The extent of public green space and alien plant species in 10 small towns of the Sub-Tropical Thicket Biome, South Africa

Urban areas in developing countries will accommodate nearly 90% of the projected world population increase between 1995 and 2030. Despite this, few studies, especially in smaller towns, have been carried out on urban green space areas in the developing world. This paper makes a first step in this regard, reporting on the extent and state of urban green spaces within 10 small towns in the Eastern Cape (South Africa). After measuring the size and state (in terms of woody plant cover) of public green space, we then sought patterns across the 10 towns between green space attributes, such as area, density, mean size and proportion of alien or indigenous, with socio-economic attributes of the towns. The area and state of current public green space varied markedly between the towns, with the poorer towns faring the worst. Lower income levels were significantly negatively correlated with the area and quality of public green space. Despite this, human population density and per capita green space were the best predictors of the proportion and mean area of public green space present in the towns. The proportion of town green space and the per capita green space were the best predictors of changes in woody plant composition and density.