A Systems Approach to Urban Greenspace System and Climate Change

Dear Colleagues,

In the face of climate change, cities must navigate its escalating impact on various aspects of urban life while addressing the root causes influencing its course and pace. Urban green spaces (UGS) offer cities opportunities to combat climate change in diverse ways, ranging from supporting urban livability and enhancing urban resilience to reducing cities’ environmental impact. An expanding scholarly inquiry is embracing a systems approach in the study of UGS, considering the synergies, trade-offs, and interdependencies inherent in the spatial scales, multiple functionalities, and the diverse spectrum of stakeholders essential to the ultimate realization of urban green space’s various outcomes. Such investigative endeavors yield critical insights imperative for guiding the planning, design, development, and management of the UGS system, with the specific aim of optimizing its efficacy in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation.

This Special Issue seeks to present current UGS research with a specific focus on conceptualizing urban green spaces as interconnected elements within a system, rather than isolated entities. The objective is to underscore how UGS, when considered holistically, can yield both social and environmental benefits in supporting a community's initiatives against climate change.

Suggested themes:

Impact of Urban Greenspace Systems on Urban Livability:

1. Examining the contribution of urban greenspace systems to urban livability, encompassing topics such as providing a healthy setting, offering thermal comfort, and mitigating the urban heat island effect. Another emerging focus to understand the use of green space is the inclusiveness in accessing the green space by different community groups;

2. Enhancing Urban Resilience through Green Spaces: Investigating the role of green spaces in bolstering urban resilience, particularly in aiding cities in dealing with extreme meteorological events;

3. Green Spaces for Environmental Impact Reduction: Assessing how green spaces contribute to cities' efforts in reducing environmental impact through adept stormwater management, energy conservation, the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, etc.;

4. Developing green space: Examining how green spaces are planned, designed, developed, financed, and used as well as whether the state, market and communities can play different roles in forming green spaces.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. We invite scholarly contributions that provide a thorough examination of the role played by UGS in addressing climate change in urban settings. We particularly encourage empirical research that employs innovative, multidisciplinary analytical approaches, as well as case studies that illuminate the influence of institutional and cultural contexts on the performances of UGS.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Yizhao Yang
Dr. Yawei Chen
Guest Editors

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• urban green spaces (urban greenspaces)
• urban greenspace system
• climate change
• climate change adaptation
• climate change mitigation
• livability
• urban resilience