Is green always green eng

Is Green Always Green?
Quantity, Activities and Quality of Urban Public Open
Spaces (POS)
A case study from Israel

Dr. Yodan Rofè
Gabriela Feierstein
Inbal Zarchin

This research was funded by the Israel Science Foundation grant No. 546/07

Desert Architecture and Urban Planning, Institute for Dryland Environmental Research, BGU Movement for Israeli Urbanism

In orthodox city planning, neighborhood open spaces are
venerated in an amazingly uncritical fashion, much as savages
venerate magical fetishes… Walk with a planner through a
dispirited neighborhood and though it be already scabby with
deserted parks and tired landscaping festooned with old kleenex,
he will envision a future of More Open Space.
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, pp. 96

BACKGROUND


The Best Cities in the World - Barcelona


The Best Cities in the World - Paris


The Best Cities in the World - Bologna


What do these cities have in common?
• They were built by human beings
• Historic cities (until the end of the 19th
century), but used by modern people
• Undergo continuous processes of renewal
• Extremely high land values (demand much
exceeds supply)
• Built around streets and streets make most of
their public open space
• High density, high land coverage, low to mid
rise (3-6 floors)


Bologna – post WWII extensions


In the 20th century human kind “forgot” how
to build cities

Fewer streets – greater distances between intersections
• And... • Or...
– Mid – low density – Low density
– High rise – Low rise
– Low coverage – Medium coverage
– Extensive open spaces – Extensive open spaces

Are street standards the only problem?

The six destroyers of urbanism

• Prescriptive zoning and aversion to density
• The hierarchical classification of streets
• The neighborhood unit
• Street design and parking standards
• Parking standards
• Public open space standards


Is it true that there aren’t enough POS?
Are people using the POS?
How do people feel when they are in the POS?
How do climate zones and settlement size differ?
Conclusions and lessons for practice

A LOOK AT PUBLIC OPEN SPACE (POS)
STANDARDS AND WHAT THEY DO

Established standards in Israel for POS
Open Space Type Space Demands Characteristics of Use Location and Remarks
Characteristics
Urban park 3 m2 per person. Sport, playgrounds, sitting Accessibility of
>100 dunam. corners, shade areas, etc pedestrians and bike
riders.
Quarter park 2 m2 per person. Playgrounds, sitting Up to 30000 residents
10 - 50 dunam. corners, shade areas, Next to community
grass, etc center.
Neighborhood park 3 m2 per person. Like quarter park. Next to neighborhood.
5-10 dunam. No need to cross main
roads.
Inner playgrounds 2 m2 per person. Playing facilities, sitting Part of the
2-5 dunam. corners, fitting to all year neighborhood.
climate conditions.
Wide and Open Up to 1 dunam Flooring, gardening, Fitting the location.
Sitting Corners planting.
Pedestrians and Path width of 5-8 Pavement. Combination of Connecting urban and
Bicycle paths meters. planting and gardening. neighborhood centers.

11

What the Environmentalists want?
In recent years, the Israel Union of Environmental Defense
(IUED), and the Ministry of the Environment advocate an
increase in urban open space standards and their
implementation and management.

Source: www.adamteva.org.il


The effect of the standards on gross and net density

10000 Units
3.1 Person/unit
90 sq.ft. per person open space
Total %
Gross Neede Public Public public Residential Net
Density d area Roads buildings POS areas areas area Density
DU/acre Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres DU/acre
10 1,000 200 12.5 64.05 277 28% 723 13.82
20 500 113 12.5 64.05 189 38% 311 32.16
30 333 83 12.5 64.05 160 48% 173 57.65
40 250 75.0 12.5 64.05 152 61% 98 101.57
50 200 60.0 12.5 64.05 137 68% 63 157.60
60 167 50.0 12.5 64.05 127 76% 40 249.27
70 143 42.9 12.5 64.05 119 84% 23 426.43
80 125 37.5 12.5 64.05 114 91% 11 913.21


Gross Density, Net Density and Land Coverage

• Typical recent plan in Israel
(Bialik on the Park, Fogel
and Shoham)
• 247 Acres, 4,935 du
• 20 du/acre gross density
• 12,500 p/sq.km.
• Very high net density
• Very low land coverage


What are the consequences?
• Open space standards do not allow us to reach
high densities with low and mid rise building
• They force either high rise or mid-low density
• These typologies and densities do not allow for
a walkable, vibrant city
• Public transport is less viable
• Sprawl and automobile dependence are
increased
• Harder to create mixed use areas
Existing urban open space standards diminish the
sustainability of urban areas in Israel


Research Questions:
Is it true that there aren’t enough POS?
How does the amount of POS differ in different size settlements
and neighborhoods?

