A Research on Changing Trends of Urban Green Space: Spatio-temporal Patterns, Urban Growth Driven, and Environmental Equity

Abstract

Sustainability has become a global consensus driving necessary choices in high-quality urban development. Urban green space (UGS) makes up an essential part of the urban environment and plays an increasingly important role in sustainable urban development. The negative environmental impacts of rapid urban development have become a major problem in developing countries and regions. In the future, these countries and regions will continue to face pressures from urban growth and increasing demand for UGS. Improving the quantity and quality of UGS in urban development and achieving equitable distribution of environmental resources are necessary and important tasks. As an emerging economy and typical developing country, China is undergoing rapid urbanization and urban land expansion. Policy reforms for sustainable urbanization in China provide an opportunity to investigate the relationship between urban growth, urban environment, and social equity. Thus, Chinese cities are chosen for empirical analysis, with important implications for urban sustainability in cities in China and other developing regions.

With the ongoing development of cities and increasing environmental problems, achieving win-win outcomes for urban growth and the urban environment will be of great importance in promoting sustainable urban development. At the same time, there is an expectation that improvements of environmental resources will be equitably distributed. If the distribution of environmental improvements is inequitable, the positive functions of urban environmental improvement cannot be fully realized. However, equity, and particularly equity in environmental issues, has not been a priority in urban development to date. The research applied an analytical framework of “urban growth-environmental improvement-social equity” based on Planner’s Triangle Model, addressing resource conflict between UGS improvement and urban growth as well as development conflict between UGS environmental improvement and equity in Chinese cities. This research also introduced governance toward the environment and social equity into the analytical framework as governance actions play core roles in urban development and green space layout.

Through empirical analysis of Chinese cities, this research supported an in-depth understanding of spatial-temporal changing trends in UGS and the relationship between UGS, urban growth, and equity in urban development in China. This research pointed out the possibility of win-win outcomes for urban growth (including economic growth, population growth, and urban land growth) and UGS improvement. At the same time, there were apparent spatial equality and social equity in urban greening process, and green gentrification occurred along with urban greening. Also, this research determined the positive role of environmental governance on the positive impacts of urban growth on UGS improvement, and the mitigating role of governance toward social equity in environmental inequity of urban greening. The results implied that effective governance actions could provide potential pathways to addressing resource conflict and development conflict in urban sustainability.

This research made contributions to both theories of sustainable urban development and empirical implications of UGS improvement in China. First, this thesis extended the existing Planner’s Triangle Model by introducing the role of local governance in the research framework. It complements the governance mechanism in the analysis of resource and development conflicts, providing an overarching framework in studies of urban sustainability. Second, this research framed the empirical studies into the Planner’s Triangle Model, focusing on the resource conflict and development conflict in urban sustainability from the perspective of UGS. It applied quantitative approaches to validate two conflicts in Planner’s Triangle Model using data with long time span and spatial scope. Third, this research concerned the environmental equity and green gentrification in urban greening process, focusing on the equity of the dynamic changes of UGS. This research could support policymakers in understanding changing trends in UGS and offer insights for UGS planning and sustainable urban development in China and other developing regions.

Date of Award	27 Jul 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Jianping Ye (External Supervisor), Xiaoling ZHANG (Supervisor) & Yi LU (Co-supervisor)