What is it about?
This study of the city of Surakarta, Indonesia, assesses the feasibility of the 3–30–300 green space rule: visibility of at least three trees from every building, 30 % neighborhood tree canopy cover, and 300 meter walking access to 0.5 hectare parks - using mapping and spatial analysis. The results show that only 29 % of buildings meet the visibility requirement, 2 % are in neighborhoods with 30 % canopy cover, and 25 % are within 300 m of an urban green space. However, accessibility to parks could increase to 79 % if all green spaces were fenceless. Our findings also highlight disparities in urban greening, as smaller residential buildings tend to have lower scores than larger office buildings. These results underscore the role of park governance in shaping access to green spaces and the persistent challenges of achieving the 3–30–300 targets.
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Why is it important?
This paper demonstrates that low cost measures such as fence removal can have a huge impact on access to urban green spaces, and quantifies disparities in urban greening in an understudied context.
Perspectives
This is one of my favourite articles for several reasons. Aside from the enjoyable collaboration with the co-authors, it is always satisfying to find an interesting angle after having analysed data for a while. Luthfi and Gabriel started this project as part of a spatial analysis course, and had approached the analysis in different ways which allowed them to become familiar with the data and the studied phenomenon. This goes to show that good research needs time to evolve to reach its full potential - you never know what you'll end up finding. Another reason is the simplicity of the solution to the planning problem - it is not necessarily that we always need to invest in creating more urban green spaces. Sometimes it's enough to improve the access or quality of those already available.
Daniella Vos
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Parks Please! Implementing the 3–30-300 green space rule in developing countries − The case of Surakarta, Indonesia, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, May 2025, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.ufug.2025.128797.
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