THE QUANTITY AND
ACCESSIBILITY OF POS

Case studies chosen from two climate zones

Bat Yam

Shoham
Lehavim
Ashdod
Arad

Beer
Sheva


NEIGHBORHOOD TYPES
Coastal plain Northern Negev
Major city Ashdod Beer Sheva
Old center Yud neighb. Tet neighb. Neve Zeev
(1950-1970) (1990-2000) (1970-1985) (1990-
2000)

Medium Bat Yam Arad
city Center Ramat Center (1960- Gevim
(before HaNassi 1975) (1990-
1948) (1960-1975) 2000)

Community Shoham Lehavim
settlement Center Center


Neighborhood open spaces - definitions
Neighborhood Open Space
Any unbuilt land within the boundary of the neighborhood, or immediately adjacent
to it, which provides, or has the potential to provide, environmental, social
and/or economic benefits to the community, whether direct or indirect

Green Space Civic Space Grey Space
• vegetated land • urban squares • areas used for non
• water or geological • market places pedestrian movement
feature within urban • other paved areas or hard and other functional uses
areas landscaped areas
• Parks and Gardens • Civic squares • Streets
• Amenity Greenspace • Market places • Parking areas
• Children's play areas • Pedestrian streets • Utility areas
• Sports facilities • Promenades and sea • Previously developed
• Green corridors fronts abandoned sites
• Natural/semi-natural
greenspace
Adapted from Williams and Green (2001)


Description and classification of POS
Variation to the initial classification of POS:

Green Civic
Grey Undefined

- Others: buildings, private open space.
- Streets
20

Quantity of POS
As a % of total neighborhood area
City Neighborhood
Study area
Green POS Civic POS Grey POS Undefined POS POS Streets Others
Total
Center 100 9.16 2.66 3.58 0.00 15.39 22.06 62.55
Ashdod Yud 100 8.13 2.73 5.79 3.15 19.81 33.78 46.41
Tet 100 6.67 1.84 5.90 12.17 26.57 17.48 55.95
B. Sheva Neve Zeev 100 6.43 0.98 0.30 9.31 17.01 31.07 51.92
R. Hanassi 100 12.52 1.27 9.63 1.05 24.47 20.04 55.49
Bat Yam Center 100 7.60 0.68 0.81 1.01 10.10 22.28 67.63
Center 100 3.44 8.09 14.11 0.76 26.41 22.25 51.35
Arad Gevim 100 16.65 0.43 0.00 10.43 27.51 23.33 49.16
Shoham Center 100 13.96 2.14 4.79 2.45 23.33 16.95 59.71
Lehavim Center 100 10.46 1.66 1.26 17.39 30.77 21.80 47.44
Mean 9.50 2.25 4.62 5.77 22.14 23.10 54.76
Mean Desert 8.73 2.60 4.31 10.01 25.65 24.13 51.16
Mean Non-Desert 10.27 1.89 4.92 1.53 18.62 23.02 58.36

Similar amount of land is invested in POS as in streets


POS accessibility

Yud Neighborhood, Ashdod Neve Zeev, Beer Sheva


Population density and Green POS per person

Relation between population density and amount of POS

40
Arad Gevim
Amount of POS per person (sqm/person)

35

30
Lehavim
25
R² = 0.779
20

15
Shoham
Bat Yam R. HaNassi
10 Ashdod
Beer Sheva Tet Yud Ashdod center
5 Beer Sheva
Arad center Bat Yam center Neve Zeev
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Population density (Ppl/sqm)


Green POS per person
Amount of green POS per person by neighborhood

40
Low rise sf homes
35

30
Public housing block
Sq.m/person

25
neighborhood
20

15

10
5

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Neighborhoods satisfy existing standards, but only low rise neighborhoods and
Ba

Be
“Corbusian” high rise neighborhood satisfy the proposed “environmental” standard
Neighborhood case studies


On Quantity and size of POS
• In most neighborhoods there is too much POS, many
areas are not cared for or used – this is particularly
true in desert settlements
• Many POS are hardly used, they seem to have only an
aesthetic value for residents
• Accessibility to POS is ubiquitous. Most homes are less
than 150 m. away, almost all less than 300 m. Away


Measured by:
Intensity of optional and social use (Gehl)
Survey of residents on use and evaluation
Feeling maps in select POS

