查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 The AuthorsIt is widely accepted that transport infrastructure policies have significant consequences on the environment, housing, business, and people's everyday movement. With the use of space syntax geometric (sum of angular deviations) and topological (number of directional changes) measures and conventional network metric distance, this article analyses the change in transport infrastructure in Greater Cairo between 2011 and 2021 and quantifies its likely impact on access to 57 public parks. The study advocates for a better understanding of the streetscape changes produced by transport infrastructure policies and how they may impact access to urban green spaces (UGS), particularly parks. The results suggest that the accessibility of 40 parks was reduced at both neighborhood and city-wide scales. Moreover, more than one-quarter of the total study area, including both densely populated marginalized areas and upscale neighborhoods, was significantly negatively affected by streetscape changes. Furthermore, the average distance traveled to parks increased from 3566 (m) in 2011–3612 (m) in 2021. These distances are high compared to the few hundred meters recommended in pedestrian accessibility strategies. These findings are not only important for policy makers in Egypt but will also be helpful to other similar contexts around the world by understanding and forecasting the likely implications of design changes and suggesting targeted strategies for improving access to UGS and, in turn, maximizing UGS use rates. In particular, our findings contribute to the debate on the problems caused by inner-city elevated highways. Lastly, this study provides a general analytical framework that can be applied to other cities across the globe to assess the effects of transport infrastructure changes on access to UGS.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier GmbHWith increased demand for outdoor recreational spaces, it is imperative to understand the experience of recreational hikers. This study explored users’ recreation choices and behavior-based setting preferences for certain trails in one forest park. Using on-site intercept surveys, a total of 1019 samples were collected from users of hiking trails and greenways in Purple Mountain Forest Park, Nanjing, China. The results from multiple regressions revealed that visitors’ recreation choices for trail settings, companions, and activities were associated with personal attributes, usage patterns, visitor motivations, and their preferences for the trail's landscape attributes. The findings provide insights for the design and maintenance of trail settings in forest parks to satisfy the needs of various recreational hikers.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier GmbHWith this paper, we enrich the environmental justice debate by investigating differences in the provision of parks in Lodz, Poland, at three levels: availability, accessibility, and attractiveness. A park is ‘available’ when it exists within a suitable distance from where we live; it is ‘accessible’ when we feel that we are welcome there, and we can freely reach and safely use this park; it is ‘attractive’ when we willingly want to use it and spend time there. Our research hypothesis is that the most vulnerable groups of inhabitants concentrate around parks whose provision is affected by the largest number of barriers at each of the three levels, while the least vulnerable benefit from the vicinity of parks that are the least affected. Apart from the statistical analysis – the correlation between the indicators that represent the three levels of park provision and those that represent the most and least economically vulnerable using Pearson's coefficient – we scrutinize three case study parks. The results confirm that there are inequalities at the level of attractiveness for the most vulnerable groups; meanwhile, no statistically significant results were recorded for the least vulnerable groups. The differences would probably be more explicit had socioeconomic segregation been higher in Lodz. The results may also be influenced by the unique postsocialist and postindustrial legacy of our city. The ongoing revitalization of the city center and the increased activity of developers may exclude the most vulnerable inhabitants and deepen segregation.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022Long-term, multi-decade research on planted tree survival in urban settings is sparse. One understudied urban environment is highway rights-of-way (ROW), lands adjacent to high-speed, unsignalized roadways. We conducted a re-inventory of tree planting cohorts in northern Illinois, U.S. on a 48 km-long highway near Chicago which were 10-, 21-, and 30-years old to evaluate long-term patterns of survival and diversity. Using each randomly selected planting site along the highway as a unit of observation and analysis, we compared the number of trees documented in record drawing to the number of trees currently alive to determine percent survival. We evaluated 224 planting sites which originally contained 2944 trees and collected data about the planting site location. For the oldest cohort, 26% of trees were still alive in 2018 (median survival by species = 16%, Q1 = 0%, Q3 = 48%), while 31% of the 21-year-old cohort (med. = 6%, Q1 = 0%, Q3 = 47%) and 86% of the 10-year-old cohort were still alive (med. = 85%, Q1 = 74%, Q3 = 96%). The survival of the 21- and 30-year-old cohort matches urban tree survival estimates by other researchers, while the 10-year-old survival is higher than expected. The only planting location characteristic that significantly affected survival was traffic islands (areas between the highway and entrance/exit ramps). Species with low drought tolerance were less likely to be alive for the 30-year-old cohort. Waterlogging tolerant species were more likely to be alive in the 10-year-old cohort. Since some species in the 21- and 30-year-old cohorts had very low survival, the tree species richness and diversity s in study areas declined between the initial record drawings and reinventory. This study demonstrates the challenges of maintaining long-term survival and diversity in the highway ROW and emphasizes the importance of species selection.
Mohd Yusof M.J.Maruthaveeran S.Mohd Shafri H.Z.Saito K....
