Environmental Quality and Ecosystem Services in Urban Green Spaces: An Integrated Assessment of Cooling, Noise, and Air Pollution in Braga

In densely populated areas such as urban centres, where soil sealing, buildings, air pollution, and noise from road traffic are greater, the presence of urban green spaces (UGS) plays an important role by providing ecosystem services that significantly impact population’s health and well-being, as well as on urban biodiversity. The city of Braga has important UGS located within Braga’s inner ring road: Monte Picoto and Parque da Ponte. According to the strategy published by the City Council, the aim is to interconnect these UGS so that the population can benefit from the various ecosystem services, thereby raising the city’s environmental quality. Based on this proposal, this study sets out to assess three indicators related to the ecosystem services provided by UGS: cooling capacity, i.e. mitigation of urban heat island effect; exposure to noise and air pollution from road traffic; and the legal instruments in place to protect the environmental quality of the UGS. While the transect measurements carried out in this study indicate the ability of these areas to promote cooling zones in the city (reduction of up to 2.3 °C), on the other hand, cross-referencing information such as acoustic zoning, the city’s noise map, and data from air pollution monitoring station, reveals weaknesses in the current strategy that could jeopardise the intended ecosystem services. Given this, approaches are presented that aim to promote greater protection of these UGS to guarantee good urban environmental quality, particularly in a city where urban sprawl and property pressure have been constant.