Guidance The urban area
Index section The urban area
- Subsection: The urban area: bricking over
- Subsection: Parks and gardens maintenance
Introduction
In urban areas the original landscape has all but vanished and has been replaced by buildings, streets, paving, gardens, parks, verges, graveyards, derelict ground, wharves, ponds, canals and ditches. And in towns in the lowest parts of the Netherlands, civil engineers have covered most of the original clayey or peaty soils with a layer of sand.
Throughout the year the climate in towns and cities is several degrees warmer than in the countryside. And the urban habitat is drier, because rainwater is discharged rapidly. In towns and cities there is always disturbance: construction, demolition, excavation, raising up, trampling, paving, hoeing, polluting, etc. As a result, it is generally the more resilient species that survive.
In the last 20 years in particular there has been a spectacular increase in the land use category "urban area". This category includes the motorways, railway tracks, industrial estates and harbour complexes outside the towns and cities.
Bricking over of city areas
In inner city areas there are fewer derelict and unused areas left. In the centre of Utrecht, for example, at least 78% of the area is under buildings or roads. This is probably why certain bird species, including the house sparrow, are finding it more difficult to survive than before. Other bird species are increasing, however: woodland species such as the blue tit are increasing in the parks and gardens, because the plantings have matured.
Parks and garden maintenance
The parks and gardens maintenance of some municipalities does take account of wildlife. Butterflies benefit from the measures of wildlife-friendly management of roadside verges, and the wildlife-friendly construction of canal banks, benefits dragonflies. And in Maastricht, the historic fortifications are being managed with an eye to the wall lizard, which has responded by increasing in numbers.
References
- CBS (2002). Statistiek bestrijdingsmiddelengebruik overheid. CBS. Voorburg/Heerlen.
- Farjon, J.M.J., N.F.C. Hazeldonk en W.J.C. Hoefnagel (1997). Verkenning Natuur en Verstedelijking 1995-2000. Achtergronddocument 10 van Natuurverkenning '97. IKC-Natuurbeheer. Wageningen.
- Halm, H. van der et al. (red.) (2001) De wilde stad. 100 jaar natuur in Amsterdam. KNNV Uitgeverij. Utrecht.
- Reumer, J.W.F. (2000). Stadsecologie; de stedelijke omgeving als ecosysteem. Natuurmuseum. Rotterdam.
