy document with a strategy on how to combine the primary function of a burial site with new needs for recreational space. In the focus-group interview, cemeteries are described as static places, peaceful and quiet places, green spaces, spaces in which to experience darkness, and places for all (multiple use). There is relatively high agreement among interviewees about the recreational qualities of cemeteries, even though the cemetery administration/management emphasizes several times that its main focus is on accommodating the bereaved and their relatives. In the discussion, we focus on differences between the different Scandinavian countries in the qualities and functions ascribed to cemeteries, and examine potential explanations for why cemeteries are mostly described as green spaces, part of the green infrastructure, but treated as private green spaces in the urban planning context.     

Investigating the spatial distribution of urban parks from the perspective of equity-efficiency: Evidence from Chengdu,China

Urban parks play a crucial role in urban public green infrastructure, providing recreational places for urban residents while carrying values of aesthetics, ecology, humanities, economy, life, and society. However, achieving an equitable and efficient spatial layout of urban parks is a challenging task due to limited urban space resources, which requires further exploration. This study employed multisource big data and GIS technology to constructed an indicator system for evaluating the equity-efficiency of urban park spatial distribution. We examined the spatial distribution of 85 parks across 62 sub-districts in the main urban area of Chengdu, the largest city in western China and the first Park City of China. The results demonstrated that equity was polarized, with an indicator value ranging from 0 to 0.77 and an average value of 0.32. The sub-district of Sansheng had the highest equity, while Wenjia and Kanghe had the lowest equity. Twenty-one sub-districts had no parks, and the equity of park spatial distribution in these areas was low. The efficiency indicator ranged from 0.20 to 0.62, with an average value of 0.40. The efficiency of the main urban area was high in the southwest and low in the northeast. The sub-district of Huangtianba had the highest efficiency, while Jinguanyi had the lowest efficiency. In the two-dimensional quadrant of equity-efficiency, 24 sub-districts had high equity and high efficiency, 13 sub-districts had high equity and low efficiency, 4 sub-districts had low equity and high efficiency, and 21 sub-districts had low equity and low efficiency. At the district level, only Chenghua District’s park was spatial equitable and efficient, surpassing the average level of the main urban area. Finally, we discussed the findings in the context of planning policies for Chengdu in recent years. We proposed that strengthening the construction of small urban parks and green spaces, improving park facilities to meet the diverse social needs of people, and enhancing the quality and attractiveness of the parks are crucial for the future development of park green spaces in the main urban areas of Chengdu.     

Greening potential of derelict and vacant lands in urban areas

This research proposes a more complete, easy and unique method to assess the greening potential of derelict and vacant urban lands in order to prioritize them for reclamation. Greening these lands can convert a problem into an opportunity, assuming that green spaces must fulfill multiple functions, being part of a green infrastructure. The evaluation cover a wide range of criteria that reflect the complexity of the city and consider environmental, ecological, social and economic aspects related to the local urban structure. The criteria were organized into three groups: ecology, stormwater, and community. For each criterion, there are quantitative or qualitative indicators, measured by continuous, binary or multi-categorical parameters converted into numerical values in order to create a ranking score from highest to lowest potential of greening. The city São Bernardo do Campo, in the Metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, was chosen as the case study to apply this method. The city is experiencing a post-industrial process and has few urban green spaces accessible to the community, while there are several empty and abandoned areas. We identified and mapped sixty derelict and vacant lands, of which ten were chosen as samples to evaluate. The results revealed that 40% of evaluated lands have high potential to reclaim into green spaces, 40%, medium potential and 20%, low potential. Nature or vocation as green spaces was also evaluated: 50% of them have social importance, 20%, environmental, and 30% socio-environmental. The vocation is an important information since it identifies some areas that despite their medium-low potential, they should not be rejected due to their social value. The results can drive a preliminary environmental planning decision making, to be applied in any city that faces similar problems of land dereliction, offering support to professionals to prioritize the reclamation of new urban green spaces.     

Reviewing eight years of Urban Forestry & Urban Greening: Taking stock, looking ahead

