Evaluation of The Quality of Green Spaces and Their Future Perspectives in “Shrinking Cities”: A Case Study selected sites of Humenné, Strážske and Vranov nad Topľou
Abstract: The current challenge for urban practice and local government is to find strategies to revive shrinking cities to increase the quality of life of citizens. Greening the unused land and brownfields is an effective way to do it. The article is based on previous research published at DOCONF 2021, where we focused on mapping lost spaces to identify potential green urban infrastructure. Poor quality of residential greenery on housing estates from the socialist era was the biggest shortcoming. The aim of this article is to set the criteria for evaluation of the quality of green spaces, to evaluate their quality and to identify the perspectives of reviving selected green spaces. The method is based on results from previous research from which we selected three sites as a case studies. We mapped these sites during the field survey and, based on set criteria, evaluated the quality of green spaces. The proposed perspective solutions for their renewal are based on a literature review and divided into three categories: environmental, economical and recreational. The results presented in the paper show the high potential to revitalize the residential greenery using proposed solutions. In every town, we proposed a combination of mentioned categories offering the mixed use of public spaces. This should strengthen social ties in the local community, mitigate climate changes and provide fresh vegetable to the inhabitants. Local governments with small budgets could profit from proposed solutions with a high participation of inhabitants in the revitalization process and further maintenance.
