Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 84 (4): 581-592, 2011
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Residential gardens of Santiago, Chile: Extent, distribution and vegetation
cover
Residential gardens provide important vegetation cover in urban environments
but there is little research in Latin America. This is the first study on the subject in Santiago de Chile. In Santiago 26 % of
the urban area is covered by residential gardens. Even though there is a wide range of residential garden size, most of
them measure between 74- 268 m<sup>2</sup>. The garden surface is mainly covered by trees and shrubs (37
%), followed by lawn (34 %), small buildings (26 %) while only 3 % have no vegetation cover at all. A high correlation
between lot size and vegetation cover was detected (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.97) except for the city centre where the
increase in lot size is associated with an increase in the built up area. The vegetation cover of residential gardens reaches
12000 hectares (19 % of the urban area) which surpasses that of public green spaces. Both lot size and building typology
are the most important factors influencing cover and structure of vegetation in residential gardens.
Key words:
environmental
services, green spaces, land cover, urbanization, urban vegetation