Since its launch in 2002, the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening (UFUG) has welcomed research from a range of disciplines and perspectives, with the aim of enlarging the body of knowledge on topics related to use, planning, design, values, and establishment of urban and peri-urban woody and non-woody vegetation. Here, we present a review of all scientific contributions published in the journal's first eight volumes (159 in all), and provide suggestions for improving the future content of UFUG. A framework for review was developed based on the journal's Aims and Scope, which set out the journal's ambitions related to, e.g. scientific diversity and international scope. The journal's achievements until now were assessed by analysing all scientific contributions for type of paper, type of green space, research theme, type of science, research method(s), and nationality of first author.Our review shows that the large majority of the contributions have been research papers. Regarding type of green space studied or considered, the overall green structure, woodland, as well as trees have been well covered, with parks having been studied much less. When looking at research themes, UFUG's envisaged variety of topics is evident. The physicality of green space, green space management, and the experience of green space have been given most attention, with less attention for valuation and governance aspects. Most UFUG contributions have been rooted in the social or natural sciences, with about one fifth of all papers involving more than one discipline, and the humanities being almost absent. Scientific diversity can also be seen from the wide range of research methods applied. The journal lives up to its international scope, with a large number of countries present. However, most first authors have been based in Europe and North America, with the USA and Scandinavia being particularly dominant.For the further development of the fields of urban forestry and urban greening, it is important that UFUG helps foster scientific debate and advancement. This will require greater focus on review papers, meta-studies, short communications, and on theoretical and methodological issues in general. Thematically, several relevant topics within urban forestry and urban greening, such as organisational aspects of green space management, could be given more attention. Also, normative issues such as the common understanding of ‘green’ as something inherently ‘good’ need to be addressed more critically.     

‘Just green enough’ in urban renewal: A multifunctional and pragmatic approach in realizing multiscale urban green space optimization in built-up residential areas

Urban green spaces (UGSs) play an essential role in sustainable urban development and are closely related to public health and human well-being. Previous studies seldom consider the relationships between spatial patterns and equity for the heterogeneity of built-up residential types in the city, not to mention how to place the pragmatic design strategies to explore green injustice for vulnerable neighborhoods. To address this gap, our study adopts a cascade of three methodological stages: 1) applying an urban morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) to compare urban UGS patterns and the UGS-adapted Gini coefficient to measure the spatial equity of UGS distributions in three local built-up areas, 2) employing the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model to determine the location of the newly added UGSs and adopting the ‘just green enough’ strategy into the redistribution of UGSs for the marginal neighborhood and at the same time to avoid inequality associated with green gentrification, and 3) exploring an integrated design and implementation method for the newly added UGSs that can accommodate both normal conditions and the possibility of future pandemics. The results indicate that there is a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and the distributional justice of UGSs among built-up types, while disadvantaged people living in the densest residential neighborhoods have lower UGS provisions. This paper demonstrates a multifunctional and pragmatic approach for realizing multiscale UGS optimization by exploring it at the subdivision and neighborhood scales. This implication can also help guide decision-makers and planners to understand the complex interplay between social vulnerabilities, gentrification, and urban greening, thus formulating effective policies and hands-on strategies to address green injustice that are not only crucial for this study region but also of great significance for developing countries in the Global South.     

Inequity in nature’s contributions to people in Ōtautahi/ Christchurch: A low-density post-earthquake city

Nature’s contributions to people (NCP) include the regulating, material, and non-material benefits of urban vegetation that improve well-being. It is increasingly important to plan cities that provide multiple types of NCP equitably to all residents of the city. However, due to historical legacies and planning policies, it is common for the most socially and economically vulnerable urban residents to suffer reduced access to the benefits of urban ecosystems. Previous studies of urban NCP have drawn attention to inequity in one or several types of NCP, but few have analysed a broad range. Here we analysed inequity in nine diverse forms of urban NCP across an index of economic and social vulnerability designed specifically to characterise vulnerability to environmental pressures. Furthermore, we used spatial analysis to map co-variance in vulnerability and a composite indicator of urban NCP, thus highlighting priority regions for future investments in green infrastructure. We applied this approach to the city of Christchurch/ Ōtautahi in Aotearoa/ New Zealand, which provides a valuable case study due to its multicultural population and recent history of widespread damage and regeneration following the 2011 earthquake. Overall, the distribution of urban NCP is inequitable to the disadvantage of more vulnerable residents. Residents of more vulnerable neighbourhoods experienced reduced provision of carbon stock, runoff retention, air quality enhancement, shade, educational green space, public outdoor space accessibility, private green space, and bird biodiversity contributions. Conversely, more vulnerable neighbourhoods had greater provision of erosion mitigation (although negligible in magnitude). The wide range of indicators used and assessed in response to vulnerability, coupled with an assessment of the type of vegetation cover (i.e. grass, tall trees) provides greater insights into how inequities in urban NCP can be addressed in future redevelopment.     

“森林城市”模式与城市绿地园林景观及功能的弱化

“森林城市”的提法导致城市园林绿化建设模式产生一定的偏差,“森林城市”忽视了城市内绿地与城市外绿地功能的诸多差异,甚至导致城市园林绿地丧失其应该体现的园林艺术特征和休闲、游憩、娱乐、健身等综合功能。除生态效益之外,只有强调城市绿地的园林艺术特征和多功能性才能防止城市绿化中过密、过滥的“森林式”的种植模式。正确定位城市中心和城市外围两种不同地域绿地的功能和结构,并以生态的楔形绿地为桥梁是实现城内外绿地相互联系、功能互补的一个有效途径。