Green space: A Luxury or a Necessity? Green Spaces in Condominium Sites in Sri Lanka

Green spaces take part a vital role in reducing the harmful effects occurred through the process of rapid urbanization. This study focuses on evaluating the change of green space and per capita green space in Colombo District, Sri Lanka in between 2008 and 2015 using Landsat images. The NDVI differencing method and classification method were used to detect the change of land cover. According to the results, a gradual decline of green space from 629.1km2 to 591.16km2 with a rate of 6.03% can be depicted. The change is considerable in Kaduwela, Moratuwa and Maharagama DSDs and quite better in the areas such as Avissawella, Homagama and Padukka. The per capita green space has been decreased from 272.361 m2 to 248.811 m2. Though these rates are very well higher than the UN, EU and WHO standards for the district, Colombo DSD do not comply with UN and EU standards. The case would turn into worst in 2025, as the predictions with current rates. Therefore, the study recommends taking immediate actions to make a greener city. Further, a tax system is proposed to get the attraction of the general public.

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Socio-Demographic Factors Influencing the Extent of Residential Green Spaces in Galle City, Sri Lanka

International Journal of E-Planning Research ◽

10.4018/ijepr.2021010104 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 58-83

Author(s):

Buddhini Chathurika Jayasinghe ◽

G. P. T. S. Hemakumara ◽

Piyadasa Hewage

Keyword(s):

Sri Lanka ◽

Green Space ◽

Occupational Status ◽

Demographic Factors ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Rapid Decline ◽

Relative Value ◽

Socio Demographic Factors ◽

Residential Garden

Due to increasing urbanization, the distribution of human settlements is changing and this has led to the rapid decline of vegetation cover in cities and townships. Urbanization tends to decrease the proportion of land that is dedicated to public green spaces. Therefore, residential gardens (private gardens) will need to play a major role in contributing to urban green space in future though presently little attention is given to their relative value and importance. Several factors influence the function of residential gardens in an urban area. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the socio demographic factors that influence the size and presence of residential green spaces in an urban residential zone. As a case study, this research selected a primary residential zone in Galle City, Sri Lanka. Every housing unit (n=280) in a residential zone was surveyed to collect the data for multiple regression analysis. The analysis showed that factors such as land extent (LE), nature orientation (NO), perceptions about advantages of growing residential greenery (PA), perception about disadvantages resulting from residential garden (PDA), occupational status (husband and wife are not occupied) (D1), and their educational level (higher than degree) (D2) significantly affect to the extent of green area maintained by an urban residence. The relationship between extent of residential green space (EGA) and socio demographic factors can be explained by this model: EGA = 0.091 + 0.003LE + 0.060NO + 0.030PA – 0.040PDA + 0.198D1 + 0.240D2.

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Evaluation of the Equity and Regional Management of Some Urban Green Space Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of Main Urban Area of Xi’an City

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12070813 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. 813

Author(s):

Hui Dang ◽

Jing Li ◽

Yumeng Zhang ◽

Zixiang Zhou

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Carbon Sequestration ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Green Space ◽

Well Being ◽

Urban Green Space ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Deposition Flux ◽

Urban Green ◽

Xi’An City

Urban green spaces can provide many types of ecosystem services for residents. An imbalance in the pattern of green spaces leads to an inequality of the benefits of such spaces. Given the current situation of environmental problems and the basic geographical conditions of Xi’an City, this study evaluated and mapped four kinds of ecosystem services from the perspective of equity: biodiversity, carbon sequestration, air purification, and climate regulation. Regionalization with dynamically constrained agglomerative clustering and partitioning (REDCAP) was used to obtain the partition groups of ecosystem services. The results indicate that first, the complexity of the urban green space community is low, and the level of biodiversity needs to be improved. The dry deposition flux of particulate matter (PM2.5) decreases from north to south, and green spaces enhance the adsorption of PM2.5. Carbon sequestration in the south and east is higher than that in the north and west, respectively. The average surface temperature in green spaces is lower than that in other urban areas. Second, urban green space resources in the study area are unevenly distributed. Therefore, ecosystem services in different areas are inequitable. Finally, based on the regionalization of integrated ecosystem services, an ecosystem services cluster was developed. This included 913 grid spaces, 12 partitions, and 5 clusters, which can provide a reference for distinct levels of ecosystem services management. This can assist urban managers who can use these indicators of ecosystem service levels for planning and guiding the overall development pattern of green spaces. The benefits would be a maximization of the ecological functions of green spaces, an improvement of the sustainable development of the city, and an improvement of people’s well-being.

