Green Space Design

Green Space Design is a process that involves planning, shaping, and managing urban open and green spaces while considering their ecological, social, and spatial functions. Sustainable planning of urban open and green spaces is regarded as a fundamental tool for reducing damage to natural ecosystems, adopting environmental protection measures, and improving quality of life in cities. Within this context, green space design is not limited to aesthetic arrangements but is based on a holistic planning approach that simultaneously addresses multidimensional goals such as public health, social integration, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, and urban identity.

Urban Open and Green Spaces

Open and green spaces, in the broadest sense, refer to areas outside buildings or enclosed spaces; they can encompass a wide variety of uses such as forests, cemeteries, private gardens, plazas, agricultural land, and neighborhood parks. This diversity requires urban green spaces to be viewed not as a single category but as a multifaceted system differentiated by function and intensity of use.

Urban green spaces can also be classified as “active” and “passive” green spaces: areas open to user activity such as parks and gardens are considered active, while areas with limited direct use such as forests, refuges, and intersections are classified as passive green spaces. This distinction is used to define the functional framework of design decisions such as amenities, circulation, safety, and maintenance levels.

Green Space Systems and Spatial Hierarchy

Urban green space systems are examined through spatial-physical, social, and temporal dimensions. Spatially, systems such as green belts, green wedges, green networks, and green hearts aim to ensure continuity of green spaces and their integration into a cohesive network structure at the city scale.

Socially, open and green spaces are evaluated within a hierarchical system ranging from the building scale to the neighborhood level, including private gardens, playgrounds, sports areas, neighborhood parks, district parks, city parks, and regional parks. This hierarchy provides a fundamental design framework that guides the distribution of functions and amenities to meet user needs at different scales. In terms of temporal continuity, the relationship between the green space system and urban memory, as well as its long-term preservation, becomes critical; maintaining the system’s integrity is seen as essential for sustaining urban identity and strengthening collective memory.

Functions of Green Spaces

The functionality of green space design is multidimensional and can be grouped into three main categories:

Ecological functions: Green spaces provide ecological services such as improving air quality, reducing noise, regulating microclimates, creating carbon sinks, and contributing to stormwater management. Examples of green infrastructure practices—such as rain gardens, green roofs, and reduction of impervious surfaces—demonstrate how these functions can be directly integrated into design.

Social and health-related functions: Parks and recreational areas are widely preferred for reasons such as access to clean air, walking and physical activity, stress reduction, relaxation, and socialization. Studies have established meaningful correlations between the adequacy of open and green spaces and users’ well-being, underscoring the importance of these areas for physical, mental, and social health.

Spatial and economic functions: Green spaces are fundamental components that establish a balance between density and openness in the urban fabric, integrate other land uses, and shape urban form. Within this framework, a balanced spatial distribution of green space systems is regarded as part of the city’s overall quality of life, and their organization and management are treated as public health and social investments.

Green and Blue Infrastructure Approach

In contemporary urban planning debates, open and green spaces are no longer confined to aesthetic and recreational values but are addressed holistically through the concepts of green and blue infrastructure. Green infrastructure emphasizes the integration of natural ecosystems and open spaces to support environmental health and quality of life, while blue infrastructure strengthens the focus on sustainable water resource management. Thus, green space design is increasingly linked to strategic goals such as sustainable water management, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity conservation.

Core Principles of Green Space Design

Accessibility and Equity

The level of use of urban green spaces is closely related to users’ ease of access. Accessibility is determined not only by distance but also by numerous factors including pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, physical barriers, accessibility for people with disabilities, and safety. Geographic Information Systems and especially network analysis methods are used as effective tools to assess accessibility to green spaces, enabling analysis of optimal park locations, catchment areas, and service levels. User surveys have shown that factors such as hard surfaces, insufficient shade, lack of accessibility for people with disabilities, and inadequate area size negatively affect visit frequency and time spent in green spaces. These findings reveal that accessibility is influenced not only by travel distance but also by the qualitative aspects of design.

Connectivity and Green Infrastructure

Green space design must extend beyond individual parks and gardens to include corridors and networks. Connecting neighborhood and city-scale green spaces through pedestrian and bicycle paths, riverbanks, green belts, and trails ensures the creation of an integrated green space system.

Green infrastructure systems are evaluated within the framework of connectivity, multifunctionality, integration, social interaction, and sustainability, playing a vital role in preserving biodiversity and ensuring long-term ecological and economic sustainability. In various urban contexts, the integration of rain gardens, green streets, green roofs, open drainage systems, and recreational areas within a single network is understood as practical manifestations of the green infrastructure approach.

Participation and User-Centered Design

Participation in urban open and green space planning has become an increasingly prominent topic in international literature, especially in recent years. Bibliometric analyses show a significant increase in studies that link urban open green space planning with participation. Participatory approaches support the inclusion of user needs and expectations in the planning process, the evaluation of green space quality based on user experiences, and the strengthening of legitimacy in design decisions. Within this framework, green space design is understood not merely as a technical and spatial process but as one intertwined with negotiation and co-creation processes.

