District green – condition 2019

The geodata layer ‘urban green’ contains all clusters of publicly accessible green space with a minimum area of 30 ha. This geodata layer was obtained through the selection of all ‘green areas’ based on the land use map (State 2019). These green areas were clustered algorithmically based on contiguousness, including physical barriers. Then only those green areas were preserved which borders on a public road accessible on foot. Based on this, five raster layers (resolution 10x10m²) were drawn up where clusters were selected per function level based on a minimum surface area: neighbourhood green (> 0.2 ha); district green (> 10 ha); district green (> 30 ha); urban green (> 60 ha); city forest (> 200 ha). The selected clusters with a higher function level are therefore always a subset of the selected clusters of a lower function level. Attention, due to the method used, the green type ‘city forest’ consists not only of forest, but of different types of green space. More information can be found in this background document: https://archief-algemeen.omgeving.vlaanderen.be/xmlui/bitstream/handle/acd/768624/Groentypo_2019.pdf The presence of green has a positive effect on a number of different aspects that determine a qualitative living environment. This includes a positive effect on physical, mental and social health, but also biodiversity, climate resilience, landscape quality,... A common Flemish reference framework (introduced in MIRA-S 2000) to assess the availability of green space states that every resident should have access to neighbourhood green at a maximum of 400 m, district green at up to 800 m, district green at up to 1 600 m, urban green at maximum 3 200 m and urban forest at up to 5 000 m. This data layer allows, among other things, to calculate the number of inhabitants in a given area that has access to district green, taking into account the maximum distance mentioned above.