Urban Green Areas – their functions under a changing lifestyle of ...

As showing in the Figure 2.1, some single
trees (Picture 2.7) and street-trees (green
lines shown by the less green colour
areas) improve local environment. In the
higher level (the neighbourhood unit)
most of UGAs are garden-trees. In the
inner-city there are some street-trees
which are not covered by the
construction-law of Vietnam.
Picture 2.7: Tree with name and
registered number.
Source: own picture (2012)
Within a ward, there are also park-trees in addition to the street-trees, and garden-trees.
Those UGAs’ have the functions of improving environmental quality and satisfying the
recreational needs of the residents. The average area of each park is from one to six ha. In a
district unit, there is a central park with multiple functions. This central park has elements
of multi-functional parks, in terms of standard green area (5-7 m 2 / person), total area (40-
100 ha in district and small towns, 50-240 ha in larger district towns).
Under such a structure, in large urban areas, city-parks play a multifunctional role of
environmental improvement and recreation service for local people. The area of a city-park,
which serves the city’s residents, is about 10-100 km 2 .
Parks & gardens
In this research, parks and gardens are mostly focused on. Very often parks and gardens are
not distinguished by names. For example, Versailles sometimes is named as park,
sometimes is named as garden.
Parks are well defined by DUNNETT (2002: 51): “Park – the basic unit of urban
recreational area, which is larger than 2 ha. Comprises the green space, together with a
planned path structure and different organized leisure areas, is well equipped, able to
receive large numbers of visitors and to accommodate public events. Park usually includes
water features such as lakes, streams, fountains and diversified forms of greenery with
different sized groups of trees shrubs, flower beds, meadows, laws, etc”.
EVERT (2001: 463) gives an overview with clear definitions of parks & gardens. He
indicates that in Europe, areas of open space are characterized by tree cover and extensive
areas of lawn or meadow, which has been designated for preservation of natural features
and/or for public or private recreational use. While in US, a natural or man-made area with
trees and meadows is preserved and managed for its scenic and recreational benefit. A
garden, in this view, is an area of land planted and cultivated with ornamental plants, fruits
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