Health and Well-Being Oriented Design

The World Health Organization’s definition of health as not merely the absence of disease but a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being directly relates to green space design. Green spaces are viewed as an adaptation of nature to the urban environment, and the relationship between residents and well-being is interpreted through the quality of open and green spaces surrounding housing. Comparative studies on housing projects demonstrate that open and green spaces around homes contribute to user well-being through diverse components such as walking and cycling paths, sports areas, play areas, resting zones, cultivable land, and green roof/terrace applications. In these studies, green space qualities are assessed using eleven criteria including accessibility, social interaction areas, privacy, and connection with nature. Meanwhile, user satisfaction surveys reveal that issues such as inadequate maintenance and cleaning, lack of amenities, safety concerns, insufficient shade, and poor aesthetics negatively affect green space usage and duration of stay. Consequently, urban green space designs are recommended to feature soft surfaces, accessibility for people with disabilities, adequate size, sufficient shade, and high aesthetic quality.

Ecological and Water-Efficient Design: Arid Landscaping

The climate crisis and increasing drought risks have heightened the importance of water-efficient approaches in green space design. The arid landscaping concept has entered the urban landscaping agenda as an approach focused on efficient water use and grounded in water-sensitive planning and design principles. Key components of arid landscaping design include planning and design, soil preparation, selection of appropriate plant species, sustainable turf areas, efficient irrigation, mulching, and appropriate maintenance. Applied studies on urban parks show that a significant portion of urban open green spaces currently do not fully comply with these principles, but can be transformed through adoption of arid landscaping strategies. This approach aims not only to reduce water consumption but also to strengthen the ecological functions of green spaces in combating climate change, reduce carbon emissions and air pollution, and enhance the resilience of urban ecosystems.

Assessing Green Space Accessibility

The concept of accessibility is defined in various ways in the literature, including ease of access to land use activities via transportation systems, potential for interaction opportunities, and individual freedom to participate in diverse activities. These multiple definitions require that access to green spaces be assessed not merely as “distance” but in conjunction with transportation–land use relationships and user profiles.

In analyzing accessibility to urban green spaces, two common approaches are Euclidean buffer (as-the-crow-flies) methods and network analysis. The Euclidean approach provides an approximate service area but has limitations such as assuming pedestrian movement occurs in straight lines and that park boundaries are accessible from all points. In contrast, network analysis enables more realistic accessibility assessments by incorporating road networks, obstacles, and actual travel routes.

Green Infrastructure Systems and Continuity

Green infrastructure is associated with principles such as multifunctionality, connectivity, integration, social interaction, and sustainability. This approach emphasizes that green spaces should be envisioned not as a sum of isolated components but as a network generating ecological and social functions at the urban scale.

A study of coastal cities indicates that green infrastructure investments can reduce risks through processes such as stormwater management, controlled water flow, and filtration, while also addressing social and economic sustainability dimensions. Such findings demonstrate that the principle of “connectivity” in green space design means not only establishing ecological corridors but also developing spatial strategies integrated with infrastructure processes.

Application Example: Green Infrastructure Integrated with Stormwater Management

In Portland, components such as stormwater downspouts, rain gardens, street tree plantings, permeable pavements, green streets, and green roofs have been integrated into the urban fabric. Some implementations have developed solutions to divert and store stormwater without routing it to the sewer system. This example is significant because it demonstrates how green space design, when considered alongside stormwater management, can directly enhance both ecological performance and urban infrastructure functionality.

Multi-Scale Planning, Standards, and Management

Green space design requires a multi-tiered planning approach extending from the entire city down to the neighborhood and parcel scale. Within this context, the inventory and analysis of green spaces during the zoning and development plan process must be conducted using numerous criteria including typology, size, form, population characteristics, socioeconomic structure, local identity, plant composition, landscape amenities, and materials. The quantitative adequacy of green spaces is directly linked to standards in planning regulations: “active green space” is defined as areas used for parks, children’s playgrounds, and sports facilities, and a standard of 10 m² of active green space per capita (comprising components such as children’s play areas, neighborhood–district parks, city parks, and sports facilities) has been adopted.^【1】However, it is noted that in many cities, these quantitative standards are not met and green spaces are unevenly distributed across neighborhoods. Therefore, standards should not be viewed merely as indicators of “quantity” but must be evaluated alongside qualitative criteria such as maintenance, accessibility, amenities, and safety.

As an example from Türkiye, it has been reported that in Uşak, the per capita amount of active green space at the city scale is calculated at 8.50 m² per person, still falling short of the 10 m² per capita standard.^【2】Furthermore, per capita green space values at the neighborhood level show significant variation across neighborhoods. Such findings indicate that in green space design, not only total square meters but also distribution and inequality dimensions must be evaluated.

Finally, this picture necessitates that green space design be addressed not merely through individual projects but through a holistic “green city” vision and long-term management strategies. Green infrastructure guides and policy documents prepared for local administrations define principles and steps aimed at establishing multifunctional, ecologically and socially inclusive networks at regional, urban, and neighborhood scales, contributing to policy objectives such as biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, and support for green economy.

Management and Sustainability

The continuity of green spaces is determined not only by the design and implementation phase but also by operational processes such as maintenance, cleaning, and amenity management. In Türkiye, user dissatisfaction is frequently linked to deficiencies in maintenance, cleaning, amenities, and safety, and these issues are associated with budget constraints and public space usage culture. Therefore, green space design must be considered alongside a sustainable maintenance and management framework.