Perspectives on Urban Greenspace in Europe

摘要

Greenspaces can improve the urban environment in a multitude of ways. They shape the character of the city and its neighbourhoods, provide places for outdoor recreation, and have important environmental functions such as mitigating the heat island effect, reducing surface water runoff, and creating habitats for wildlife. And, recently, increasing attention has been paid to the role greenspaces play in improving human health (NUFU, 2002). Yet, whilst there is broad evidence of the multiple benefits of urban greenspace, these are very much undervalued in urban planning and management. Even information on the provision and quality of greenspace is very limited, and this indicates the little attention they receive. Interviewing thirty local authorities across England in a study for English Nature, the nature conservation agency for England, (Pauleit et al., this issue) revealed that none of them had a complete information base on urban greenspace and few knew the extent of public greenspace. Regular monitoring of greenspace provision, condition, and use was nowhere in place.