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Parks, tourists, and biodiversity
Published in Howard T. Odum, Elisabeth C. Odum, Mark T. Brown, Environment and Society in Florida, 2018
Howard T. Odum, Elisabeth C. Odum, Mark T. Brown
Now there are efforts by public and private agencies to join the fragmented natural areas with wildlife corridors (greenways) connecting these “patches” of suitable habitat. The greenways are also good for hikers. Old railroad tracks and powerline strips can be used. Some greenways include a narrow lane for bicycles. Where strips of wild vegetation are made continuous along the electric power lines, the highway rights of way, and the streams, wildlife can travel between suitable areas. Strips of wild vegetation help maintain viable gene pools as well as distribute populations more evenly. By designing continuous greenbelts, urban areas become an integral part of a green landscape instead of a development that disrupts, cuts, and fragments the natural landscape.
Green Infrastructure In New York City: Top Down And Bottom Up Initiatives To Improve Environmental Quality
Published in Manuel Couceiro da Costa, Filipa Roseta, Joana Pestana Lages, Susana Couceiro da Costa, Architectural Research Addressing Societal Challenges, 2017
Green infrastructure may include greenways, which, if systematically planned, can lead to a reduction of private transportation (use of cars) and, consequently, of their impact on the city environment (Hamin and Gurran, 2009). Vegetation improves environmental conditions in cities by acting on both causes and effects, collecting fine dusts and reducing the concentration of gaseous pollutants (Ottelé et al., 2010; Yin et al., 2011). Water quality can similarly be improved by natural systems filtering pollutants (Benedict and McMahon, 2001). As stated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2011), green infrastructure is fundamental for stormwater management and as flood control as the loss of natural systems increases the risk of flooding and natural disasters (Benedict and McMahon, 2001).
The role of greenways in the sustainable mobility development: The study case of western municipalities of Sicily
Published in Michèle Pezzagno, Maurizio Tira, Town and Infrastructure Planning for Safety and Urban Quality, 2018
The new scenario needs an infrastructural net different from the traditional one, because it should be based on multifunctional criterion, but with one restriction-bind-bond: the network’s part of higher environmental quality has to be restricted by motorized mobility (Socco et al., 2007). In urban environments, the creation of a greenway represents an opportunity for the improvement of the open space systems; in non-urban environments they can facilitate the access to areas of high historic-landscape value. Moreover, combining the movement by bicycle with that by personal car, by bus or train, it is possible to set up multimodal connections able to cover movement of broad reach, also at an inter-communal scale (Cantarella, 1997).
A green view index for urban transportation: How much greenery do we view while moving around in cities?
Published in International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 2020
Jie Wu, Liang Cheng, Sensen Chu, Nan Xia, Manchun Li
Urban greenways have ecological, social, cultural, economic, and transportation functions; this is beneficial to the overall development of low-carbon transportation systems. Urban street greenery plays an increasingly significant role in creating a pleasant experience of the transportation process. Feeling comfortable during the transportation process has become important for urban residents seeking a higher quality of life. In this study, a new concept known as the GVI-UT has been developed, defining the ability to see urban street greenery during transportation. Four crucial significances can be summarized, as follows: (1) The GVI-UT is a people-centered index and provides both a theoretical and innovative framework for studying human visual perception of greenery during transportation. (2) The quantitative calculation framework of the GVI-UT was proposed from the public street view and transportation data. This can provide a new perspective for analyzing urban greenery during the transportation process and expand the practical application of street view images. (3) The Kunming urban area was set as an efficient example, and the framework of greenery calculation and analysis can also be applied in other cities. (4) The index can guide urban transportation planning for policy makers from a new perspective. For routes with low GVI-UT values, increased attention should be paid to road renovation and green construction.
Living suburbs for Living Streams: how urban design strategies can enhance the amenity provided by Living Stream orientated Public Open Space
Published in Journal of Urban Design, 2018
Pen and Majer (1994) argue that ‒ on a day-to-day basis ‒ ‘the average Australian is alienated from the natural world’ (198), a situation which could be extrapolated to the greater developed world. In relation to this situation Living Streams potentially have a very important role to play in providing this experience of ‘nature’ to residents as the mental and physical health benefits are potentially huge (McDonald 2015). Indeed, in the USA when residents of a major urban area were asked about ways that greenways (which often incorporate a drainage function) influence quality of life, the most important contribution was regarded as ‘having natural areas present’ (Scott Shafer et al. 2013, 482). While the physical and mental health benefits are yielded by most forms of POS to varying degrees, Living Streams have particular potential in this respect because of their linearity they typically adjoin, and are near to, a large proportion of houses, making them highly accessible. Moreover, because of their typically passive recreational focus, the presence of water and biodiversity means they form an apt substitute for ‘nature’ in the city.
Urban decline to green paradigm: learning from Dessau
Published in Journal of Urban Design, 2023
The Dessau greenway is part of an evolving area of landscape practice involving the installation of shared-use paths along strips of undeveloped land. As explained by Charles Flink, the composite word ‘greenway’ combines ‘green’ suggesting natural amenities such as forests, riverbanks, and wildlife, and ‘way’, a linear route or path; put together, they describe natural corridors crisscrossing developed landscapes (Flink 1993). The history of greenways goes back at least several millennia when trees were planted along watercourses in China to reduce damage resulting from flooding and protect riverbanks. Landscape corridors were utilized during Roman times and poplar tree-lined paths called alamedas emerged in 16th century Spain, eventually spreading throughout Latin America (Fábos and Ryan 2004). In the mid-1990ʹs, greenway planner and developer Robert Searns defined three generations of greenways: from the 18th century until approximately 1960, the first generation comprised landscaped axes and broad avenues planted with parallel rows of trees such as Parisian boulevards and late nineteenth-century parkways in the United States (Searns 1995; Figure 9). From the beginnings of the post-industrial era in the 1960s through the mid-1980s as railway transport was gradually replaced by trucks and container shipping, second generation greenways were often trail-oriented conversions of abandoned rail tracks mostly used for cycling, fitness, and recreational walks, giving rise to the rails to-trails movement. Third generation greenways, defined by Searns as multi-objective, emphasize wildlife habitat conservation, urban flood control, improved water quality, and provide educational resources (Searns 1995). Searns’s categories and timeframes should be considered suggestive rather than definitive as New York City’s High Line (2014), built on a disused railway spur, and its many imitators could be categorized as first- or second-generation greenways (Figure 10).