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Is Brief Exposure to Green Space in School the Best Option to Improve Attention in Children?

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18147484 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (14) ◽

pp. 7484

Author(s):

Asier Anabitarte ◽

Gonzalo García-Baquero ◽

Ainara Andiarena ◽

Nerea Lertxundi ◽

Nerea Urbieta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

School Children ◽

Green Space ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Statistical Design ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Attention Network Test ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Gender Biases ◽

Before And After

The positive effects of Green Spaces on health are thought to be achieved through the mechanisms of mitigation, instoration and restoration. One of the benefits of Green Spaces may be the restoration of attention and so the objective of this research is testing empirically whether exposure to a green environment improves attention in school children. For so doing, we first used a split-unit statistical design in each of four schools, then combined the primary results via meta-analysis. The Attention Network Test (ANT) was used to measure attention before and after exposure and a total of 167 seven-year-old students participated in the experiments. Overall, our experimental results do not support the hypothesis that students’ exposure to activities in green vs. grey spaces affected their performance in ANT. This was so despite the fact that neither age nor gender biases have been detected and despite that our experiments have been proved to be sufficiently statistically powerful. It would be advisable to consider air pollution and noise. We also recommend that participants attend the experiment with mental exhaustion to maximize the ability to detect significant changes.

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Greenness and the Potential Resilience to Sexual Violence: “Your Neighborhood Is Being Neglected Because People Don’t Care. People With Power Don’t Care”

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/08862605211028009 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 088626052110280

Author(s):

Gibran C. Mancus ◽

Andrea N. Cimino ◽

Md Zabir Hasan ◽

Jacquelyn C. Campbell ◽

Phyllis Sharps ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Analysis ◽

Violent Crime ◽

Green Space ◽

A Priori ◽

Community Resilience ◽

The United States ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Traffic Density ◽

Black Communities ◽

Black Neighborhoods

There is increasing evidence that green space in communities reduces the risk of aggression and violence, and increases wellbeing. Positive associations between green space and resilience have been found among children, older adults and university students in the United States, China and Bulgaria. Little is known about these associations among predominately Black communities with structural disadvantage. This study explored the potential community resilience in predominately Black neighborhoods with elevated violent crime and different amounts of green space. This embedded mixed-methods study started with quantitative analysis of women who self-identified as “Black and/or African American.” We found inequality in environments, including the amount of green space, traffic density, vacant property, and violent crime. This led to 10 indepth interviews representing communities with elevated crime and different amounts of green space. Emergent coding of the first 3 interviews, a subset of the 98 in the quantitative analysis, led to a priori coding of barriers and facilitators to potential green space supported community resilience applied to the final 7 interview data. Barriers were a combination of the physical and social environment, including traffic patterns, vacant property, and crime. Facilitators included subjective qualities of green space. Green spaces drew people in through community building and promoting feelings of calmness. The transformation of vacant lots into green spaces by community members affords space for people to come together and build community. Green spaces, a modifiable factor, may serve to increase community resilience and decrease the risk of violence.

