Ecological valuation of city parks (Case study for Mataram City)

Abstract

City parks, apart from having an aesthetic function as a place for recreation, also have an ecological function with vegetation components to soften the microclimate. Vegetation analysis was carried out in six city parks in Mataram City to determine the vegetation structure. Microclimate factors of the park, namely light intensity, air temperature and humidity inside and outside the park during the day and observations of sound attenuation at night have been carried out. Climatic data is carried out to determine the park's ability to reduce heat and air temperature, increase air humidity and reduce noise and determine the park's environmental discomfort index. Of the six urban parks observed in the city of Mataram, namely the parks of Ampenan, Malomba, Udayana, Sangkareang, Mayura, and Selagalas, it is known that there are three groups of vegetation structures, namely trees-shrubs, shrubs-trees, and shrubs. Vegetation with various compositions of life forms in each city park only controls 40 to 60% of the land area of the park. Urban parks in Mataram City have a low level of ability to soften the microclimate, which is below 5%. In reducing heat and air temperature, and increasing air humidity. City parks are also known to have a low ability to reduce noise. The city parks of Ampenan, Udayana and Sangkareang have an environmental comfort level equivalent to the discomfort felt by more than 50% of the population, while the Malomba, Mayura, and Selagalas parks have a level of comfort equivalent to the discomfort felt by less than 50% of the population. The existence of urban park vegetation is only able to reduce the discomfort index of 7 to 9%.

Analysis of vegetation structure of urban parks and environmental discomfort index in The City of Mataram

“…. This supports the results of a study conducted by Suripto et al (2021), who concluded that the variation in the ability of urban parks to soften the microclimate was not significantly related to variations in vegetation structure but was caused by variations in green area. It is also concluded that the low level of ability of urban parks to soften the microclimate is caused more by the lack of green area (less than 40%) in the park.…”

“…The results of this study strengthen the conclusions of previous research conducted by Suripto et al (2021), namely city gardens in Mataram City with varied vegetation structures but have the same level of ability (low level) in softening the microclimate. They also added that although the vegetation structure affects the park's ability to soften the microclimate, it turns out that the low ability of urban parks in Mataram City to soften the microclimate is caused more by the low portion of green area (vegetated land) in the park than the total park area.…”

“…Plants generally have a rougher body surface compared to other physical building surfaces. Objects with a rough surface have a larger surface area so they can absorb more and less heat from the environment than those with a smooth surface (Aluyah & Rusdianto, 2019;Suripto et al, 2021).…”

“…Thus, the existence of city parks, which are part of green open land in the city, should be able to compensate for the reduction in the area of open land in the city, namely parks with existing vegetative structures that are able to prevent or reduce the increase in air temperature and decrease in humidity). Prevention of increasing air temperature and prevention of decreasing air humidity is the basis for preventing an increase in the environmental discomfort index (Suripto et al, 2021) Based on the background of the problem above, it is necessary to conduct research on the analysis of the vegetation structure of the city park and assess the ability of the city park to reduce or prevent an increase in the environmental discomfort index in Mataram City.…”