The Presence of Green Spaces and Its Perceived Effects in Climate Change

The presence of green space refers to the existence and accessibility of vegetated plots like gardens, parks, and landscaped areas in an environment. Green spaces provide several ecological and social services, such as the regulation of temperature, improving air quality, maintaining biodiversity, and providing recreational space for society. Climate change posed a chronic and deepening global issue, affecting the Philippines considerably through increasing temperatures, changed precipitation patterns, and amplified weather events. With several mitigation measures of climate change in place, the contribution of urban green spaces, green roofs, gardens, and parks towards improving environmental quality and constructing climate resilience was widely acknowledged. This study correlated the presence of green spaces and their perceived change in temperature, pollutants, and biodiversity. In studying community perceptions in the context of the Mapúa community, the Intramuros and Makati campuses, through a survey of 300 people, this study aimed to know how urban residents viewed the effectiveness of green spaces in managing climate-related issues. The Spearman's rho correlation analysis results identified positive and significant relationships between the perceived availability of green spaces and their perceived influence in mitigating the effects of climate change across the three dimensions: perceived change in temperature, perceived change in air pollutants, and perceived change in biodiversity. The findings validated that public knowledge and acceptance of green infrastructure directly reflected scientifically derived environmental advantages. We may assume that the occurrence of green space in cities positively influenced climate change reduction through the improvement of biodiversity, air quality, and urban heat reduction.