Green City

Watch
User Guide
CONTENTS

▹ Introduction
▹ Indonesia assignment 2
▹ Process and methodology
▹ Indicator description
 1.
INTRODUCTION
Green City Watch
 “
In every walk with
nature one receives
far more than he
seeks.
(John Muir)

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 OBJECTIVELY IMPROVE UNCOVER SAVE MONEY DRIVE
MONITOR URBAN PERFORMANCE IN IMPROVEMENTS AND REDUCE EVIDENCE-BASED
ECOSYSTEMS NEAR REAL-TIME WITH INSIGHTS INEFFICIENCIES ACTION PLANS
DRIVING BETTER
DECISIONS
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Green City Watch provides a near

real-time analysis of a city’s green
space functionality to simplify
decision-making about the quality
of these public spaces.
 2.
ASSIGNMENT
Indonesia
 Indonesia

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26
Indonesian cities selected
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12.300.000
People live in these cities
 3.
PROCESS AND
METHODOLOGY
Mapping quality
MAPPING
QUALITY 11

Green City Watch

provides an index
that is as good as
the one established
in the field.
OUR PROCESS

High 12
resolution Machine Urban
satellite learning green
Evidence-based
imagery and image space
indicators
and Open processing quality
Street Map algorithms scorecard
dataset
THREE SCORING ASPECTS

Ecological
Enthusiasm for urban greening is at a high point,
and rightly so. Ecological studies highlight urban 13

nature contributes to conserving biodiversity,

moderating the heat island effect, and filtering
dust and pollutants from the air. Hence, this helps
cities adapt to, and reduce the consequences of,
climate change.
THREE SCORING ASPECTS

Social
Increasingly, urban nature is also recognised as an
important social determinant of health, with the 14

potential to protect mental health—as well as

relieving the symptom severity of specific
psychiatric disorders. It can also reduce morbidity
and mortality in urban residents by stimulating
social cohesion, supporting physical activity, and
reducing exposure to air pollutants, noise and
excessive heat.
THREE SCORING ASPECTS

Economic
The presence of green space affects an urban
region in many different ways: the economic 15

impacts of which are not straightforward to

quantify. Economic benefits include job creation,
property price inflation, and the indirect benefits
to local economies by encouraging further
investment and development in the area. The
monetary value of the ecosystem services a park
offers are also included.
 3.
INDICATOR
DESCRIPTION
Underlying the
classification index
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
Dimension Measurement Score range

1 = 0 - 1 (bare ground), 2 = 1 - 2, 3 = 2 - 3, 4 = 3 - 4, 5 = 4 - 7 (very

Temperature regulation Leaf Area Index
dense forest)
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1= 0-10 m, 2 = 10-20 m, 3 = 20-30 m, 4 = 30-40 m, 5 = >40 m in

Temperature regulation Width of blue space in a park
width

1 = 0-20% green coverage, 2 = 20-40% green coverage, 3 =

Stormwater capture potential based
Infiltration capacity 40-60% green coverage, 4 = 60-80% green coverage, 5 = 80-100%
off total % green space: trees/grass
green coverage

% of total green within a riparian zone that is 20 m in width, 1 =

0-20% green coverage, 2 = 20-40% green coverage, 3 = 40-60%
Infiltration capacity Vegetation in riparian buffer zone
green coverage, 4 = 60-80% green coverage, 5 = 80-100% green
coverage
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
Rationale for measurement
Several studies have reported the cooling effect of trees with dense foliage in urban areas (Dimoudi & Nikolopoulou, 2003; Hiraoka, 2005; Simpson, 2002).
Leaf Area
Lin and his colleague (2010) found foliage density to offer the greatest contribution to surface-soil cooling foliage density. As a result, high Leaf Area Index
Index (LAI) is expected to offer greater cooling than a lower LAI.
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Width of blue Zhu et al. (2011) reported that a blue space of 40 m yields significant and stable effects of decreasing temperatures and increasing humidity in surrounding
space in a area. Whereas, 30 m width indicated noticeable but not significant effects on cooling. Therefore, anything less than 30 m is likely to not provide impact. As
park such, the scoring is based off these suggested widths and their associated impact.

