THE IMPORTANCE OF GREEN SPACES AND SOIL QUALITY IN THE URBAN ECOSYSTEM – A PRELIMINARY CASE STUDY: CLUJ-NAPOCA MUNICIPALITY

The rapid expansion of urban spaces in Romania’s major cities has led to various problems such as land-use changes, new patterns of regional attractiveness, landscape fragmentation, environmental impacts, and the depletion of natural resources like natural land and local native soils. This has resulted in an important change in the dynamics, quality, and quantity of urban green spaces, ecosystems, and local native soils. The importance of green spaces and soil quality in the urban ecosystem is significant for various environmental, social, and economic reasons. To determine whether the urban ecosystem is green and friendly, we conducted a preliminary study to quantify the extent and quality of green spaces in Cluj-Napoca. We also compared this data with various European data. Additionally, we preliminary analysed the soil quality in Cluj-Napoca’s two major urban parks to determine whether urbanization has a positive or negative impact on soil quality.