Exeter has come prime of a listing of city centres in Britain based mostly on its “green” credentials, together with timber and parks.
The metropolis is adopted by Islington, Bristol, Bournemouth and Cambridge, in response to analysis by the University of Sheffield.
Meanwhile, Glasgow was ranked the least “green” metropolis centre in response to the examine’s standards, with Middlesbrough, Sheffield, Liverpool, and Leeds, making up the underside 5.
Scientists checked out 68 locations throughout England, Scotland and Wales – with populations of at the very least 100,000 – rating them on tree cowl, vegetation and parks within the metropolis centres.
While earlier research have regarded on the “greenness” of complete cities, together with suburban areas, that is the primary to focus particularly on the center of cities.
Dr Paul Brindley, from the college’s division of panorama structure, stated: “By 2050 nearly 70 per cent of the world’s population are projected to be living in towns and cities,” including that inexperienced areas “boost people’s wellbeing and are essential to biodiversity“.
All 5 of the “greenest” metropolis centres are within the South of Britain, while the 5 metropolis centres with the least inexperienced attributes are within the North. Dr Brindley stated this “clearly highlights the need to urgently improve the greenness of city centres at the bottom of the list”.
The analysis – revealed within the journal Plos One – additionally uncovered a hyperlink between a decrease “greenness” rating and better ranges of deprivation.
But not everybody agrees with the examine, together with Glasgow – which was ranked backside.
A metropolis council spokesperson informed Sky News: “The very specific and narrow parameters used in this report do not give a true picture of green space and trees in the city centre.
“The metropolis has a well-deserved popularity as a spot with an excessive amount of greenspace, with 20% of the land within the metropolis being precisely that.”
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History also plays an important factor in the ranking of some places as the research examined urban centres – the focus of work, leisure and shopping – and not predominately suburbs where people live.
Many websites in northern Britain grew round commerce, commerce and business, which formed their metropolis centres, however employees typically lived within the suburbs and had entry to inexperienced areas.
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