Green Space in Curitiba Gets Even Bigger
Curitiba’s green space index, which was already an impressive 51.5 square meters per inhabitant, just got even better. Based on the new map of forested areas completed by the Municipal Department of the Environment, the current index now stands at 64.5 square meters per person. The index has risen because green space has increased and also the measurement methods have improved compared to 2000, the most recent year aerial photographs were taken. The UN recommends that cities have at least 18 square meters of green space per inhabitant.
The new green space index, completed in December, was conducted using images from the GeoEye satellite with spatial resolution of 50 cm. “This result not only consolidates a policy that favors green spaces but demonstrates the improvement of the assessment tools that were used in the study,” the municipal secretary of the Environment, Marilza Diaz says. “The spatial resolution allows us to distinguish clearly the grassy areas from tree patches, for example.”
The precise analysis of the data, using state-of-the-art technology, has allowed vegetation cover index to increase. Vegetation cover in the city has risen in the last ten years from 18 percent to 26 percent.
Italy Park -- a new green space in Curitiba
The maintenance of Curitiba’s high indices can be explained by the increase in the number of parks and forests in the city in recent years. In 1988 there were only five parks and forests. Today there are 21 parks, 15 forests, 451 plazas, and 444 gardened squares, among other areas.
Cartographer Luis Alberto Miguez, adviser to the secretary and responsible for the survey, says there is no national standard for measurement of green areas, which vary from one city to another. “In Curitiba, the criterion is to measure only forest patches larger than 100 square meters, representing the location of clusters of existing trees. Grassy areas and water bodies are not taken into account in the calculation.”
The forester and GIS specialist Christel Lingnau of the Federal University of Paraná was impressed with the results. “I’m impressed at the high level of detail and the technology used by the city in this mapping project.”
Director Gislene Lessa of the Geosciences Institute of Lands, Cartography and Geosciences (ITCG) also praised the research. “It’s very interesting to know that the city uses such advanced technology to capture images,” he said.
The first global survey on the subject was conducted in 1987 by the Municipal Department of Environment and Forest Research Foundation of Paraná (FUPEF). At the time, green patches represented 15.06 percent of the territory of Curitiba.
In 1992, when the GIS service was created in the Department of the Environment, a second survey was conducted, and in 2000, the most recent. In 1992, the green space index was 13.56 percent of the total area of the municipality. In 2000, 17.9 percent forest cover was the number recorded.
[This article first appeared online at http://www.bemparana.com.br/index.php?n=202290&t=indice-de-area-verde-passa-para-645-m2-por-habitante-na-capital.]
{Photo of Italy Park from ParanáOnline}
