Abstract
In the face of accelerating urbanization, Urban Green Spaces (UGS) have become vital for sustaining urban ecosystems and the health and well-being of urban residents. This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the growth rate of urban green space (GRUGS) across various regions in China over a two-decade period, highlighting the interplay between urban development, population dynamics, and ecological sustainability. The research meticulously examines the impacts of urban built-up area expansion, population growth, and air pollution on GRUGS. It categorizes 291 Chinese cities into 15 urban agglomerations and utilizes data on urban built-up areas, population, and PM2.5 levels from 2000 to 2020. The findings reveal a mixed picture: while some regions demonstrate a robust commitment to integrating green spaces within urban growth, evident in high GRUGS values, others struggle to preserve green spaces amidst rapid urban expansion and population surges. This study underscores the necessity of tailored urban planning strategies that are region-specific and the ongoing need for innovation in urban development to achieve ecological sustainability. The insights garnered are invaluable for policymakers and urban planners, stressing the indispensable role of green spaces in enhancing urban life quality and securing sustainable urban environments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data usage can be obtained by asking the author.
References
Benton-Short L, Keeley M, Rowland J (2021) Green infrastructure, green space, and sustainable urbanism: geography’s important role. Geogr Perspect Urban Sustain 64–85. Routledge
Chen H, Dong N, Liang X, Huang H (2023) Spatiotemporal evaluation of regional land use dynamics and its potential ecosystem impact under carbon neutral pathways in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. Remote Sens 15(24):5749
Claassens J, Koomen E, Rouwendal J (2020) Urban density and spatial planning: the unforeseen impacts of Dutch devolution. PLoS One 15(10):e0240738. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240738
Clarke LW, Jenerette GD, Davila A (2013) The luxury of vegetation and the legacy of tree biodiversity in Los Angeles, CA. Landsc Urban Plann 116:48–59
Cobbinah PB, Nyame V (2021) A city on the edge: the political ecology of urban green space. Environ Urbanization 33(2):413–435. https://doi.org/10.1177/095624782110198
Girma Y, Terefe H, Pauleit S, Kindu M (2019) Urban green spaces supply in rapidly urbanizing countries: the case of Sebeta Town, Ethiopia. Remote Sens Appl Soc Environ 13:138–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2018.10.019
He B, Huang D, Kong B, Liu K, Zhou C, Sun L, Ning L (2022) Spatial variations in vegetation greening in 439 Chinese Cities from 2001 to 2020 based on moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer enhanced vegetation index data. Front Ecol Evol 10:859542. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.859542
Hu Y, Li Y, Li Y, Wu J, Zheng H, He H (2023) Balancing urban expansion with a focus on ecological security: A case study of Zhaotong City, China. Ecol Ind 156:111105
Hui EC, Li X, Chen T, Lang W (2020) Deciphering the spatial structure of China’s megacity region: A new bay area—the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the making. Cities 105:102168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.10.011
Jiang H, Sun Z, Guo H, Xing Q, Du W, Cai G (2022) A standardized dataset of built-up areas of China’s cities with populations over 300,000 for the period 1990–2015. Big Earth Data 6(1):103–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/20964471.2021.1950351
Jiang Y, Sun Y, Liu Y, Li X (2023) Exploring the correlation between waterbodies, green space morphology, and carbon dioxide concentration distributions in an urban waterfront green space: a simulation study based on the carbon cycle. Sustain Cities Soc 98:104831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2023.104831
Juntti M, Costa H, Nascimento N (2021) Urban environmental quality and wellbeing in the context of incomplete urbanization in Brazil: Integrating directly experienced ecosystem services into planning. Prog Plan 143:100433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2019.04.003
Larondelle N, Strohbach MW (2017) A murmur in the trees to note: Urban legacy effects on fruit trees in Berlin, Germany. Urban For Urban Green 17:11–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2016.03.005
Medeiros E, van der Zwet A (2020) Sustainable and integrated urban planning and governance in metropolitan and medium-sized cities. Sustainability 12(15):5976. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12155976
Muhamad Nor AN, Aziz A, Nawawi H, Jamil SAM, Abas R, Hambali MA, Perotto-Baldivieso KA (2021) Evolution of green space under rapid urban expansion in Southeast Asian cities. Sustainability 13(21):12024. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132112024
Ramaiah M, Avtar R (2019) Urban green spaces and their need in cities of rapidly urbanizing India: A review. Urban Sci 3(3):94. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci3030094
Schuyler D (1988) The new urban landscape. The redefinition of city form in nineteenth century America
Sturiale L, Scuderi A (2019) The role of green infrastructures in urban planning for climate change adaptation. Climate 7(10):119. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli7100119
