‘Green or short: choose one’ - A comparison of walking accessibility and greenery in 43 European cities

Author(s)

Elias Willberg, Christoph Fink, Robert Klein, Roope Heinonen, Tuuli Toivonen

Abstract

Promoting environmentally and socially sustainable urban mobility is crucial for cities, with urban greening emerging as a key strategy. Contact with nature during travel not only enhances well-being but also promotes sustainable behaviour. However, the availability of travel greenery varies, and only recently have new datasets and computational approaches made it possible to compare the conditions in the distribution of travel greenery within and between cities quantitatively. In this study of 43 large European cities, we undertook a comparative analysis of travel greenery availability by using high-resolution spatial data and daily school trips as a marker of a daily travel need. By recognising walking accessibility as the most sustainable and equally available mode of transportation, we first estimated the proportion of the population residing within walking distance to upper secondary schools. Second, we associated the detailed school routes with monthly green cover data and compared the spatial variation in travel greenery availability between European cities, taking seasonal variation into account. Lastly, we analysed spatial inequalities of travel greenery availability within the study cities using the Gini index, the Kolm-Pollak equally-distributed equivalent (EDE) index and Moran's I. Our findings reveal a consistent negative association between accessibility and green cover implying a trade-off between access and greenery. We found large variations between European cities in the walking accessibility of schools, ranging from 44% to 98% of the population being within 1600 m of their school. Moreover, our results show substantial within-city disparities in travel greenery availability in large European cities. We demonstrated methodologically the importance of considering seasonal variations when measuring greenery availability. Our study offers empirical evidence of urban greenery availability from a mobility-focused perspective. It provides a novel understanding with which to support researchers and planners in affording the benefits of nature to more people as they travel.

Organisation(s)

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

External organisation(s)

University of Helsinki

Journal

Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

Volume

113

No. of pages

11

ISSN

0198-9715

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2024.102168

Publication date

10-2024

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

507020 Urbanism

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development, Ecological Modelling, General Environmental Science, Urban Studies

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/c2ad3358-1035-4049-acc5-d1239535ff37