Do small green roofs have the possibility to offer recreational and experiential benefits in a dense urban area? A case study in Helsinki, Finland

Abstract

Urban areas cover less than 3% of the earth's surface (SEDAC, 2011), but house more than half (54%) of the world's population (United Nations, 2014). Furthermore, it has been projected that 66% of the population is urban by 2050 (United Nations, 2014), which means an increase in residential and other built areas. This sets pressures for preserving and enhancing good quality natural and semi-natural urban green (and blue) environment, including, e.g. forests, parks and seasidesthe so-called green infrastructure (European Commission, 2013). Innovative solutions, such as integrating vegetation with buildings (on roofs and walls) are needed as part of the green infrastructure, where adequate and diverse green space in dense urban areas is the planning target (e.g. Jim, 2013; Haaland and van den Bosch, 2015). Numerous studies show that natural-like environments, such as forests and water areas, are rich in

Perceived Environmental Aesthetic Qualities Scale (PEAQS) – A self-report tool for the evaluation of green-blue spaces

“…We compiled a set of statements that would measure the six perceived environmental aesthetic qualities of green and blue spaces: multisensory beauty, diversity, coherence, scale, mystery, and sublimity. We selected most of the statements (21 items) from questionnaires that we had used earlier in our studies exploring experiential qualities in urban forests (Hauru et al, 2014(Hauru et al, , 2012Koskinen, 2013), urban parks (the authors, unpublished data), and on green roofs (Mesimäki et al, 2019), and rephrased some of them to better meet this study's objectives. The rest of the statements (15 items) were generated specifically for this study, based on the literature introduced in section 1.1.…”

“…fast bikers), overcrowding, or noise. The inclusion of such disruptive elements might mean an improvement for PEAQS as well -however, adding negative statements is not advisable, as they may impact the factor analysis, so that the solution is related to the negative phrasing rather than the actual meaning of the statements (see Mesimäki et al 2019).…”

Stakeholders’ Perceptions on the Role of Urban Green Infrastructure in Providing Ecosystem Services for Human Well-Being

“…Approaches used in these reviewed articles focus on subjective WB, using the participatory process, personal observation, experience, social survey, questionnaire, manipulated reality, or fuzzy cognitive mapping [20][21][22][23][24][25]. Others objectivize WB evaluation using literature review, field research, spatial analysis involving GIS and remote sensing, land use, landscape metrics, statistical methods [26][27][28][29][30][31], or a combination of subjective and objective WB evaluation methods [32,33].…”

Urban Integration of Green Roofs: Current Challenges and Perspectives

“…The GR space could be optimized to mimic the memories of natural experiences, depending upon the visual or physical access demands as per the employees in the business districts. Along this line, Mesimäki et al [167] observed that GRs provide experiential and recreational benefits. The authors' findings indicated that even a small but aesthetic accessible GR has the potential to offer a moment of respite in the middle of strenuous urban life [167].…”

“…Along this line, Mesimäki et al [167] observed that GRs provide experiential and recreational benefits. The authors' findings indicated that even a small but aesthetic accessible GR has the potential to offer a moment of respite in the middle of strenuous urban life [167].…”