Índices de áreas verdes e a relação com dados socioeconômicos em Recife/PE

Abstract

Urban growth consolidated in concrete, together with the continuous suppression of vegetation, contributes to the deterioration of environmental conditions and is directly linked to a lower quality of life. The index of public green areas (IAVP) is fundamental for assessing the quality of urban life and the well-being of the population, where the vast majority of open spaces are not incorporated for the low-income population. In this study, we sought to analyze the distribution of green area indices and their relationship with socio-economic data, supporting urban forest planning in Recife-PE. To achieve this goal, it was essential to use shapefile data representing green areas, such as squares and parks, together with socio-economic information, enabling correlation calculations to be carried out. The city of Recife has 462 green areas that are classified as Green Areas for Living, Recreation, Sport or Leisure - AVCEL, totaling 227.34 ha (21 parks and 441 squares), with an index of squares per inhabitant (IAPH) of 1.48 m²/inhabitant. The IAPH ranged from 0.44 to 3.45 among the Political-Administrative Regions (RPAs), with RPA 6 having the highest number of green areas (114), but one of the lowest rates of square areas per region (IAPR) with 0.97% and an IAPH of 1.06, showing that the number of green areas in the region is not correlated with the green area rates. Only 5 neighborhoods have AVCEL values above 15 m²/inhabitant, i.e. 94.70% of the neighborhoods do not meet the criteria determined by the Brazilian Society of Urban Afforestation (SBAU). The majority of AVCELs are concentrated in 14 neighborhoods, which comprise more than 50% of all areas in the city. Around 5.56% of the inhabitants of the city of Recife-PE do not have access to AVCELs in their neighborhoods. The Spearman correlation revealed that the average nominal monthly household income (RNMD) in RPA 3 showed moderate positive correlations with AVCEL (0.4936), IAPH (0.5367) and IAPB (0.5277), indicating that neighborhoods with higher incomes tend to have more green areas and public spaces, and a moderate negative correlation with the number of inhabitants (-0.5118), suggesting that wealthier neighborhoods tend to have lower population density. The unequal distribution of these areas directly influences the socio-economic disparities between the city's neighborhoods, identifying patterns in the distribution of green areas that highlight the importance of sustainable and inclusive urban planning.