THE QUALITY OF POS


Intensity of use
by POS type, climate and season
Optional activity by season and climate area

300

250
31.9
Ppl/hour per dunam

200 31.6 9.7
23.9 Green w ide
150 Green linear

19.9 Civic
8
100 9.7 9.4 198.7
165.5

50 96.1 99.4

0 Difference
between
er

er
r

r
te

te
m

m
in

in

seasons is
m

m
w

w
su

su
Non desert area Desert area stronger in
Clim ate areas by season
Desert Areas

Movement and Optional Activity - Summer

SUMMER

Use of POS
250
intentional not
Optional activity in POS (Ppl/20')

200 casual
2
R = 0.5018
150
Non Desert area
2
R = 0.2125 Desert area
100
Linear (Desert area)
50 Linear (Non Desert area)

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Pedestrian movement (Ppl/20')


Most successful – POS combining civic and
green space


Survey Results:
Preference for outside activities

value
Activity in open spaces
from 1-5
1 Sitting in the private open spaces of their houses 4
2 Walking along the neighborhood streets 3.4
3 Spending time in open spaces out of the neighborhood 3.2
4 Spending time in the neighborhood commercial center 3
5 Spending time in the neighborhood park 2.7
People prefer private open space and walking along
neighborhood streets to neighborhood commercial
centers and sitting in neighborhood parks

Ranking of Satisfaction with POS
City Neighborhood Grade M2/pp
Shoham Center 4.4 14.50
Lehavim Center 4.3 28.95
Arad Gevim 3.9 37.82
Bat Yam R. HaNassi 3.5 13.82
Ashdod Yud 3.5 5.39
Bat Yam Center 3.3 5.34
Ashdod Center 3.2 5.33
Arad Center 3.1 3.36
Beer Sheva Neve Zeev 2.9 3.19
Beer Sheva Tet 2.7 7.29

FEELINGS IN POS


Factors that influence the perceived
qualities of POS
Context Individual
Site
characteristics

Weather Location Physical features

Urban
design Feelings
qualities

No. of
people &
activities

Survey of feelings in POS


Feelings in POS by season
summer winter
AR AR AS BY BS BS AS BS AS BY BY AR AS BY

Used 18 23
Unused 16 24
Used 14 23
Unused W 15 19
Unused E 9 20
Used S 14 14
Used 7 16
Civic 6 16
Unused 8 13
Civic 7 13
Civic 4 15
Used N 1 8
Unused -1 10
Civic -8 -2

-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Sum of Mean Feeling Evaluation


Feelings by climatic zones

Mean feeling Mean feeling
p-value
coastal plain northern Negev

All POS 0.55 0.36 0.06

Civic POS 0.41 0.1 0.12

Used green POS 0.52 0.68 0.

Unused green POS 0.68 0.29


Influencing factors

Most repeated positive influence

All POS Vegetation Aesthetics and
the design
Northern The
Negev surrounding
environment
Coastal Cleanliness
plain and
maintenance


Influencing factor questionnaire

Most repeated negative influence

All POS Lack of Lack of
vegetation cleanliness and
maintenance
Northern The
Negev surrounding
environment


The physical quality of POS and Feelings
Successful POS Unsuccessful POS
Aesthetic and harmonious Vast, unmaintained grassy
Shaded play equipment areas

Lush Green Unshaded sitting places


On People’s preferences and feelings
• People prefer private open space to all kinds of POS
• People prefer walking on neighborhood streets to
Green POS
• Even though they do not use them much people value
the presence of POS and think they are not good
enough
• Maintenance is key to good feelings in POS
• Despite less use – people feel better in used green
POS than in civic POS
• POS do not succeed in ameliorating difficult summer
conditions


• Importance of Civic areas – most used but not well
liked. Currently not standard
• Green is appreciated but people prefer to walk on
streets - Green streets – increasing green, but where
people actually prefer to walk
• As much as possible connect green space to civic
space: town squares, boulevards
• Green POS are not attractive per se – they need a
qualitative reason for being – a functional and
ecological program
• Relate POS to the amount of private open space so as
to achieve the right balance
• Do we even need quantitative standards today?

THANK YOU!!

The importance of civic areas


Green Streets


Connect green space to civic space

Boulevards English squares


Green spaces need a program

Urban nature Water retention

Hammarby-Sjöstad
Stockholm, Sweden
Images: Kristina Hill


Green spaces need a program

Agriculture Heat island mitigation

Image: Jeremey Nemeth Image: Lutz Katschner


Is green always green eng

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