Urban development exerts profound influences on hydrological process and increase summer flood risk. Published today, the study investigates the spatial–temporal changes of urban green spaces in Beijing during 2000-2010, and estimates their effects on rainwater runoff reduction based on an empirical model.

“The green spaces in Beijing were rapidly decreased from 2000 to 2010 at the expense of agricultural lands and became considerably isolated and fragmented, meanwhile the rainwater runoff control capacity decreased from 23% to 17%”, said ecology Dr. ZHANG Biao, first author of the study.

The study shows that the rainwater runoff varies with the dominant type and landscape pattern of urban green spaces, under similar rainfall conditions. The urban green space arrangements within the second ring road should be recommended as the optimal landscape patterns to promote the role of rainwater runoff reduction.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31200531) and the National Science and Technology Support Program (No. 2012BAC01B08).

The study has been published in the recent issue of Landscape and Urban Planning (Zhang B, Xie G D, Li N, and Wang S. Effect of urban green space changes on the role of rainwater runoff reduction in Beijing, China. Landscape and Urban Planning. 2015, 8-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.03.014).