Stormwater The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection stress that vegetation in parks provides essential services regarding stormwater and water
capture infiltration management. The scoring represents five percentage categories based on the percentage of total green in a park environment. The highest
potential percentage grade therefore indicates the park with the highest water infiltration potential

Width of According to Hawes & Smith (2005), a suggested optimal amount of buffer width for an area, an average width of 10m is suggested to prevent erosion and
surface runoff. We can apply this to parks that are roughly 2 ha in size. As we consider 10 m in width to be the minimum/ average, we consider double (20 m)
riparian buffer this to be a high score (5). It was not possible to measure the complete width of a riparian zone since spatially, such zones are comprised of different
zone elements, so we designed this indicator to measure the total percentage of green within an optimal riparian zone width of 20 m from adjacent water bodies.
SOCIAL INDICATORS
Dimension Measurement Score range
Presence of amenity and recreational
facilities as defined in Open Street
Map: #u'Toilets' #u'Bench' #u'Picnic 1 = 0-20% of amenity and recreational facility list (see 19
Amenities and recreational
Table' #u'Fountain #u'Waste Basket' "measurement"), 2 = 20-40%, 3 = 40-60%, 4 = 60-80%, 5 =
facilities
#u'Drinking Water' #u'Water Point' 80-100%
#u'Pitch' #u'Cafe' #u'Playground'
#u'Restaurant #u'Retail'

Greenness in winter NDVI range 1 = 1-0.8, 2 = 0.8-0.6, 3 = 0.6-0.4, 4 = 0.4-0.2, 5 = 0.2-0 (NDVI range)

Gray versus green Green:paved ratio 1 = < 3:7, 2= 4:6, 3= 5:5, 4 = 6:4, 5 = > 7:3 (green:paved)
SOCIAL INDICATORS
Rationale for measurement
Taylor et al. (2011) identified various features of parks that influenced a public green space to be deemed as being of high
quality. Among these features, several types of amenities and recreational facilities are identified; formal organized sport
Amenities and
activity facilities (ex. sports fields, goals, nets, etc.), informal sport activity areas (walking paths, playgrounds, basketball 20
recreational
courts etc.), various types of amenities (ex. water points, waste bins, picnic tables, toilets, benches etc). Therefore, based
facilities
off of these types of amenities, we formulated our indicator scoring around the basis of the amount of such amenities and
recreational facilities present.

Several studies (Pakzad et al., 2017; Ten Brink et al., 2016; Kabisch et al., 2016; Grahn & Stigdotter, 2010) indicate that having
Greenness in nature and greenery close to the living environment is beneficial for the physical and mental health of residents considering
winter reduced mortality, cardiovascular diseases, stress levels, allergies and mental illness. It is especially important to maintain
these benefits during winter.

Gray versus Marcus and Barnes (1995) found the most effective layout of hospital gardens for mental and physical well-being to be a 7:3
green ratio of green:paved. The ideal ratio for a city park has been extrapolated from this same ratio.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Dimension Measurement Score range

Economic value 1 = 500-1,000 trees *$50; 2 = 1,000-1,500 *$50; 3 = 1,500-5,000

Monetary value (US dollars) of a park
of ecosystem services *$50; 4 = 5,000 - 10,000 * $50; 5 = 10,000+ *$50,-
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ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Rationale for measurement
Economic
Maco and McPherson (2003) used Davis, California (USA) as a model to assess the monetary benefit of the city's public and
value of
private trees. They found that Davis maintained nearly 24,000 public streets that provided $1.2 million in net annual
ecosystem 22
environmental and property value, or $50 per tree. This was extrapolated to estimate the economical value of one park.
services
 “
The nation behaves well if it
treats its natural resources
as assets which it must turn
over to the next generation
increased, and not impaired,
in value.

(Theodore Roosevelt)

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CONTACT US
Nadine Galle
w: greencitywatch.org
e: nadinejgalle@gmail.com