Benefits From Urban Green in Guatemala City

Abstract

Latin America and Caribbean is the one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the world and their cities are facing many challenges related to the environment, the negative effects of climate change, their legacies of high social inequality and their precarious settlements. As climate change enhance the risks of these cities, they also pose challenges for urban planning and for new trajectories towards sustainable futures. Urban sustainability is rooted in the green part of the city: their urban ecosystems, which deliver many benefits to citizens and provide resources and habitat for other beings too.

Urbanization processes are not universal, they have shared outcomes and driving forces but the concrete material objects of these: the cities, are unique in their history and characteristics. Urban nature in cities is product of urbanization processes and are key urban spaces in which relations with other species and with other citizens occur. They are known as urban green and provide many benefits know as ecosystem services that enhance the quality of life and support material conditions for living in cities.

This dissertation aimed to understand the importance of urban green in a Central American city. The study case is Guatemala City. The structure of the dissertation starts with the introduction in which theoretical aspects are reviewed that were the base of the methods and framework chosen. The second chapter through the fourth, are published and submitted papers in peer reviewed journals, and the last one is the synthesis of findings.

Second chapter shows the historical development of urban green in the city through socioecological lenses. Is an historical account on how urban green dynamics occurred simultaneously with urbanization processes and the current socio-ecological problems found in the city. Third chapter discusses the identification of the urban green spaces that form part of the urban green fabric in Guatemala City. This chapter also reveals some spatial patterns inside the city’s zones that lead to suggest some actions in urban planning. The fourth chapter is related to where are the benefits provided by the urban green fabric. Spatial models show the location of the supply and demand of six ecosystem services prioritized by different stakeholders. It also shows the relationships between land value and supply of these services in order to understand issues related to who benefits more in the city from the urban green.

The last chapter discuss the major findings of Guatemala City’s urban green in terms of history, characteristics, spatial pattern, management and planning implications. The chapter finalizes with a discussion of new questions that emerged from this work and future path for research on the urban ecology of the city and finally, arguments towards urban sustainability.