Grönytor i Tibro tätort : Förändring över tid och framtida klimatutmaningar

Anthropogenic activities are the main causes of climate change, leading to global warming that contributes increase in extreme weather. At the same time, climate change and anthropogenic activities are threatening biodiversity, which is essential for resilience and functional ecosystems. As biodiversity declines, ecosystems lose their ability to deliver vital ecosystem services. Green infrastructure plays an important role in urban climate adaption by supporting biodiversity, strengthening ecosystem resilience and mitigating climate impacts. This study investigates how green spaces in Tibro urban area have change from the 1960s to today, and explores their role in a changing climate. Geographical data were processed in QGIS, where urban areas and green spaces were constructed for each time period. The area of green spaces was calculated and a complementary statistical analysis was performed in RStudio. A small literature review was conducted to explore future extreme weather in Sweden, and the climate adaption functions of green spaces. A total of 168 green spaces were identified in 1960, compared to 329 today. In 1960, green spaces made up about 29% of the urban area, compared to 27% today. The Mann-Whitney-U test showed a significant difference in green space area of green spaces between the time periods (p<0,05). The study shows that green spaces have increased in number, but become smaller and more dispersed. The proportion of green space has decreased in relation to the urban area. Urbanisation and changes in land use are assumed to be the reason for this development. A variety of small and large green spaces is considered to be most favourable to biodiversity. In Sweden, more intense extreme weather is expected in the future. The importance of large and varied green spaces is emphasised for climate adaptation.