Reading Urban Green Morphology to Enhance Urban Resilience: A Case Study of Six Southern European Cities

Abstract

A loss of natural capital within cities and their surrounding areas has been noticed over the last decades. Increasing development associated with higher sealing rates has caused a general loss of Urban Green Spaces (UGS) within the urban environment, whereas urban sprawl and the improvement of road networks have deeply fragmented the surrounding landscape and jeopardized ecosystems connectivity. UGS are an essential component of the urban system, and their loss has a greater impact on, e.g., ecological and hydrological processes, threatening human well-being. Different types and spatial configurations of UGS may affect their own ability to provide ecosystem services, such as biodiversity support and water regulation. Nevertheless, the study of UGS spatial patterns is a research branch poorly addressed. Moreover, UGS analyses are mainly focused on public and vast green spaces, but seldom on informal, private, and interstitial ones, returning a myopic representation of urban green areas. Therefore, this study investigates the UGS spatial patterns within six Southern European cities, using the urban morphology analysis to assess all urban vegetated lands. Results revealed three main Urban Green Spatial Patterns (UGSPs): Fragmented, Compact, and Linear Distributions. UGSPs taxonomy represents a novelty in the urban morphology field and may have important implications for the ability to provide ecosystem services and, thus, human well-being.

Integrating Resilience in the Urban Planning Process in Mlandizi Town: An Approach Towards Promoting Comprehensive Over Piecemeal Planning

“…Rapid urbanisation, coupled with piecemeal planning and the development of informal settlements, have caused the diminishing of green spaces in Mlandizi town. Urban green spaces are very important for urban landscapes in providing ecosystem services, including biodiversity support, as well as water and temperature regulation (Pezzagno et. al., 2021).…”

Analysis Options for Urban Green Spaces Based on Unified Urban Masks: Selected Results for European Cities

“…For example, a study of six historic city centres in Southern Europe identified three main patterns of urban green, namely, fragmented, compact and linear distribution, with corresponding implications for the potential provision of ecosystem services. As can be seen from the published map sections, all the study sites are essentially located within urban core areas, corresponding to the urban mask [17].…”

Long-Term Urbanization Dynamics and the Evolution of Green/Blue Areas in Eastern Europe: Insights from Romania

“…Urbanization in Europe has been relatively well studied, despite important differences at the regional scale [15][16][17]. It is probable that the less studied urbanization processes came from Socialist countries in Eastern Europe, where urbanization was strictly planned in the aftermath of World War II, under substantially different conditions (e.g., property regimes) compared with Western Europe [18][19][20][21][22]. In this sense, the relationship between urbanization and the environment in Eastern Europe has been poorly investigated.…”

“…Achieving these benefits requires careful consideration of several key aspects covering a wide range of scientific fields, from environmental psychology to ecosystem engineering and ecological education [40]. Despite the increasing acknowledgement of the benefits of and the need for urban green and blue areas by several international organizations, such as the United Nations [41] and the European Commission [42], over the last few years, urbanization has resulted in their fragmentation and decreasing extent [22].…”