scholarly journals ATMOSPHERIC AIR AND GREENNESS AS INDICATORS OF COMFORT OF A COMPACT CITY (BY EXAMPLE OF KYIV)

Author(s):  
Ye. Tsyhanok ◽  

The goal of the article is to study the geographical distribution and provision of urban green spaces to the residents of a large city on the example of Kyiv, assess the real state of green infrastructure, and reveal the relationship between air quality and comfort of living in some districts of the capital. To achieve this goal, we have analysed the compliance of Kyiv with the requirements of the compact sustainable city conception; and proposed an original method of substantiating the level of comfortable living, taking into consideration the air quality. According to the method we have evaluated the drawings of the effective Kyiv development Master plan and the one being elaborated, the regulatory documents of the Kyiv City Council, the registries of public recreation zones, OpenStreetMap and Google Map geospatial data and annual concentrations of main air pollutants of different Kyiv districts. Several thousand contours of all urban green spaces with an area of more than one hectare in Kyiv’s cartographic base has been processed and a number of major indicators of the modern conditions of the green infrastructure of Kyiv in all ten city districts have been calculated. Additionally, the average annual concentrations of main air pollutants and the Air Quality Index in different Kyiv districts have been calculated. We have identified a number of significant shortcomings in the functioning of the state monitoring of atmospheric air pollution in Kyiv, and substantiated the criteria for placing the air quality monitoring stations and sensors for the efficient measuring of the concentration of pollutants. Based on processing all significant indicators, such as the Greenness Index, Green Space Provision Index, Air Quality Index, the administrative districts of Kyiv have been ranked to assess the level of the comfortable and safe urban environment. We have calculated the integrated City comfort living Index that is based on important indicators of urban green spaces and allows to assess the complex state of the green infrastructure in Kyiv. It is also a key criterion of its compliance with modern requirements to the sustainable compact city. The analysis of the condition and distribution of urban green spaces has revealed their irregular distribution in the majority of districts and insufficient provision of green areas in the highest-density neighborhoods, despite their high Given the numerous shortcomings of the green infrastructure development in Kyiv (uneven territorial distribution, insufficient provision for the population), it is necessary to revise the legal framework in terms of geoecological assessment of all urban green spaces and their functions. Among the promising areas of further research, priority is given to determining the quality of green spaces, calculating the uniformity of their spatial distribution, pedestrian and transport accessibility for the city residents to the elements of green infrastructure, including protected areas. The relevance of the research is due to the fruitless search for the compromises between locally based densification, urban development and preservation of urban green structures, which leads to deterioration of air quality and general environmental condition of Kyiv, reducing its socio-economic development, increasing incidences of disease.

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mazlina Mansor ◽  
Ismail Said ◽  
Ismail Mohamad

The study explores the significance of residents’ experience with an array of green infrastructure in Taiping, a small town in central Peninsular Malaysia. It argues that the existence of a composite of greenery and open spaces in a town that has diversity contributes to sense of well-being of residents. Green infrastructure network is a composite of various types of greenery and open spaces linked by streets, waterways and drainages encircling and connecting urban areas, at all spatial scales. In Taiping, the green infrastructure network consists of a town park, street planting, open spaces of public buildings, pocket spaces between shop-houses, school playfields, neighbourhood open space, home gardens, and river corridors. Questionnaires (n=335) and semi-structured interviews (n=33) explored the diversity of the green infrastructure in the town and the causal relationship to well-being—physical, cognitive and social. The data suggested that green infrastructure afford residents diversity of experience. Diverse experiences of green infrastructure network, physically and visually attract residents to participate in active activities, to socialize and to perform other transactional activities outside their homes. Therefore, the effects from the participation trigger many positive moods such as serenity, relaxation, comfort and satisfaction. Moreover, in physical and social terms, experiencing urban green spaces such as parks and gardens afford town residents active living, and community participation and harmony. There were modest relationships between the dimensions of diversity with the well-being dimensions, suggesting that residents felt diversity affect their sense of well-being. Hence, the results implicate that urban green spaces are essential amenity for towns and cities that afford an individual and a community physical, cognitive and social well-being. Keywords:     Green infrastructure, Small town, Diversity, Well-being © 2017 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.