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Socioeconomic Differences in Walking Time of Children and Adolescents to Public Green Spaces in Urban Areas—Results of the German Environmental Survey (2014–2017)

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18052326 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 2326

Author(s):

Julia Rehling ◽

Christiane Bunge ◽

Julia Waldhauer ◽

André Conrad

Keyword(s):

Young People ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Green Space ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Environmental Survey ◽

Urban Green Spaces ◽

Public Green Space ◽

Walking Time

Public green spaces have a high potential for a positive impact on people’s health and wellbeing, especially in urban areas. Studies on environmental justice indicate socially unequal access possibilities to urban green spaces. This article presents results on associations between individual socioeconomic position (SEP) and walking time from home to public green spaces in young people living in urban areas with more than 20,000 inhabitants in Germany. Data were derived from the German Environmental Survey for Children and Adolescents 2014–2017 (GerES V), the environmental module of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS Wave 2). The sample comprises 1149 participants aged 3 to 17 years. A total of 51.5% of the participants reach a public green space on foot within five and 72.8% within ten minutes from home. The lower the participant’s SEP, the longer the walking time. Logistic regression models controlling for age group, sex, migration background, and region of residence show that participants with a low SEP have a significantly higher risk (odds ratio = 1.98; 95% confidence interval: 1.31–2.99) of needing more than ten minutes to walk from home to a public green space than participants with a high SEP. GerES V data indicate that young people living in urban areas in Germany do not equally benefit from the health-promoting potential of green spaces, which is an important aspect of environmental health inequalities.

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The Effects of Urban Natural Environments on Preference and Self-Reported Psychological Restoration of the Elderly

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18020509 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 509

Author(s):

Ling Qiu ◽

Qujing Chen ◽

Tian Gao

Keyword(s):

Green Space ◽

Environmental Design ◽

The Elderly ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Photo Elicitation ◽

Natural Environments ◽

The World ◽

Different Types ◽

Aging Populations

The world is facing the challenge of aging populations. Urban natural environments, including green spaces and blue spaces, have been demonstrated to have great benefits to the mental restoration of the elderly. However, the study of the specific characteristics of urban environments that are popular and the most restorative for the elderly is still lacking. Photo elicitation as visual stimuli was utilized to explore the differences in preference and psychological restoration of the elderly through the perception of the eight perceived sensory dimensions (PSDs) in different types of urban environments. The results showed that: (1) The respondents had different perceptions of the eight PSDs in the different urban natural environments. Blue space and partly-closed green space were more preferred by the elderly, and also had more psychological restorative effects on the elderly. (2) There was no significant correlation between the number of highly perceived PSDs and preference, as well as between the number of highly perceived PSDs and psychological restoration. However, there was a significant correlation between preference and psychological restoration. (3) Partly-closed green space with more Serene and Refuge qualities, and blue space with more Serene, Refuge and Prospect properties were optimal characteristics for psychological restoration of the elderly. In addition, open green space with more Prospect, Serene and Social qualities, and closed green space with more Space, Refuge and less Nature properties could also increase psychological restoration of older adults. These findings can provide useful guidelines for restorative environmental design for the elderly in the future.

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Green spaces and cognitive development in primary schoolchildren

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1503402112 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 112 (26) ◽

pp. 7937-7942 ◽

Cited By ~ 258

Author(s):

Payam Dadvand ◽

Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen ◽

Mikel Esnaola ◽

Joan Forns ◽

Xavier Basagaña ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Development ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Green Space ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Developmental Trajectory ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Primary Schoolchildren

Exposure to green space has been associated with better physical and mental health. Although this exposure could also influence cognitive development in children, available epidemiological evidence on such an impact is scarce. This study aimed to assess the association between exposure to green space and measures of cognitive development in primary schoolchildren. This study was based on 2,593 schoolchildren in the second to fourth grades (7–10 y) of 36 primary schools in Barcelona, Spain (2012–2013). Cognitive development was assessed as 12-mo change in developmental trajectory of working memory, superior working memory, and inattentiveness by using four repeated (every 3 mo) computerized cognitive tests for each outcome. We assessed exposure to green space by characterizing outdoor surrounding greenness at home and school and during commuting by using high-resolution (5 m × 5 m) satellite data on greenness (normalized difference vegetation index). Multilevel modeling was used to estimate the associations between green spaces and cognitive development. We observed an enhanced 12-mo progress in working memory and superior working memory and a greater 12-mo reduction in inattentiveness associated with greenness within and surrounding school boundaries and with total surrounding greenness index (including greenness surrounding home, commuting route, and school). Adding a traffic-related air pollutant (elemental carbon) to models explained 20–65% of our estimated associations between school greenness and 12-mo cognitive development. Our study showed a beneficial association between exposure to green space and cognitive development among schoolchildren that was partly mediated by reduction in exposure to air pollution.

