IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v14y2025i5p1077-d1656891.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing Fine-Scale Urban Green and Blue Infrastructure Change in Manchester, UK: A Spatiotemporal Analysis Framework to Support Environmental Land Use Management

Author

Listed:
  • Fraser Baker

    (Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, UK)

  • Graham Smith

    (Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, UK)

  • Stuart Marsden

    (Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, UK)

  • Gina Cavan

    (Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, UK)

Abstract

Understanding changes in urban green and blue infrastructure (UGBI) associated with land use management can inform planners on trends in environmental change that may impact urban resilience. While UGBI change resulting from land use conversion has received significant research interest, UGBI change within otherwise consistent land uses has received scant attention. This study developed a high-resolution spatiotemporal analysis framework to map fine-scale UGBI change across all land use classes in Manchester, UK, over a period (2000–2017) of significant population growth. The study found that UGBI declined in 17 out of 29 land use classes, with an overall city-wide UGBI loss of 11.9%, compared to UGBI gains for 6.4% of the city. Declines were most concerning in residential areas, which cover 33.6% of Manchester, as UGBI in these areas is important for delivering ecosystem services to citizens. Extrapolation of change rates indicate that two-thirds of future UGBI loss could occur in residential areas. These results provide insights into socio-economic processes which are likely to have similar implications for UGBI trends in other urban areas. Such knowledge is critical to inform land use planning and management to identify where UGBI is at risk and implement appropriate policies to reverse or minimise losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Fraser Baker & Graham Smith & Stuart Marsden & Gina Cavan, 2025. "Assessing Fine-Scale Urban Green and Blue Infrastructure Change in Manchester, UK: A Spatiotemporal Analysis Framework to Support Environmental Land Use Management," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-45, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:5:p:1077-:d:1656891
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/1077/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/1077/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Farina, Georges & Le Coënt, Philippe & Hérivaux, Cécile, 2024. "Do urban environmental inequalities influence demand for nature based solutions?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    2. Muhammed Kürşad Uçar & Majid Nour & Hatem Sindi & Kemal Polat, 2020. "The Effect of Training and Testing Process on Machine Learning in Biomedical Datasets," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2020, pages 1-17, May.
    3. Lam, Sharon T. & Conway, Tenley M., 2018. "Ecosystem services in urban land use planning policies: A case study of Ontario municipalities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 641-651.
    4. Cortinovis, Chiara & Geneletti, Davide, 2018. "Ecosystem services in urban plans: What is there, and what is still needed for better decisions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 298-312.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Esra Kut Görgün & Stefano Salata, 2025. "Settlement Expansion Versus Environmental Protection: Ecosystem Services for Environmental Regulation Planning in Izmir, Turkiye," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Jiří Schneider & Hana Kubíčková, 2020. "The State of the Art of Use of the Concept of Ecosystem Services within Spatial Plans in the Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Khoshkar, Sara & Hammer, Monica & Borgström, Sara & Dinnétz, Patrik & Balfors, Berit, 2020. "Moving from vision to action- integrating ecosystem services in the Swedish local planning context," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Silvia Ronchi, 2021. "Ecosystem Services for Planning: A Generic Recommendation or a Real Framework? Insights from a Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, June.
    5. Thompson, Kate & Sherren, Kate & Duinker, Peter N., 2019. "The use of ecosystem services concepts in Canadian municipal plans," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Tandarić, Neven & Ives, Christopher D. & Watkins, Charles, 2022. "From city in the park to “greenery in plant pots”: The influence of socialist and post-socialist planning on opportunities for cultural ecosystem services," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    7. Adams, Clare & Frantzeskaki, Niki & Moglia, Magnus, 2023. "Mainstreaming nature-based solutions in cities: A systematic literature review and a proposal for facilitating urban transitions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    8. González-García, Alberto & Palomo, Ignacio & González, José A. & López, César A. & Montes, Carlos, 2020. "Quantifying spatial supply-demand mismatches in ecosystem services provides insights for land-use planning," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Haojie Lian & Pengfei Sun & Zhuxuan Meng & Shengze Li & Peng Wang & Yilin Qu, 2023. "LIDAR Point Cloud Augmentation for Dusty Weather Based on a Physical Simulation," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Antonio Ledda & Marta Kubacka & Giovanna Calia & Sylwia Bródka & Vittorio Serra & Andrea De Montis, 2023. "Italy vs. Poland: A Comparative Analysis of Regional Planning System Attitudes toward Adaptation to Climate Changes and Green Infrastructures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Martí, Pablo & García-Mayor, Clara & Nolasco-Cirugeda, Almudena & Serrano-Estrada, Leticia, 2020. "Green infrastructure planning: Unveiling meaningful spaces through Foursquare users’ preferences," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    12. De Valck, Jeremy & Beames, Alistair & Liekens, Inge & Bettens, Maarten & Seuntjens, Piet & Broekx, Steven, 2019. "Valuing urban ecosystem services in sustainable brownfield redevelopment," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 139-149.
    13. Klimanova, O.A. & Bukvareva, E.N. & Yu, Kolbowsky E. & Illarionova, O.A., 2023. "Assessing ecosystem services in Russia: Case studies from four municipal districts," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    14. Calzolari, C. & Tarocco, P. & Lombardo, N. & Marchi, N. & Ungaro, F., 2020. "Assessing soil ecosystem services in urban and peri-urban areas: From urban soils survey to providing support tool for urban planning," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Eunjoung Lee & Gunwoo Kim, 2022. "Analysis of Domestic and International Green Infrastructure Research Trends from the ESG Perspective in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-18, June.
    16. Harald Zepp & Luis Inostroza, 2021. "Who Pays the Bill? Assessing Ecosystem Services Losses in an Urban Planning Context," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    17. Rodrigo Cuevas-Wizner & Antonio Ledda & Belén Martín & Emilio Ortega & Giovanna Calia & Andrea De Montis, 2024. "Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Changes: A Comparison between Sardinia, Italy and Valencia, Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-26, August.
    18. Bilyana Borisova & Lidiya Semerdzhieva & Stelian Dimitrov & Stoyan Valchev & Martin Iliev & Kristian Georgiev, 2024. "Geospatial Prioritization of Terrains for “Greening” Urban Infrastructure," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-23, September.
    19. Linrun Qiu & Yuxiang Dong & Hai Liu, 2022. "Integrating Ecosystem Services into Planning Practice: Situation, Challenges and Inspirations," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, April.
    20. Di Marino, Mina & Tiitu, Maija & Lapintie, Kimmo & Viinikka, Arto & Kopperoinen, Leena, 2019. "Integrating green infrastructure and ecosystem services in land use planning. Results from two Finnish case studies," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 643-656.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:5:p:1077-:d:1656891. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.