Quantifying spatial pattern of urban greenspace from a gradient perspective of built-up age

Publication date: Available online 9 May 2019Source: Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/CAuthor(s): Yuguo Qian, Zhiqiang Li, Weiqi Zhou, Yingyun ChenAbstractUrban greenspace provides myriad ecosystem services to urban dwellers. Accurately quantifying the spatiotemporal pattern of urban greenspace is important to fully understand its ecosystem services provision. While numerous studies have investigated the spatial pattern of urban greenspace and its change, few studies have explored how the spatial pattern of urban greenspace differ in urban areas developed in different years. Here, we chose Shenzhen as the study area, compared the spatial pattern of urban greenspace in urban areas developed in different years. We found urban areas developed in more recent years tend to have higher percent cover of greenspace than older ones. The proportion of greenspace (55.62%) in the most recently developed urban areas (2015-2017) was more than three times greater than that (17.24%) developed in and before 1979. We also found significant variation in spatial configuration of greenspace. The size of the largest patch in more recently developed urban areas tend to increase. Additionally, more recently developed urban areas tend to have larger variations in patch size and more edges of greenspace. In addition to the general trend, we also found clear patterns of changes in certain time periods, which are likely results of the implementation of urban management and planning policies...

Source: Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts ABC - May 10, 2019 Category: Science Source Type: research