Transdisciplinary approaches assessing unmanaged urban green spaces reveal benefits for biodiversity and people

Abstract

Rapid urbanization is projected for African cities at the cost of urban green space, which could jeopardize biodiversity and human benefits. Studies focusing specifically on human–green space relationships in the Global South are lacking, and the validity of extrapolating results from studies in the Global North remains questionable and cannot provide local context-specific design solutions. This study combines methods and perspectives from ecology and human geography with landscape design to better understand the benefits for biodiversity and people derived from unmanaged green spaces in the City of Tshwane, South Africa. Based on empirical data from two unmanaged green space areas in disadvantaged communities, we identify benefits for biodiversity and people and define guidelines for inclusive trans-disciplinary interventions. We combine information from a vegetation survey, a community survey of 200 respondents and a rapid assessment of multifunctional benefit provision to formulate in holistic landscape design proposals. We show that the sites have biodiversity value and provide habitat for > 169 different plant species, including protected species, and smaller wildlife. Residents use the spaces for utility, passive and active leisure, and > 76% of residents benefit from the use of these spaces. However, the integrity and provision of benefits from green spaces are threatened by pollution, safety concerns, biological invasions, and land conversion. Context-specific designs could be developed by merging methods across disciplines and involving local stakeholders to integrate the multifunctionality of socioecological benefits into landscape interventions. Collaboration across ecology, human geography and landscape design generates multifunctional perspectives of unmanaged green spaces that consider benefits for biodiversity and disadvantaged communities.