Urban Park

There is a growing body of evidence indicating that exposure to, and activities in, nature have beneficial effects on human health. Since a majority of people in many countries live in urban areas, availability and use of urban green areas is of increasing importance to public health. In the present study we measured urban residents' (Trondheim, Norway) recreational preferences for urban park landscapes varying in vegetation density, and aimed at an identification of background variables and environmental value orientations that we hypothesised to influence such preferences. The results showed that moderately dense scenes received the highest preference ratings. Sociodemographic variables and value orientations predicted preferences for moderate to densely vegetated scenes: A curvilinear effect of age of respondents was found, with subjects in their mid-40s expressing a higher preference for moderate to dense vegetation, compared to younger and older subjects. Preference for moderate to dense vegetation also increased as the educational levels of the respondents increased. The preference was lower among people living in apartment blocks, relative to those living in detached houses. Of attitudinal and value-related variables, interest in wildlife, and pro-ecological value orientation (measured with the NEP scale) predicted preference for urban parks with moderate and dense vegetation. The existence of preference for relatively dense vegetation in urban parks in segments of the population has consequences for the designing of urban parks in Norway.

Many studies have supported the proposition that natural environments contribute positively to psychological restoration. Less attention has been given to the relative importance of the physical environmental components that contribute to the restorative potential of such environments. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relative importance of environmental components, in small urban parks, for people looking for somewhere to sit down and rest. To address this aim, we used choice-based conjoint analysis, coupled with hierarchical Bayes estimation, to assess the utilities assigned to grass, bushes, trees, flower beds, water features, and the number of other people in the park. Via a web-based questionnaire, adult residents of Oslo, Norway (N = 154) were presented with text describing successive pairs of park alternatives. Each alternative was comprised of a set of environmental components at different levels. The respondents were to choose the preferred alternative in each pair, given that they were fatigued and looking for a place to rest for a little while. The amounts of grass, trees and other people had the most influence on their choices among park alternatives. Responses across groups defined by age, gender and earlier experience with parks and nature were relatively homogenous. From a planning perspective, the findings indicate the importance of focusing on structural components such as grass and trees rather than decorative components such as flowers and water features.

The present study provides an evaluation of noise pollution in six Urban Parks located in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. Equivalent noise levels (L eq ) were measured in 303 points (each point measured during 3 min) spread throughout the Parks. Measured values were confronted with local legislation (Law 10625) allowed limits, and the Parks were thus classified as "acoustically polluted or unpolluted". Measured values were also evaluated according to international legislation: Decree no. 12 of the City Council of Rome, DIN 18005 for German cities, the World Health Organization, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Urban parks in the downtown area of Curitiba, surrounded by roads of heavy traffic and in the midst of intense commercial activities, do not satisfy any of the standards used. The most noise-polluted parks in Curitiba were the Public Walk Park and the Botanical Garden Park, with measured L eq of 64.8 dB(A) and 67 dB(A).

Urban parks can harbour small populations of saproxylic insects of high conservation concern, such as Osmoderma eremita and other rare beetles. These areas often host old trees which have become very uncommon in rural areas where they are threatened by commercial forestry management procedures based on frequent tree cutting. Nevertheless, old trees of urban parks may represent a hazard for public safety and are sometimes cut by management authorities. The aim of this work was to assess the loss of reproductive sites for saproxylic beetles of the Scarabaeidae, Lucanidae and Cerambycidae, when felling plans are adopted according to a Visual Tree Assessment Procedure (VTA), in a Mediterranean urban park. On July–August 2004, 1,247 holm oaks were surveyed within the border of an urban park of Rome (Villa Borghese). The occurrence of saproxylic beetles (i.e. the presence of frass, living insects or their remains) was verified in 66 old holm oaks, 41% of which were doomed to cutting by VTA. Eleven of these trees (41% of the trees doomed to be cut) held fragments of adults and sometimes living larvae of Osmoderma eremita, and four of them (36%) were included in the felling plan. The presence of Osmoderma eremita in tree holes was more frequent in deep cavities. The presence of frass in the cavities was positively associated with tree height and a high degree of damage at the root collar and negatively with the presence of hole-nesting birds.

Biosphere-atmosphere interactions were investigated on a sandy dune Mediterranean ecosystem in a field campaign held in 2007 within the frame of the European Projects ACCENT and VOCBAS. The campaign was carried out in the Presidential estate of Castelporziano, a periurban park close to Rome. Former campaigns (e.g. BEMA) performed in Castelporziano investigated the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC). These campaigns focused on pseudosteppe and evergreen oak groves whereas the contribution of the largely biodiverse dune vegetation, a prominent component of the Mediterranean ecosystem, was overlooked. While specific aspects of the campaign will be discussed in companion papers, the general climatic and physiological aspects are presented here, together with information regarding BVOC emission from the most common plant species of the dune ecosystem. During the campaign regular air movements were observed, dominated by moderate nocturnal land breeze and diurnal sea breeze. A regular daily increase of ozone concentration in the air was also observed, but daily peaks of ozone were lower than those measured in summer on the same site. The site was ideal Correspondence to: F. Loreto ([email protected]) as a natural photochemical reactor to observe reaction, transport and deposition processes occurring in the Mediterranean basin, since the sea-land breeze circulation allowed a strong mixing between biogenic and anthropogenic emissions and secondary pollutants. Measurements were run in May, when plant physiological conditions were optimal, in absence of severe drought and heat stress. Foliar rates of photosynthesis and transpiration were as high as generally recorded in unstressed Mediterranean sclerophyllous plants. Most of the plant species emitted high level of monoterpenes, despite measurements being made in a period in which emissions of volatile isoprenoids could be restrained by developmental and environmental factors, such as leaf age and relatively low air temperature. Emission of isoprene was generally low. Accounting for the high monoterpene spring emission of the dune ecosystem may be important to correct algorithms at regional and ecosystem levels, and to interpret measurements of fluxes of volatile isoprenoids and secondary pollutants.