A comprehensive study of the city's green infrastructure. The case of Yekaterinburg

Abstract

The subject of the study is green city infrastructure. The content of the concept ‘green infrastructure’ is expounded, and the reasons why the term ‘green infrastructure’ is now mostly used. Special attention is paid to the structural properties of the green infrastructure, in particular to the main element that ensures its sustainability - the green framework. As a case in point, we considered the condition of the green infrastructure framework in the city of Ekaterinburg. Issues around the green infrastructure framework were identified and described regarding its structural properties. Long-term risks arising from the mismatch between the structural properties of the green infrastructure framework and the needs of city development are assessed. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that we used not only the traditional methods such as mapping, graphical analytic technique, and photo surveying, but also new modern approaches such as geo-referenced data, multispectral space images from which different indices are calculated, in particular combinations of images in different channels. The article shows how different indices can be applied and used to analyze green infrastructure. It is concluded that in a number of cases it is the use of geo-referenced data that allows obtaining unique information about the condition of the green infrastructure and the causes of long-term changes occurring in it. All the identified regularities are used to evaluate the design decisions laid down in the general plan of the city to forecast risks and create recommendations that contribute to the sustainable development of green infrastructure.

Keywords

• wetlands
• geo-referenced data
• urban environment quality index
• vegetation quality index (ndvi)
• standardized difference moisture index (ndmi)