Going Green and Going Dense: A Systematic Review of Compatibilities and Conflicts in Urban Research

Abstract

The dilemma of simultaneously promoting the advantages of urban densification and urban liveability, namely the environmental and social benefits of urban green spaces, has been widely acknowledged in the research literature. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of evidence on benefits, conflicts and challenges emerging from fostering both urban densification and urban greening aims. A systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Searches for peer-reviewed papers were conducted in Scopus and Web of Science. Our search yielded an initial 357 papers, which were then further sorted and screened to the 117 manuscripts retained and included in this review. The authors systematized the multiple perspectives in which the interactions between urban densification and urban greening have been explored. Moreover, the results revealed a lack of clear agreement about the existence or not of conflicts emerging from fostering both urban densification and urban greening aims, suggesting that the positive or negative interactions are not absolute but depend on the scale or the context on which the studies are conducted. Further research should explore multiple potential mediating variables (e.g., the mediator effect of scale and context) to deepen our understanding of interactions between density and greening.

Business Organizations on Some Issues of Transition to "Green" Model

“…Published by Francis Academic Press, UK -23-climate changes, and this also requires to change a huge practice to maintain consequences (Madureira, Monteiro, 2021). For example, the energy efficiency that sea also attained by keeping the cities as smart cities and everything is collected in such smart cities.…”

Addressing the sustainable urbanism paradox: tipping points for the operational reconciliation of dense and green morphologies.

“…high supply of green space). For urban planners, balancing these two injunctions is difficult and often depicted as a true dilemma 39 . Consequently, greening is regularly relegated to the background in favour of housing production leading to "grey" densification 40 .…”

Community gardens as a response to the contradictions of sustainable urban policy: Insights from the Swiss cities of Zurich and Lausanne

“…In some cases, it can jeopardize the realization of sustainability goals. The "compact city" and the "green city" are two such concepts, repeatedly mentioned in discourses on sustainable urban development that carry potential conflicting visions of sustainability (Madureira and Monteiro, 2021). Both concepts inform contemporary urban governance frameworks and as such have consequences on the way urban food production spaces are framed, planned, and managed (Hautamäki, 2019).…”

“…Yet, scholars have identified trade-offs in the striving for compactness, especially in social and environmental aspects of sustainability Westerink et al, 2013), including a potentially low proportion of urban green space (Haaland and van den Bosch, 2015). At the same time urban green is continually used by urban planners as a tool for urban sustainability planning, e.g., as an adaptation strategy to climate change in the city (Madureira and Monteiro, 2021). It is furthermore considered to notably contribute to the quality of life and ecosystem services in cities (Jim, 2013), while resulting in more sustainable, more liveable, and more equitable cities (Jim, 2004(Jim, , 2013Pincetl and Gearin, 2005).…”