Sprawl is a known and widespread challenge for rapidly growing cities across the world. Unplanned, inefficient development encroaches on natural resources and ecosystems, often reaching far beyond established transit networks. Residents of sprawling urban areas often face socioeconomic vulnerabilities and limited access to essential urban services like employment, healthcare and education. Additionally, they are frequently deprived of access to quality-of-life amenities like green spaces, parks and urban forests. 

For example, in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, most residents of Mérida cannot access a green space within a 15-minute journey from home. Urban sprawl is to blame: Since 1990, new investment has poured into the once rural Mérida, propelling mass development, urbanization and tourism. As the population continued to grow and the cost of living continued to climb, low-income residents were pushed from Mérida’s urban core to the city’s periphery.

The pressure for more housing continues to mount in the city, overshadowing the dire need to expand green spaces and increase biodiversity to create a climate-resilient, sustainable Mérida. But as Mérida continues to grow, there is still time to course-correct and re-prioritize access to urban green spaces, alongside development. Adding ample green spaces, like parks and community gardens, can improve Mérida’s climate resilience by cooling neighborhoods, absorbing excess stormwater and providing opportunities for communities to gather – a vital component of resilience, especially for vulnerable communities.

Why Is Proximity to Green Spaces Important for Cities and Their Residents?

To adequately assess access to urban green spaces, it is imperative to understand urban proximity: the geographical and temporal location of people, services and events. Proximity contributes to a city’s efficiency, sustainability and livability. For urban planners, there are two competing schools of thought used to address proximity: the “15-minute city” and the “hyperconnected city.”

A 2021-2022 WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities finalist, the 15-minute city model thinks about cities in terms of time and daily and seasonal rhythms. Its key ambition is to “repair” car-centric cities by moving toward a model of mixed-use neighborhoods where residents are within 15 minutes to essential services – including work, school, grocery stores, pharmacies and more – using non-polluting forms of transportation, such as walking, biking or public transport.

Hyperconnected cities leverage technology to connect key urban systems. They rely on robust transportation systems to efficiently bring residents in and out of urban centers and downtowns where residents can easily access multiple urban services. However, how hyperconnected cities are created is important. Cities have the option to promote continuous road construction to increase access to urban centers (ultimately increasing carbon emissions and demand for private vehicles) or redistribute road space to active mobility and public transit infrastructure.

But which is best? Should cities like Mérida invest in the hyperconnected model, which tries to solve acute spatial inequalities with robust transportation networks, or in the 15-minute city model, which bases proximity in land-use planning to minimize the distance from crucial urban services? For many core urban services, city planners could consider an either/or approach to these models of proximity. But when it comes to public green spaces, both proximity and connectivity are crucial.

A Tale of Three Cities: Access to Green Spaces in Barranquilla, Kigali and Mérida

Mérida is not alone in facing the challenges of urban sprawl and inequitable access to green spaces. Similar in size, population and subjection to unplanned development, Kigali and Barranquilla face similar situations. To illustrate how cities can take stock of their green space distribution and plan for more equitable access, experts working on WRI’s Deep Dive Cities Initiative analyzed data and experiences from these three cities to demonstrate how this effort could unfold across different geographies.

Building on previous research performed by WRI’s Deep Dive Cities Initiative that used the Urban Inequality Index to measure access to nurseries and pre-kindergarten programs in Guadalajara and Monterrey, WRI México experts used the same methodology to analyze public access to green spaces. Additionally, since green spaces can be defined differently in different contexts, for this analysis WRI utilized the “3+30+300” principle to define public green spaces as areas that have at least 30% tree cover.

Our analysis finds that Barranquilla has the most available and accessible green spaces, with over 200 small- to medium-sized parks spread throughout the city. Mérida’s green spaces, though comparable in availability to Barranquilla, are less accessible, possibly due to unequal distribution, proximity to low-density housing and lack of public transport connectivity. Kigali shows a more generalized lack of green spaces overall.

Due to urban sprawl, residents in the peripheries of all three cities have limited access to green spaces when compared with residents of their city’s urban core. Only some neighborhoods have access to green spaces within a 15-minute journey; therefore, when faced with extreme temperatures, residents living near the periphery do not have the same access to green spaces that could allow them to cool off and take shelter.

But despite their challenges, these three cities are already making strides to increase green spaces. Kigali is working to restore over 120 hectares of wetlands; Barranquilla’s “Todos al Parque” initiative is expanding the city’s parks network and Mérida recently planted over 100,000 trees and announced plans to create green transport corridors across the city.

To Build Climate-Resilient and Equitable Cities, Bottom-Up Development Solutions Are Best

The question now facing cities like Mérida, Barranquilla, and Kigali is what to do about disparities in green space access. Which model of compact development, the 15-minute city or the hyperconnected city, will increase availability of and access to green spaces?

In Latin America‘s already hyperconnected cities – like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Bogotá – residents can easily reach core urban services like jobs but often lack that same access to amenities that improve quality of life like green spaces, parks and community centers. In contrast, 15-minute cities like Paris emphasize greater proximity to all urban services but struggle to maintain equity across neighborhoods.

Our analysis shows that there are benefits to both models – and that successful implementation requires locally-tailored solutions. Cities must utilize a combination of local development solutions, but the specific solutions (and the right combinations of solutions) will vary based on local context and geography. Some cities may have ample land to create new green spaces, some may not. Some cities may have existing public transit systems they just need to improve, while some cities will need to envision entire transit systems from scratch. There simply is no one-size-fits-all solution.

To make the most informed decisions on how best to combat urban sprawl and unequitable access to green spaces, cities require reliable data and technical assistance – and WRI’s Deep Dive Cities Initiative does just this. We build long-term relationships with cities who want to lead the way on climate resilience and sustainable development, providing valuable data, analysis and expertise along the way. By working with cities one-on-one for a sustained period of time, we are able to intricately understand local contexts and geographies to help cities select and implement the best development solutions.

Mauricio Brito is Urban Development Analyst at WRI México.

Alí Gallegos is Junior Urban Development Analyst at WRI México.

Pablo Lazo is Director of Urban Development at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

Gorka Zubicaray is Urban Development Senior Technical Specialist at WRI México.

Madeline Palmieri is Urban Development & Data Communications Associate at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.