The Evaluation of the Urban Public Green Space evelopment Status and Development toward a Sustainable Development Using a Standard-Based Approach

Urban green spaces offer a wide range of functions which enhance the qualities of urban life and contribute to the sustainable development. Therefore, green space assessment is amongst the most important of all development processes for more democratic planning of green spaces. The evaluation of quantitative dimensions of green spaces can be addressed through conventional evaluation approaches, like the standard-based evaluation. Therefore, using the standard-based approach and multi criteria of sustainable development, this research evaluated the current status and distribution and the changes of public green spaces in Shiraz metropolitan area. The present study is an applied research project in terms of its objectives and has used a descriptive, analytic method. The data required for the present research has been collected through documentary study and has been measured and analyzed using GIS and SPSS software programs. The results indicated that due to the lack of accurate site planning, and subsequently inappropriate distribution and spatial inequality, and undesirable accessibility, the residents of each region should travel an average distance (600-1200 m) more than the required standards of neighborhood and local parks (400 m). The results were also indicative of the weak accessibility of regional parks, but the desirable distribution of district parks. About the per capita, not considering the inconsistency between the park per capita and the population of regions 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9, the result did not specify a perceptible difference between the park per capita of other regions and the specified standard. Moreover, although the development of public green spaces during the last decade (2001-2011) attempted to accomplish maximum accessibility, spatial justice, efficiency, it did not play a desirable role toward the goals of sustainable development.