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<p>Urban Public Green Spaces (UPGS) play essential roles in ecological resilience, climate adaptation, and socio-environmental equity, yet their sustainability in semi-arid cities remains insufficiently understood. This study applies an integrated framework combining multi-temporal remote sensing, climatic drought assessment, and socioeconomic indicators to evaluate UPGS vegetation health, water sustainability, and spatial equity in Mashhad, Iran. Five Vegetation Indices (VIs) were analyzed against the Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) across multiple timescales. Correlations between VIs and drought were weak (maximum r = 0.284 for MSAVI2 at 24 months), indicating that intensive irrigation and local management practices largely mask climatic signals. Despite year-round irrigation, vegetation cover has continued to decline, reflecting dependence on diminishing groundwater resources, suboptimal irrigation efficiency, and potentially unsuitable species composition—though species-level data remain a limitation of this study. To integrate ecological and equity dimensions, we developed a Total Integrated Score (TIS) for 13 administrative districts, revealing pronounced spatial disparities (range: 52–155). District 11 exhibited the strongest combined performance, whereas District 1 showed the lowest TIS despite being adjacent to major UPGS, underscoring significant accessibility and distributional inequities. These findings highlight a growing sustainability risk: current irrigation-dependent management neither stabilizes vegetation health nor ensures equitable green space provision. The study emphasizes the need for drought-tolerant landscaping, diversified water strategies, and justice-oriented planning to strengthen resilience in semi-arid urban environments.</p>

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Urban public green spaces in semi-arid cities: integrating vegetation health, water sustainability, and environmental justice in Mashhad, Iran

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月6日

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  • Mohammad Gholami,
  • Mahdi Kolahi

摘要

Urban Public Green Spaces (UPGS) play essential roles in ecological resilience, climate adaptation, and socio-environmental equity, yet their sustainability in semi-arid cities remains insufficiently understood. This study applies an integrated framework combining multi-temporal remote sensing, climatic drought assessment, and socioeconomic indicators to evaluate UPGS vegetation health, water sustainability, and spatial equity in Mashhad, Iran. Five Vegetation Indices (VIs) were analyzed against the Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) across multiple timescales. Correlations between VIs and drought were weak (maximum r = 0.284 for MSAVI2 at 24 months), indicating that intensive irrigation and local management practices largely mask climatic signals. Despite year-round irrigation, vegetation cover has continued to decline, reflecting dependence on diminishing groundwater resources, suboptimal irrigation efficiency, and potentially unsuitable species composition—though species-level data remain a limitation of this study. To integrate ecological and equity dimensions, we developed a Total Integrated Score (TIS) for 13 administrative districts, revealing pronounced spatial disparities (range: 52–155). District 11 exhibited the strongest combined performance, whereas District 1 showed the lowest TIS despite being adjacent to major UPGS, underscoring significant accessibility and distributional inequities. These findings highlight a growing sustainability risk: current irrigation-dependent management neither stabilizes vegetation health nor ensures equitable green space provision. The study emphasizes the need for drought-tolerant landscaping, diversified water strategies, and justice-oriented planning to strengthen resilience in semi-arid urban environments.