The effects of urban expansion on green infrastructure along an extended latitudinal gradient (23°S–45°S) in Chile over the last thirty years

Ángela Hernández-Moreno and Sonia Reyes-Paecke

Land Use Policy, 2018, vol. 79, issue C, 725-733

Abstract: Green infrastructure (GI) contributes to environmental quality and human well-being in urban environments by providing a number of ecosystem services. There is evidence that urban expansion negatively impacts on GI, but most studies have focused on large cities at the expense of an understanding of these processes in smaller cities. Here we assess the urban expansion and spatio-temporal dynamics of GI in small and medium-sized Chilean cities over a period of three decades. Seven cities were selected along a latitudinal gradient extending from 23 °S to 45 °S, and covering a wide variety of climates including: arid, semi-arid, mediterranean and temperate. Remote sensing and landscape analysis techniques were employed to assess changes in urban areas and GI spatial patterns. The cities that were analyzed showed a continuous expansion over the last 30 years associated with high population growth rates. Landscape analysis also evidenced an increasing level of GI fragmentation in most cities. Population growth, economic growth, and public policies seem to have a greater influence on long-term changes in GI than climate or geographic location. Our study highlights the need for better urban policies that protect and develop GI because of its crucial role in human well-being and urban sustainability.

Keywords: Small and medium-sized cities; Green spaces; Landscape metrics; Vegetation cover; Urban growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837717315727
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:lauspo:v:79:y:2018:i:c:p:725-733

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.09.008

Access Statistics for this article

Land Use Policy is currently edited by Jaap Zevenbergen

More articles in Land Use Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joice Jiang ().