The Role of Urban Green Spaces in the Context of Urbanization in Europe

Abstract

 Rapid urbanization has led to serious landscape fragmentation problems in metropolitan areas. Urban Green Spaces (UGS), as a key carrier connecting fragmented wildlife habitats, are considered a core component of modern cities. Currently, most research has not yet focused on the European region, so exploring the role of urban green spaces in mitigating habitat loss and supporting wildlife conservation in this area is of great significance. This study focuses on birds as the core research object (as they account for the highest proportion of urban wildlife species in the region), and chooses urban parks as the research object (as they are the most common type of urban green space in European metropolises). The study searched for relevant literature in the past 5 years through Google Scholar, combined with keyword screening and literature comparison analysis, and concluded that larger urban parks usually support higher bird diversity, which is particularly beneficial for forest related specialized bird species; Parks with more complex vegetation structures or closer to natural states can increase the richness and probability of specialized species in bird functional groups, while parks with simplified habitat structures are more likely to attract urban adaptable birds; Human interference has a significant negative impact on the stability of sensitive bird species and bird communities. This study can fill the gap in existing research in the European region and further explore the functional value of urban green spaces as supplementary habitats in human communities and as ecological corridors in fragmented landscapes.