Ecosystem Services Provided by an Urban Green Space in Timișoara (Romania): Linking Urban Vegetation with Air Quality and Cooling Effects

Alia Wokan and Mădălina Iordache ()
Additional contact information
Alia Wokan: Department of Sustainable Development and Environmental Engineering, University of Life Sciences ”King Mihai I” of Timișoara, 119 Calea Aradului Street, 300645 Timișoara, Romania
Mădălina Iordache: Department of Sustainable Development and Environmental Engineering, University of Life Sciences ”King Mihai I” of Timișoara, 119 Calea Aradului Street, 300645 Timișoara, Romania

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-34

Abstract: This study was conducted in an urban park in a temperate-continental city of Europe (Timișoara, Romania) and aimed to investigate the contribution of urban vegetation in maintaining air quality and mitigating the heat in the analyzed city. The following air parameters were monitored: fine particulate matter PM 2.5 , coarse particulate matter PM 10 , AQI (Air Quality Index) (resulted from PM 2.5 and PM 10 ), particle number, air temperature, relative air humidity, TVOC (total volatile organic compounds), and HCHO (formaldehyde). The results of this study show that urban vegetation remains a reliable factor in reducing PM 2.5 and PM 10 in city air and in keeping the AQI within the limits corresponding to good air quality, but also that relative air humidity counteracts the contribution of vegetation in achieving this goal. Inside the park, the HCHO concentration increased by up to 4–5 times compared to the outside, and this increase was not caused by vehicle traffic but rather by the photochemical reactions generating HCHO. Regarding the cooling effect on air temperature, the studied green space did not exhibit this effect, as the air temperature inside it increased by up to 1–6 °C compared to the outside. Our results contrast with the general perception that urban parks and green spaces are cooler islands within the cities and draw attention to the fact that having a green space in a city does not necessarily mean achieving environmental goals, such as reducing the heat risk of cities. Based on the results, we consider that the main limitations in achieving these objectives were the park’s small size (88 hectares) and its morphology and architecture resulting from the integration of the species that compose it. It follows from these data that it is not enough for an urban green space to be established, but its design must be combined with urban morphology strategies if the heat mitigation effect is to be achieved and the cooling benefits are to be maximized in cities.

Keywords: urban park; urban ecosystem; urban health; urban resilience; ecosystem services; heat island; urban pollution; PM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5564/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5564/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5564-:d:1680925

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().