Spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity: a case study on Brussels, Belgium
Cities often have a substantial green infrastructure, which provides local ecosystem services that improve the quality of life of urban residents. These services should be explicitly addressed in urban development policies, and areas with insufficient vegetation and limited access to public green sp...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2017-08-01
|
| Series: | International Journal of Digital Earth |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2016.1252434 |
| _version_ | 1827811197896884224 |
|---|---|
| author | Tim Van de Voorde |
| author_facet | Tim Van de Voorde |
| author_sort | Tim Van de Voorde |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cities often have a substantial green infrastructure, which provides local ecosystem services that improve the quality of life of urban residents. These services should be explicitly addressed in urban development policies, and areas with insufficient vegetation and limited access to public green spaces should be identified. This paper presents two spatially explicit urban green indicators that are derived using remote sensing imagery, freely available map data and spatial analysis tools from open source geospatial libraries and commercial software. The first indicator represents proportional green cover (public as well as private) in the vicinity of each building within a city. The second indicator quantifies the proximity of public green spaces as walking distances from buildings to actual park entrances. A dasymetric mapping approach was used to take spatial variations in population density into account. This allows representing the indicators from the perspective of citizens instead of buildings, which may be more meaningful for deriving statistics at city level or at the level of neighbourhoods or administrative zones. The potential use of these indicators in a planning context is discussed on a case study carried out for the city of Brussels, Belgium. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:02:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a8e6036e7b0649048a951d8ff8287678 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1753-8947 1753-8955 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:02:51Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Digital Earth |
| spelling | doaj.art-a8e6036e7b0649048a951d8ff82876782023-09-21T14:38:05ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Digital Earth1753-89471753-89552017-08-0110879881310.1080/17538947.2016.12524341252434Spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity: a case study on Brussels, BelgiumTim Van de Voorde0Vrije Universiteit BrusselCities often have a substantial green infrastructure, which provides local ecosystem services that improve the quality of life of urban residents. These services should be explicitly addressed in urban development policies, and areas with insufficient vegetation and limited access to public green spaces should be identified. This paper presents two spatially explicit urban green indicators that are derived using remote sensing imagery, freely available map data and spatial analysis tools from open source geospatial libraries and commercial software. The first indicator represents proportional green cover (public as well as private) in the vicinity of each building within a city. The second indicator quantifies the proximity of public green spaces as walking distances from buildings to actual park entrances. A dasymetric mapping approach was used to take spatial variations in population density into account. This allows representing the indicators from the perspective of citizens instead of buildings, which may be more meaningful for deriving statistics at city level or at the level of neighbourhoods or administrative zones. The potential use of these indicators in a planning context is discussed on a case study carried out for the city of Brussels, Belgium.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2016.1252434urban greenurban ecosystem servicesgeographic information systemsvegetation indicators |
| spellingShingle | Tim Van de Voorde Spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity: a case study on Brussels, Belgium International Journal of Digital Earth urban green urban ecosystem services geographic information systems vegetation indicators |
| title | Spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity: a case study on Brussels, Belgium |
| title_full | Spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity: a case study on Brussels, Belgium |
| title_fullStr | Spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity: a case study on Brussels, Belgium |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity: a case study on Brussels, Belgium |
| title_short | Spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity: a case study on Brussels, Belgium |
| title_sort | spatially explicit urban green indicators for characterizing vegetation cover and public green space proximity a case study on brussels belgium |
| topic | urban green urban ecosystem services geographic information systems vegetation indicators |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2016.1252434 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT timvandevoorde spatiallyexpliciturbangreenindicatorsforcharacterizingvegetationcoverandpublicgreenspaceproximityacasestudyonbrusselsbelgium |