2012 ◽  
Vol 518-523 ◽  
pp. 5972-5979
Author(s):  
Qing Chang ◽  
Yao Qiu ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
Jian Sheng Wu

Urban green spaces are considered as the life support system in a city, if systematically planned, developed, and maintained, they may provide various ecosystem services in a sustainable way. By integrating the morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and the green infrastructure (GI) network based on GIS, this study provided an urban green space planning method to guide urban sustainable spatial development and land use decisions in the Longgang District of Shenzhen in China. The approach has a robust performance in identifying the vital hubs and linkages in the urban green space system. It is hoped that this plan model based on MSPA, the function connectivity of urban green spaces could be farther strengthened so that some key zones in landscape pattern could be protected in the future development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 101186
Author(s):  
Licheng Zhang ◽  
Xue Tian ◽  
Yuhan Zhao ◽  
Lulu Liu ◽  
Zhiwei Li ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Joshua Anish S. Selwyn ◽  
Monali B. Kadam ◽  
Snigdha Thakur

Background: There is limited information describing the change on quality of air and solid waste generation if there is limited and efficient use of vehicles and the shutdown of industries producing hazardous air pollutants that have been achieved by the lockdown. Study assessed changes in the quality of air and solid waste generation due to Lockdown.Methods: It was an analytical study where the data is received from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board data for Mumbai during the period from December 2019 to July 2020. Analysis of Air pollutants like PM10, SO2, NO2, Air quality index, and solid waste generated are taken into consideration.Results: Findings of air quality data has been analysed from December to July. Where the mean air quality index before the lockdown was 251 which is very unhealthy and during lockdown was 62 which is moderate which is a 75% reduction in the pollutants and the solid waste generation before the lockdown was 6338.63 Metric tons per day which have been reduced to 4121.23 Metric tons per day which is a reduction of 34.98 %.Conclusions: This study provides information about how the environment would heal itself if there is a restriction on the use of vehicles and shutting down factories producing hazardous pollutants. This would provide the evidence for the Pollution Control Board to implement policy to improve air quality and solid waste generation, which would have a positive impact on human health and ecosystem.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shruti Lahoti ◽  
Mohamed Kefi ◽  
Ashish Lahoti ◽  
Osamu Saito

Faced with a lack of fine grain data availability, in rapidly emerging urban centers of developing nations, the study explored a mapping methodology to create thematic map of public urban green space (UGS). Using GIS, a thematic map of Nagpur city, India was prepared. The objective was to prepare spatial data that are relevant for planners and policy makers, with detailed UGS typologies and to update the status of overall availability and distribution of hierarchical recreational green spaces in the city. The spatial and non-spatial data with added attributes gathered through fieldwork resulted in a holistic dataset, with high accuracy of thematic map (0.93 kappa coefficient). The recorded status of different typologies as well as the distribution of recreational UGS shows disparity in the distribution of UGS. The eastern part of the city grossly lacks UGS provisions, which is compensated by the western part with larger availability of natural green spaces. The mapping methodology is novel and effective for recording qualitative status, analyzing their spatial distribution and prioritizing the provisions of UGS. Future research integrating these spatial data with more qualitative research can provide a holistic view on benefits of UGS provisions and thus facilitate effective UGS governance aiming towards better green infrastructure and hence broader urban sustainability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4571
Author(s):  
Outi Tahvonen

The planning, implementation, and everyday use of the built environment interweave the green and grey components of urban fabric tightly together. Runoff from grey and impermeable surfaces causes stormwater that is managed in permeable surfaces that simultaneously act as habitats for vegetation. Green infrastructure (GI) is one of the concepts that is used to perceive, manage, and guide the components of urban green spaces. Furthermore, GI pays special attention to stormwater management and urban vegetation at several scales at the same time. This study concentrated on scalable GI in domestic private gardens. A set of garden designs in Vuores, Finland were analyzed and developed by Research by Design. The aim was to study how garden scale choices and designs can enhance GI at the block and neighbourhood scales to rethink design practices to better integrate water and vegetation throughout the scales. As a result, we propose a checklist for designers and urban planners that ensures vegetation-integrated stormwater management to enhance habitat diversity in block scale and possibility to use blocks of private plots for ecological networks. The prerequisite for garden designers is to be capable to balance between water, vegetation, and soil, and their processes and flows in detail the scale.


Author(s):  
Sara Barron ◽  
Sophie Nitoslawski ◽  
Kathleen L. Wolf ◽  
Angie Woo ◽  
Erin Desautels ◽  
...  

It is increasingly evident that exposure to green landscape elements benefits human health. Urban green space in cities is also recognized as a crucial adaptation response to changes in climate and its subsequent effects. The exploration of conceptual and practical intersections between human health, green spaces, and climate action is needed. Evidence-based guidance is needed for stakeholders, practitioners, designers, and citizens in order to assess and manage urban green spaces that maximize co-benefits for both human health and climate resilience. This paper proposes interventions that provide strategic green space enhancement at the neighborhood and block scale. We propose eight tangible green space interventions and associated metrics to integrate climate resilience and population health co-benefits into urban green space design and planning: View from within, Plant entrances, Bring nature nearby, Retain the mature, Generate diversity, Create refuge, Connect experiences, and Optimize green infrastructure. These interventions represent a hierarchy of functional design concepts that respond to experiential qualities and physical/psychological dimensions of health, and which enhance resilience at a range of social scales from the individual to the neighborhood. The interventions also reveal additional research needs in green space design, particularly in neighborhood-level contexts.


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