Question

What is Greenery?What does the lack of it cause? What are its benefits? How do you increase greenery in urban cities?

Answer 1

. Greenery has always played an important role in the construction of cities. The need
for green spaces has been present at city level since ancient times. However, the description of
the evolutionary process of form and function of urban green spaces as it has developed from
antiquity depends greatly upon the different roles played by these places throughout history.
Nowadays, given that the main part of the world population is living in cities, it can be said
that greenery has a strategic importance in the contemporary urban fabric. Therefore, urban
design solutions should always consider both buildings and vegetation as being defining city’s
elements. However, the city is currently dominated by building structures which are
detrimental to green spaces, causing problems of congestion and pollution. The most recent
and compulsory Portuguese urban rehabilitation principles emphasize the improvement of
sustainability. It is, therefore, critical to draw attention to this area and find innovative
solutions in this domain, especially with regards the integration of vegetation in historical
areas. In this sense, this research aims to present an approach about the importance of greenery
in cities, referring some examples of green spaces as landmarks in the urban historiography. It
is also focused on the benefits of green spaces in dense urban areas and their contribution for
the sustainability of the cities.
1. Introduction
There are several types of green spaces in the contemporary city and all of them have their own role in
the urban context. These different types of greenery are designed in different urban scales with several
functions in the city. Green spaces elements (i.e., trees, small gardens, green parks or green surfaces
on buildings) are all identifiable components in the city structure, making part of the composition of
the urban fabric, contributing to the organization and definition of spaces. In this sense, it can be said
that the priority given to green spaces has not changed much in city’s policy. The provision and the
localization of green spaces have particular importance in the configuration of the city due to their
influence in the quality of life of citizens in many ways. The integration of plants affects positively the
urban environment, because vegetation is a climate moderator, helping to reduce the imperviousness
of soil and contributing to storm water management, improving the air quality through the production
of oxygen, absorption of pollution like C02 and heavy metals, and trapping dust particles.
On the one hand, green spaces can have a positive effect on urban environmental conditions and
consequently in the health of citizens. When applied in a significant scale they can be beneficial to the
thermal comfort of cities, providing shade, promoting the evapotranspiration, inducing a cooling effect
and contributing to the mitigation of urban heat island effect. On the other hand, they have a social and
emotional importance in the citizen’s quality of life and well-being. ln fact, the presence of nature in