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Analyzing the Level of Accessibility of Public Urban Green Spaces to Different Socially Vulnerable Groups of People

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10113917 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 3917 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

K Rahman ◽

Dunfu Zhang

Keyword(s):

Green Space ◽

Public Spaces ◽

Google Earth ◽

High Density ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Vulnerable Groups ◽

Geographical Data ◽

Urban Green ◽

Urban Green Spaces ◽

Socially Vulnerable Groups

This study estimates the factors affecting socially vulnerable groups’ demand for and accessibility levels to green public spaces in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Dhaka is a high-density city with one of the lowest levels of green space per capita in the world. Dhaka has just 8.5% of tree-covered lands, while an ideal city requires at least 20% of green space. Urban public green space provides a healthy environment to city dwellers as well as ecological soundness. This study aims to examine the effects of population density and size of a community area (Thana) on the social demand for and accessibility to green parks. To determine the socially vulnerable group demand index, this study used demographic data from the National Population and Housing Census 2011 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. This study used geographical data extracted from Google Earth Pro to measure accessibility levels, and additionally analyzed geographical data with ArcGIS 10.0 and Google Earth Pro. We drew radius circles using Free Map Tools to measure time-distance weighted scores from community areas to urban green spaces. The results show that the large population size of socially vulnerable groups creates very high demand at the score of 0.61 for urban green public parks and small-sized, high-density community areas generate very good accessibility at 2.01% to green public spaces. These findings are highly useful to policymakers, urban planners, landscape engineers, and city governments to make a compact city sustainable, inclusive, and resilient. Moreover, the notion of a “smart city” might be a smart solution in order to manage Dhaka Megacity sustainably in this modern technological age.

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Measuring Community Green Inequity: A Fine-Scale Assessment of Beijing Urban Area

Land ◽

10.3390/land10111197 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1197

Author(s):

Yuyang Zhang ◽

Qilin Wu ◽

Lei Wu ◽

Yan Li

Keyword(s):

Urban Area ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Large Scale ◽

Green Space ◽

Community Gardens ◽

Data Availability ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Fine Scale ◽

Macro Scale ◽

Community Residents

Green space exposure is beneficial to the physical and mental health of community residents, but the spatial distribution of green space is inequitable. Due to data availability, green equality or justice studies typically use administrative units as contextual areas to evaluate green spaces exposure, which is macro-scale and may lead to biased estimates as it ignores fine-scale green spaces (e.g. community gardens, lawns), that community residents are more frequently exposed to. In this study, we used the community as the unit of analysis, considered the green exposure of community residents in their daily social and physical activities, obtained data on three types of green spaces including fine-scale green spaces in the communities, surrounding large-scale parks and streetscape images. We propose a series of metrics for assessing community green equity, including a total of 11 metrics in three major categories of morphology, visibility and accessibility and applied them to 4,544 communities in Beijing urban area. Through spatial visualization, spatial clustering, radar plots, and correlation analysis, we comprehensively analyzed the equity of green space at the community scale, identified the cold and hot spots of homogeneity, and then analyzed the equity of green space among regions under the urbanization process. The measurement results of these metrics showed that there are large differences and complementarities between different categories of metrics, but similarities exist between metrics of the same category. The proposed methodology represents the development of a green space evaluation system that can be used by decision makers and urban green designers to create and maintain more equitable community green spaces. In addition, the large-scale, comprehensive and fine-scale green space measurement of this study can be combined with other studies such as public health and environmental pollution in the future to obtain more comprehensive conclusions and better guide the construction and regeneration of green spaces.

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