Where to construct new urban green spaces to be at the recommended distance from users and to complement existing ones? A study in five cities of northern Portugal

The proximity to urban green spaces (UGS) is important to facilitate their use by citizens, mainly by the most vulnerable groups in society who are usually unable to walk long distances. Furthermore, there are several ecosystem services from which the population can only benefit if UGS are close. In addition to being important to identify areas without a UGS nearby, it is also important to indicate possible locations for a new UGS, thus avoiding wasting resources by overlapping coverage areas or leaving gaps in coverage. It is also important to understand among all possible locations where the construction of a UGS is most needed. The present study aims (i) to identify possible locations for future UGS and order them by construction priority, (ii) to develop and test a methodology for decision-makers and urban planners and (iii) to contribute to increasing and developing UGS in cities. Considering residential areas, the results reveal a deficiency in UGS coverage in all the cities studied, as only 43.86–57.09% of residential areas have a UGS within 300 m. Construction of proposed UGS will lead to a 12.30–26.15% increase in coverage. The proposed methodology needs further improvement, but it can be a valuable tool for urban planners and decision-makers, and can encourage the construction of more UGS.     

Why don’t we go outside? – Perceived constraints for users of urban greenspace in Sweden

Urban greenspace (UGS) is important for human wellbeing, particularly physical and mental health, and is claimed to support social cohesion. However, the expansion and densification of urban centres in recent decades has occurred largely at the expense of UGS. This risks its attractiveness for users. Although recent research has identified various factors that influence the use of UGS in different contexts, few studies have taken an explicit, bottom-up approach to understand which factors constrain willingness to use it. This study analyses responses from an online survey in Sweden (N = 2806) to identify the main constraints to UGS usage, and for whom these are constraints. Respondents could select from 22 different types of constraints – relating to incivilities, management, accessibility and availability, safety, and personal issues. Respondents could also provide comments to identify additional constraints. Incivilities were the most perceived problem. For example, litter was selected by 53% of respondents, while vandalism was selected by 24%. At the same time, many respondents perceived few or no constraints – 59% stated that nothing prevented them from using UGS, while 35% stated that they saw no problems. Safety-related and accessibility/availability constraints were not strongly identified although many respondents commented that UGS in Sweden is inadequate given the large number of users, and that the UGS that people want to use the most is often inaccessible without a car. Multiple binary logistic regression was used to investigate relationships between perceptions of constraints and fourteen predictor variables. Odds ratios were used to determine whether significant (p < 0.05) relationships were meaningful. Our findings show that different groups have starkly divergent perceptions of constraints relating to UGS. Several key factors – including age, self-reported nature-connectedness, distance to UGS, and frequency of use – were associated with a heightened likelihood of perceiving different groups of constraints. However, relationships between constraints and factors relating to environmental justice were not straightforward. These findings indicate the complexity of UGS planning challenges relating to densification, the New Urban Agenda and promotion of societal benefits, and a need to further integrate multiple user perspectives, especially of younger adults and infrequent users.     

Potential of retrofitted urban green infrastructure to reduce runoff - A model implementation with site-specific constraints at neighborhood scale

The urbanization has resulted in significant changes in the water balance. Urban Green Infrastructures (UGI) have become a promising method for reducing reoccurring floods whilst providing additional social and ecological benefits. However, there are several challenges to successfully implementing UGI in already developed areas, such as accounting for retrofitting UGI scenarios and pre-existing use of spaces. Accurate estimations of the potential of UGI in reducing flood-causing at the watershed scale are therefore important. This study investigates the influence of site-specific constraints on the effectiveness of UGI in reducing flood-causing runoff at the watershed scale. In particular, this study takes urban fabric characteristics in the development of UGI implementation strategies for different types of residential and industrial neighborhoods into account. Furthermore, it applies a hydrological simulation-based approach to estimate the runoff reduction potential of these strategies for a case study in the Metropolitan Area of San José, Costa Rica. The results indicate that UGI implementation potential depends on urban fabric characteristics and modelling different UGI implementation scenarios shows differing hydrological performance. In residential areas, either permeable pavement or infiltration trenches and street planters lead to the highest runoff reduction. In industrial areas, only permeable pavements lead to the highest runoff reduction. Overall, industrial areas enable more potential for UGI and reduce runoff generation. The findings of this study can guide the development of retrofitting UGI scenarios and upscaling strategies under heterogeneous settlement characteristics.     

洪涝风险胁迫下登封市蓝绿基础设施网络构建研究

为提高城市生态防洪韧性，构建蓝绿基础设施网络，依据登封市2021年4月Landsat遥感影像数据，通过降雨-径流水文模型分析枯水月、平水月以及丰水月的淹没范围，并将分析结果转化为电阻面纳入潜在生态廊道的识别与构建中，利用连通性分析和电路理论筛选匹配登封市的最佳扩散距离和廊道“宽度”,并综合分析廊道关键障碍点、夹点以及易涝区现状条件，提出了登封市蓝绿基础设施网络的构建策略。结果表明：1)14个汇水区内的林地在枯水月、平水月以及丰水月的平均雨洪消减率逐渐降低，分别为94.42%、80.85%、47.46%;2)在丰水月随着雨量增加林地逐渐成为在建设用地之下的第二大产流体，导致9.10 km²的建设用地处于淹没风险区。位于洪涝高压区的告城镇受淹面积由枯水月的0.29 km²扩大至丰水月的3.13 km²。3)识别出26个重要源地、4个一般源地、56条潜在廊道、107处关键障碍点以及14处重要夹点。其中登封市东南地区关键廊道较窄且电流密度较高，多处重要夹点毗邻建设用地，且每条廊道均存在多个关键障碍点，多为城镇建筑、交通道路及废弃...     

Infrastructure and politics: Why the Belt and Road Initiative proceeded differently in Malaysia and Indonesia

The article seeks to understand the different types and sources of politicisation as well as the consequences for Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure projects. It is argued that while the personalised insulated type of foreign policymaking is conducive to intra-system politicisation, the institutionalised responsive type is associated with extra-system politicisation. While the former type is contingent on political turnovers and brings about abrupt shocks, the latter oftentimes generates societal pushback from socio-economic groups. The article focuses on two flagship Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure projects in Malaysia and Indonesia. Based on fieldwork interviews and process tracing, the article finds that the East Coast Rail Link project in Malaysia has suffered from high risk of political interruption owing to Malaysia's personalised insulated type of foreign policymaking, whereas the Jakarta–Bandung High Speed Rail project in Indonesia has encountered sustained obstacles from Indonesian society and brought about substantial delays under Indonesia's institutionalised responsive type.