Green Space Functionality Along an Urban Gradient in Karachi, Pakistan: A Socio-Ecological Study Salman Qureshi & Jürgen H. Breuste & Sarah J. Lindley Published online: 9 February 2010 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract An important component of urban green space functionality is the way in which such spaces are perceived and used by urban residents. Use is affected by many factors including the nature and dynamics of urban morphology at the city and neighbourhood scale. This paper demonstrates a method for conducting analyses of green space socio-ecological functionality and presents the results of its application to Karachi, Pakistan. The paper explores the use of the results of an urban gradient analysis for site selection and presents the results of an associated survey of functions using three case study green spaces. The results show that, although urban dwellers in the city use green spaces infrequently, when they do it tends to be for long periods of time and for a range of purposes. Levels of overcrowding at the more accessible sites indicate the value that urban dwellers place on these resources, and their importance to the city as a whole. The results of this study provide evidence for the need to protect green spaces from the competing demands associated with increasing urban- isation, especially if the wider goal of urban sustainability is to be achieved. Keywords Ecological functionality . GIS . Green infrastructure . Megacities . Nature perception . Urban ecology . Urban nature Background Urbanization causes profound changes in the ecological functioning of landscapes, gradually resulting in new landscape types and patterns and a changing spatial structure (Andersson 2006; Antrop 2000; Breuste et al. 1998). These changes, and the rapid rate at which they are occurring in the world’ s megacities, explain why research into the ecological functionality of urban landscapes is so important (Qureshi and Breuste 2010; Wu and Hobbs 2002). Changes to the structure and functions of urban landscapes are invariably associated with the optimisation of human requirements. Therefore, as well as looking at the physical structures of urban landscapes, it is also important to understand their social functionality and how this may relate to the wider goal of urban sustainability (Wu 2008). Integrated studies of coupled human and natural systems reveal new and complex patterns and processes not evident when studied separately by social or natural scientists (Liu et al. 2007). Urban green spaces are highly patchy, dynamic, and diverse; they formally include parks, sports fields, gardens, and recreation venues (Breuste et al. 2008). Furthermore, cities include informal green spaces, consisting of less maintained and less modified indigenous vegetation types, as well as specific urban habitats, such as derelict industrial sites, overgrown gardens, and other brownfield sites (Breuste 2003; Qureshi and Breuste 2010). In this paper, S. Qureshi (*) : J. H. Breuste Research Group for Urban and Landscape Ecology, Department of Geography and Geology, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, Salzburg 5020, Austria e-mail: salman.qureshi@sbg.ac.at e-mail: salmanqureshi@uok.edu.pk S. Qureshi Department of Geography, University of Karachi, University Road, Karachi 75270, Pakistan S. J. Lindley Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK Hum Ecol (2010) 38:283–294 DOI 10.1007/s10745-010-9303-9