Image credits: Shira Bezalel, SFEI
Greenspace connectivity can be created by strategically placing and linking publicly accessible greenspaces within a city. Such a network distributes access for residents across the city and helps wildlife move safely between patches. Key components of a greenspace network can include corridors of continuous greenspace and distributed small parks that serve neighborhoods and function as stepping stone habitat patches for wildlife.
Greenspace connectivity supports wildlife movement across fragmented urban habitats. Corridors (such as greenways) and stepping stones (such as small greenspaces) between large habitat patches enable wildlife to move across the landscape and help reduce species loss in cities, particularly for species that are intolerant of high levels of urbanization.
A distributed network of greenspaces near residences improves park access and is thought to increase park use and physical activity. Perhaps relatedly, having parks and other greenspaces near residences is associated with benefits including improved mental health, physical health, and children’s behavioral development and connection to nature.
Limited budgets for creating and maintaining parks require choices. Wildlife benefits most from greenspaces that are near large green patches or create corridors. By contrast, human health may be best served by focusing on neighborhoods that have been historically deprived of natural space and creating distributed greenspaces to maximize access.
Different types of urban sites present their own opportunities to support health and biodiversity based on their spatial configuration, design, site programming (or intended uses), and management decisions. Typical contexts and documents in which these strategies may be relevant include: (1) Community-led visioning for urban greenspaces; (2) Project development and planning (ex. conceptual and schematic site plans); (3) Project design (ex. detailed construction drawings and site plans).
Public greenspaces typically <5 acres designed to serve a particular neighborhood or community
Linear greenspaces that usually include multi-use pathways for active transportation and vegetation
Strips of land along a coast, river, or other water body that create opportunities for habitat
Often the largest contiguous public spaces, streets can include vegetated sidewalks, street trees, and planters
Green alternatives to pavement dominated schoolyards create park-like settings for children to play and learn in
Private residential yards, commercial property landscaping, and university and corporate campuses
