The use of green spaces. Case study in three Spanish cities

Abstract

In a world increasingly more urbanized green spaces are sometimes for citizens, their only contact with nature.
These urban areas provide some benefits for the inhabitants and to the environment of the city, offering the possibility to practice some activities of leisure and coexistence close to their residences. However, when the authorities have to design green spaces, they sometimes use patterns strongly influenced by subjective aesthetic values and by the fashion of particular time. The aim of this paper is identify people who visit green urban spaces of three Spanish cities: Salamanca, Valladolid and Zamora, located in the region of Castilla and Leon.
The users of these spaces were stratified considering age, gender, occupation, frequency and hour of visits. It also analyzed and compared their activities between the large age groups.