R Teimouri - Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran
T Yigitcanlar - World Capital Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

In the best practices, planning of urban green spaces is managed in such a way that it followsthe key principles such as meeting per capita standards and providing accessible and balanced distributionof these spaces all across the city. In the context of emerging economy, these principles are unfortunatelynot followed strictly all times. In this study, it is attempted to investigate Tabriz city of Iran is in termsof ecological planning to quantitatively analyse its green space characteristics. The used methodologyincludes determining the relevant urban green space development indicators (e.g. accessibility, per capitasupply, balanced distribution, and continuous development of urban green spaces) from the literature andusing the secondary data collected from variety of sources to analyse the study area. The study seeks toprovide a comprehensive view on status of green spaces in Tabriz in the light of ecological principles andindicators and GIS-based spatial analysis. Results indicate that: a) Green space per capita provision in Tabrizis much lower than the national and international standards (some districts offer only 0-1 sq.m. per capitagreen space); b) Districts of Tabriz do not have a balanced distribution of green spaces and access to greenspaces on foot (only 18% of the population can access green spaces within a 5 minute walk); c) Exceptfor the provided street side green spaces, all other passive or active types of green spaces in Tabriz are notcontinuously linked (no continuity to form a green corridor or linear greenways). This study also comes upwith some recommendations for Tabriz and other cities with similar characteristics.

Ecological planning; Green space accessibility; Sustainable city; Sustainable urban development; Urban green spaces