Sun L, Chen J, Li Q, Huang D (2020) Dramatic uneven urbanization of large cities throughout the world in recent decades. Nat Commun 11(1):1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19158-1
Sun J, Sun ZC, Guo HD, Wang JB, Jiang HP, Gao J (2021) Dataset of built-up areas of Chinese cities in 2020. China Acad J Electron Publishing House. https://doi.org/10.11922/11-6035.csd.2021.0087.zh
Sun J, Sun Z, Guo H et al (2022) A dataset of built-up areas of Chinese cities in 2020 [J]. China Scientific Data: Chinese and English online edition 7(1):15. https://doi.org/10.11922/11-6035.csd.2021.0087.zh
Tóth BZ (2023) Mixed-use developments in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona. Folia Geographica
Troy AR, Grove JM, O’Neil-Dunne JP, Pickett ST, Cadenasso ML (2007) Predicting opportunities for greening and patterns of vegetation on private urban lands. Environ Manag 40:394–412
UN DESA (2018) World urbanization prospects 2018. Available at: https://population.un.org/wup/
UN DESA (2019) Global sustainable development report 2019. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/24797GSDR_report_2019.pdf,2019
UN DESA (2022a) World population prospects 2022: summary of results, vol Sales No E22XIII3. United Nations publication, New York
UN World Urbanization Prospects (2018) The 2018 revision: key facts. Available at https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf’2018
van Aaron MS, Bindle L, Brauer M, Brook JR, Garay MJ, Martin RV (2021) Monthly global estimates of fine particulate matter and their uncertainty. Environ Sci Technol 55(22):15287–15300. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c05309
Wang J, Zhang Y, Zhang X, Song M, Ye J (2023) The spatio-temporal trends of urban green space and its interactions with urban growth: evidence from the Yangtze River Delta region, China. Land Use Policy 128:106598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106598
Wang Y, Yao Y, Chen S, Ni Z, Xia B (2022) Spatiotemporal evolution of urban development and surface urban heat island in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau greater bay area of China from 2013 to 2019. Resour Conserv Recycl 179:106063
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (2016) Urban green spaces and health. World health organization. Regional Office for Europe. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/345751
Wu M, Wu J, Zang C (2021) A comprehensive evaluation of the eco-carrying capacity and green economy in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China. J Clean Prod 281:124945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124945
Xie J, Ren C, Li X, Chung LCH (2022) Investigate the urban growth and urban-rural gradients based on local climate zones (1999–2019) in the Greater Bay Area, China. Remote Sens Appl Soc Environ 25:100669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2021.100669
Yang Y, Lu H, Liang D, Chen Y, Tian P, Xia J, Lei X (2022) Ecological sustainability and its driving factor of urban agglomerations in the Yangtze River Economic Belt based on three-dimensional ecological footprint analysis. J Clean Prod 330:129802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129802
Yu X, Ma S, Cheng K, Kyriakopoulos GL (2020) An evaluation system for sustainable urban space development based in green urbanism principles—A case study based on the Qin-Ba mountain area in China. Sustainability 12(14):5703. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145703
Zhan Q, Yang C, Liu H (2022) How do greenspace landscapes affect PM2. 5 exposure in Wuhan? Linking spatial-nonstationary, annual varying, and multiscale perspectives. Geo-spatial Inform Sci 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/10095020.2022.208518
Zhang DH, Wang Y, Yao N (2022) Urbanization and ecological effect in mid-southern Liaoning urban agglomeration, China. Ying Yong Sheng Tai Xue bao J Appl Ecol 33(9):2521–2529
Zhou Q, Nizamani MM, Zhang HY, Zhang HL (2023) The air we breathe: an in-depth analysis of PM2. 5 pollution in 1312 cities from 2000 to 2020. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2740958/v1
Zou H, Wang X (2021) Progress and gaps in research on urban green space morphology: a review. Sustainability 13(3):1202. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031202
Acknowledgements
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Funding
The work was funded by the Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (822QN314, 819QN236) and the Cultivation Research Foundation of Hainan Medical University (HY2018-15, HYPY201904).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Conceptualization, H.L.Z., H.X., K.J.L., Y.F.Q., T.T.F., Q.H.S., Q.Z., M.M.N.; methodology, M.M.N., H.L.Z., and Q.H.S.; software, M.M.N., H.L.Z., and Q.H.S.; validation, M.M.N.; formal analysis, M.M.N., H.L.Z., and Q.H.S.; investigation, H.L.Z., H.X., K.J.L., Y.F.Q., Q.Z., T.T.F., Q.H.S., M.M.N.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval and consent to participate
No studies involving human participants or human tissue in the paper.
Consent to publish
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, HL., Xiu, H., Nizamani, M. et al. China’s urban green growth from 2000 to 2020 is influenced by legacy effects. Urban Ecosyst (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01503-z
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01503-z