Abstract:
Green spaces are an essential component in urban infrastructure and their
heterogeneity influence the services they provide to mankind. During the
last five year period a significant change in the landscape of City of Colombo
was observed as many improvements were incorporated into various
components of its infrastructure. We mapped vegetation cover of green
spaces in 47 wards in the City of Colombo in 2010 and 2015 using Google
Earth, ArcGIS 10.3 and ArcMap software and assessed their change in
extent. In 2015 street trees, and vegetation in residential and commercial
areas covered 86.06% of the city area while amenity and green open areas
(such as lawns and playgrounds) covered 5.50 %. Cinnamon Gardens
exhibited the highest cover for both these vegetation types. Patchy mix
vegetation cover of the City was 4.49% and the highest extent was observed
in Fort. Mattakkuliya had the highest extent of lake and canals, and
associated wetlands which showed a city wide cover of 3.3%. Scattered
patches of abandoned paddy fields and related marsh cover were highest in
Kirullapone ward. Between 2010-2015 the total extent of green spaces in
Colombo City has not been significantly changed, instead changes among
vegetation types were identified. These included a 1.5% decrease in open
green areas, patchy mixed vegetation, marshlands and a slight increase
(>0.5% %) in vegetation at roadside, residential, commercial and amenity
areas. A remarkable reduction of 13.26% in green spaces was reported from
Modara while 3-6% decrease was reported from Thimbirigasyaya,
Bambalapitiya, and Kirullapone wards. A 5-25% improvement of green
spaces was reported in Panchikawatte, Pamankada, Kotahena West and
East, Lunupokuna and Bloemendhal wards. While reflecting the recent
changes in landscape in Colombo wards, this paper also highlights the need
of strategic improvement of different vegetation types to receive optimum
services and values from city’s green spaces. Thus, it is expected that
findings of this work will be used for planning of further modifications to the
existing landscape in the City of Colombo.
Citation:
De Silva, K. H. D.W., Ranwala, S.M.W., & Gunawardene, A., (2016). Loss or gained? an analysis of green spaces in city of colombo between 2010-2015. In J. Wijesundara, & R. Dayaratne,(Eds.). Proceedings of the International Conference on Cities, People and Places ICCPP 2016. (pp. 121-128). Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa.