Is urban sprawl linked to green space availability?

Acknowledging urban sprawl as one of the major threats to the functioning of urban environments, the article focuses on its possible association with urban green spaces (UGS). UGS can act as an attracting factor influencing housing demand in cities. However, the spatial distribution of UGS may affect sprawling dynamics. Therefore, the analysis focuses on finding linkages between urban sprawl and green space availability within three concentric zones of the city of Lodz. Hotspot analysis has been used as a method to describe sprawling dynamics in relation to UGS availability. UGS availability was defined as a percentage of the area of parks and forests in a 1000 m buffer. The results showed that the highest UGS availability in the peripheral zone of the city was linked to an increase in the number of residents between 2000 and 2015. The peripheral zone was also characterized by stronger clustering of hotspots of residential density. Starting from the peripheral zone, UGS availability was 6.01%, 3.45% and 2.86% of the area of each respective zone. ANOVA analysis confirmed that the average availability of UGS for newly registered residential buildings differs statistically between the rings at the 0.05 level. While most urban residents still live within the central (yet continuously depopulating) zone, it is characterized by the smallest UGS availability (2.86% covered by UGS), which might raise concerns regarding the occurrence of possible environmental injustice in terms of uneven access to benefits provided by UGS. Hotspot analysis can provide valuable input into the discussion regarding the application of specific spatially targeted measures, for the sake of sustainable urban planning.