The first class highly-urbanized Davao City has a total land area of 2,443,61 square kilometers. As of the 2020 census, it is home to 1,776,949 people, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
More and more people are flocking to the city.
“Urbanization results in an increasing proportion of the population living in the cities,” deplores the World Health Organization (WHO). “Many urban areas face increasing pressure from expanding populations, limited resources and growing impacts of climate change.”
To increase the quality of urban settings, enhance local resilience and promote sustainable lifestyles, improving both the health and the well-being of urban residents, health experts agreed that urban spaces and other nature-based solutions may offer some innovative approaches.
Urban green space is a component of so-called “green infrastructure.” It is defined as “all urban land covered by vegetation of any kind.” This covers vegetation on private and public grounds, irrespective of size and function, and can also include small water bodies such as ponds, lakes or streams.
“(Urban green space) is an important part of public open spaces and common services provided by a city and can serve as a health-promoting setting for all members of the urban community,” the WHO says.
In land-use planning, urban green space is open-space areas reserved for parks and other “green spaces,” including plant life, water features, and other kinds of natural environment, states the WHO publication, Urban green spaces: A brief for action.
Most urban open spaces are green spaces, but occasionally include other kinds of open areas. The landscape of urban open areas can range from playing fields to highly maintained environments to relatively natural landscapes.
In Davao City, the local government maintains 25 parks, 6 landmarks and 148 center islands. All of these are being monitored and assessed by the City Environment and Natural Resources Office.
Some of the parks, which are open to the public, are People’s Park, Rizal Park, Osmeña Park, Magsaysay Park, Roxas Freedom Park, Centennial Park, Millennium Park, Clifford Park, Quezon Park, and Bucana Pocket Park.
Among these parks, the four-hectare People’s Park is the largest. Dubbed as the “best park in the Philippines,” it features a mini-forest, man-made falls, a dancing fountain at night, fishponds, children’s playground and a giant durian dome.
A report from the Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) stated the city has allotted 1,035 hectares as public parks and open spaces. That’s only 3% of the estimated 36,000 hectares of the total urbanized area.
“(It) means that (Davao City) has only 500 square meters for every 1,000 population or 0.5 square meters per person,” IDIS said. “This is way below the existing green spaces allocated by cities in neighboring Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Bangkok in Thailand, with at least 5 square meters allocation per person.”
The United Nations and WHO recommend that every city shall provide a minimum of 9 square meters of accessible, safe and functional urban green space per person.
Three years ago, IDIS conducted a study which identified and mapped-out other available and possible green zones or spaces in Davao City. Findings showed an existing 264.83 hectares of green spaces, majority of which are privately owned and idle, have a potential to be privately-owned, and publicly accessible open spaces.
“Davao City’s urban district still has the green space it needs to provide citizens with the 9-square meters per person standard set by WHO,” IDIS said. “But in terms of accessibility, less than half of Davao City’s current urban green spaces are accessible to the public.”
There are several reasons why urban green spaces are a necessity. The benefits can be divided into four basic forms: recreation, ecology, aesthetic value, and positive health impacts.
“Psychological benefits gained by visitors to urban green spaces increased with their biodiversity, indicating that ‘green’ alone is not sufficient; the quality of that green is important as well,” Wikipedia says.
These urban green spaces are also habitat and refuge of birds.
Recently, a study on the diversity of bird species in urban green spaces of Davao City has been done. The findings were published in Philippine Journal of Science. The people behind the study were John Paul M. Banzon, Benito Anthony Pingoy, Virgilio de la Rosa, Maria Catherine Otero, Teaseur Susulan, Marian Dara Tagoon, Elsa May Delima-Baron, and Jayson Ibanez.
The research team surveyed 15 different sites of urban green spaces that were not previously covered by other surveys before. Bird species were identified following the books authored by Kennedy and colleagues (2000) and Hutchinson and colleagues (2015).
A total of 49 bird species (from 31 families) were documented with two species as the most represented. All species are currently included under the least concern category of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. About 16% of the species were endemic.
“Species richness across the sites varies significantly, with Cleanenergy Park having the most number of species. Species diversity values were noted to be high in green spaces situated outside the city center as opposed to sites near the city center,” the researchers wrote.
Urban green spaces, anyone?
