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‘Green or short

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
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, Environmental Science(all), Urban Studies
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/green-or-short(c2ad3358-1035-4049-acc5-d1239535ff37).html