**4. Discussion: greenery as a tool towards social integration?**

#### **4.1 Public green space provision**

The Altstetten–Albisrieden district has been developed as a "Garden City" of Greater Zürich since the 1930s. This concept has been fully presented today in two ways. A general picture of green space provision shows that, in the district, green spaces per dweller in the urban area is much higher than those of the overall Zürich4 , without counting greenery such as forests, urban farming areas and traffic greenery. City parks and other public green spaces disperse in a way that every regional resident can access at least one public green space within a 10-minute walk.

The green-space connectivity counted accumulated connections between public green spaces and towards community and private green spaces, and buildings. The variation of connections implies the importance of each space (**Figure 2**) yet does not correspond with their size (**Figure 12**). The gaps between space significance and size indicate a possible explanation for the fact that some public green spaces cannot attract visitors. They are either unnecessarily big or too small to serve surrounding neighbourhoods appropriately. A rational plan considering space size and location in the city is indispensable to take full advantage of public green spaces.

#### **4.2 Green space size vs. use frequency**

The observed space use in Lindenplatz, Bachwiesen and Süsslerenanlage hints that green-space size influences space visit frequency and space use duration positively. The visits towards the Grünau community green space were not many, though the

<sup>4</sup> The information on green space per resident in Zurich is from Green Space per Inhabitant in the City of Zürich in Switzerland in 2018, by Category: https://www.statista.com/statistics/860599/ green-areas-per-inhabitant-in-zurich-in-switzerland/.

subsite lacks functional public green spaces as in the other cases. Instead, the dramatically low visits in Grünau, though it has the largest green spaces and is open to the public, demonstrates that the relationship between area and use is not straightforward. Several factors may play roles in this regard:

First, Grünau's green spaces service a limited number of households in the area. The whole area, segregated by the Motorway, was planned mainly for industrial and administration use, with relatively few residential developments. Enlarging the service radius from 400 to 800 m does not help to increase household numbers quickly connecting to the green spaces. The second reason attributes to the large public green spaces along the banks of the Limmat River, 200 m north of Grünau. The attractiveness, including prosperous greenery, water flows and plenty of facilities, creates an enjoyable place welcoming all outdoor activities. Compared to the riverbank, the green spaces in Grünau are simple and unattractive. Third, ownership blocks people's desire to use the space there. A talk with some people sitting in the neighbourhood opposite Grünau indicated that a feeling of not belonging to the Grünau community made them hesitant to use the playgrounds there, even though there was no gate locking them out. Apart from this, the Grünau spaces are supposed to service a nursing home, a kindergarten, and a school in the future as well. More observation during a school period may depict different situations.
