Urban green space percolation

From connectivity to ecological management mapping

Bibliographic Data

ID19487014
AuthorsZixuan Li (0000-0001-9058-8634, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, corresponding author), Sihao Gu (Nanjing University), Horacio Samaniego (0000-0002-2485-9827, Austral University of Chile), Diego Rybski (0000-0001-6125-7705, Complexity Science Hub Vienna), Martin Behnisch (0000-0003-4590-6757, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development)
Year2026
Volume148
Pages107564
Publication date2026-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSustainable Cities and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2210-6707 • E-ISSN: 2210-6715
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.scs.2026.107564
OpenAlexW7164848399
LanguageEN
References cited41

Urban green spaces (UGS) are increasingly planned as connected networks, yet many connectivity assessments reduce cost variation to a static threshold and provide limited guidance on where to intervene. We develop a percolation-based framework for translating dynamic UGS connectivity into ecological management priorities. The framework constructs a least-cost, cost-weighted UGS network, activates edges in ascending cost-weighted distance to identify critical transitions and merger hierarchies, and converts the full percolation history into management zones, a three-level edge hierarchy, and a four-type node typology. Applied to Nanjing, China, the analysis shows that system-level connectivity emerges within a narrow high-cost critical band triggered by a small set of cross-barrier links. The merger history reveals three persistent spatial subsystems, which are further resolved into five management zones. Robustness experiments indicate that protecting map-prioritized edges and nodes slows the decline of weighted global efficiency under the tested removal rules. The framework links process-based connectivity diagnosis with spatially explicit planning actions, including corridor safeguarding, within-zone reinforcement, and stepping-stone protection, while remaining transferable with local calibration

Ecological network · Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution · Percolation (cognitive psychology) · Percolation theory · Robustness (evolution) · Set (abstract data type) · Space (punctuation) · Urban planning · Land Use and Ecosystem Services · Urban Green Space and Health · Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation

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