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查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier GmbHGreen infrastructure (GI) is a pivotal multifunctional approach for urban green spaces fragmentation problem. The green space fragmentation issue has increasingly caught worldwide researchers’ critical attention. However, researchers face challenges in understanding GI analysis and planning. Only limited research exists on GI analysis and planning case studies. Therefore, this study reviewed case studies on GI analysis and planning. The finding simplifies GI analysis and planning case studies methodology and critical points to get more worldwide researchers’ attention. The study applied a systematic literature review (SLR) on 34 qualified studies to determine the trends and similarities of GI case studies. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2009) was adopted for the study. The review found a sequential methodological pattern in GI analysis and planning study. The review themes were trend analysis, basic study information, study nature, geographic information system (GIS) software and plugin, remote sensing processing and data needed, and analysis and output. Thus, the study provides a basic methodology and framework for developing GI analysis and planning based on the landscape ecology principle.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier GmbHNearctic-Neotropical migratory birds are threatened by land-use change throughout their complex annual cycles. While urbanization is an essential driver of land-use change, it is unclear how it affects migrant birds. Although migratory birds are more diverse in non-urban patches of native vegetation than in urban areas, neotropical cities can host diverse assemblages of overwintering migrant birds. Migratory birds in neotropical cities tend to be closely associated with urban green areas (UGAs). However, how their presence and abundance are affected by the habitat elements of UGAs and the urban matrix of neotropical cities is poorly understood. In this study, we compared the migratory bird species richness and abundances among UGAs and the urban matrix of the southern section of the megacity of Mexico City and native vegetation sites outside the city. Our results show that UGAs in neotropical cities provide habitats capable of maintaining complex overwintering migratory bird assemblages with local trees as critical features. We also assess the role that UGAs' characteristics play in determining migrant bird assemblages. We conducted bird censuses and measured habitat traits to determine how migrant bird assemblages are related to the habitat features of our study sites. We measured local, buffer, and spatial habitat features of each UGA. We found 23 overwintering migrant species in the three habitats, with 22 present within UGAs. Both UGAs and urban matrix sites had higher estimated species richness of migrant birds than non-urban native vegetation sites located outside the city. Only local features of UGAs affected migrant birds. While tree abundance in UGAs was positively associated with migratory bird species richness, the proportion of tree coverage was positively related to bird abundance. Our results show that UGAs in neotropical cities can maintain complex overwintering migratory bird assemblages, with trees being the most critical habitat feature. As a result, UGA management focused on maintaining trees and increasing their numbers can improve habitat conditions for migratory birds overwintering in neotropical cities.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 Elsevier GmbHUrban forest professionals struggle with public recognition and a clear identity in spite of growing demand for their expertise. No single credential or professional support system defines or unites urban forest professionals, who instead rely on several closely allied professions for professional support. This reliance is thought to contribute to this lack of recognition and indistinct professional identity. Thus we asked urban forest professionals if they believed the urban forestry profession needs its own credential and, if such a credential were available, would they obtain it. An international survey resulted in 749 respondents from 13 countries, with the vast majority from the United States and Canada. On average, respondents believed a credential was needed and would obtain it if offered. Late-career professionals were less likely to say they would obtain such a credential, while there was some evidence that women and early-career respondents are more likely. Some groups, most notably the self-employed, were much less likely to think a credential was needed and even less likely to obtain it were it to be offered. Respondents already hold 2.38 credentials on average, the most commonly held credentials being from the closely allied professions of arboriculture and forestry. Without specifying the format or scope, the survey asked respondents for opinions about a hypothetical urban forestry credential. Respondents raised concerns related to whether a credential could embrace the full scope of urban forestry, whether there was overlap or redundancy among existing credentials, and the cost of obtaining additional credentials. In addition, respondents noted credentials may need to align with diverse regulatory and employment environments. Nonetheless, open-ended responses overwhelmingly noted that urban forestry has emerged as a distinct profession that merits a credential to support a unifying identity and recognize the specialized training required.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022Branch failure resulting from static loading events can be caused by ice, snow, or a climbing arborist aloft in a tree and can cause power outages, road blockages, costly property damage, or personal injury. In previous studies, researchers calculated bending stress to investigate the load-bearing capacity of branches. Yet, these calculations require geometric measurement of the wood that may not always be readily measure post failure. As stress and strain are linearly related, this study used static loading trials and digital image correlation to measure strain, tissue displacement, to gain insight on how loads move through the branch union zone. The results indicate that strain is located distally in the branches and diminishes through the branch union zone, suggesting that branch unions may serve a role in the damping of loads in trees.
查看更多>>摘要：? 2022 The AuthorsUrban wild food foraging is increasingly attracting attention as an activity in urban green spaces that encourages urban residents’ interaction with their natural environment. However, little is known about the criteria influencing urban foragers’ selection of foraging locations that could inform urban green space management and planning to encourage urban foraging. To elicit these criteria, we conducted 21 semi-structured expert interviews with urban foraging stakeholders in Vienna, Austria, and analysed the data using qualitative content analysis. The respondents suggested 11 criteria that influence the selection of foraging locations. These are related to spatial factors, management of public urban green spaces and the green space activities of other visitors. However, the respondents reported that urban foragers do not uniformly follow these different criteria, but subjectively assess and apply them depending on the specific locations and the plant materials and mushroom species being targeted. For some foragers, even intensively managed public urban green spaces can offer certain advantages. Thus, urban residents forage in public urban green spaces that have diverse properties and management strategies. We suggest that urban foraging is best supported by biodiversity- and wilderness-friendly green space management that supports access to foraging locations, clear foraging regulations and codes of conduct, and comprehensive information about contamination for urban residents. Implementation of these suggestions would not only benefit urban foraging, but also enhance urban biodiversity and guarantee the multifunctional benefits of public urban green spaces for urban residents and urban nature.
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