Periurban Streetscape—Vernacular Front Gardens and Their Potential to Provide Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of Warsaw, Poland

Beata J. Gawryszewska, Izabela Myszka, Michał Banaszek and Axel Schwerk ()
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Beata J. Gawryszewska: Department of Landscape Art Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 166 Street, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Izabela Myszka: Department of Landscape Art Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 166 Street, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Michał Banaszek: Department of Landscape Art Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 166 Street, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Axel Schwerk: Department of Landscape Art Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 166 Street, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: At the time of reflection on green justice, when the role of public green spaces is increasing, it is worth paying attention to vernacular greenery, especially in single-family residential areas on city outskirts which property owners arrange in front parts of plots. The paper’s aim is to show that vernacular front gardens (VFG) can act as missing public space and at the same time have the attributes of public green space, providing ecosystem services (ES). In order to confirm these assumptions, we carried out a VFG’s attributes inventory and a survey on garden designers. We identified dominating garden features and conducted a cluster analysis of the gardens based on their characteristics. The basis for building periurban streetscape in single-family housing estates is the visual inclusiveness of VFGs. They provide all the ES groups, playing representational, natural and recreational roles as well as serving as locations of edible plants production. Streets in residential sites, thanks to VFG, can be treated as real green public spaces creating a type of green area accessible not only to owners but also to pedestrian eyes. We conclude that our results can be valuable for city planning but also for the professional garden designers.

Keywords: Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES); domestic garden; front yard; private plots; survey; urban greenery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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