Xuzhou is a medium-sized city in the northwest of Jiangsu province, eastern China, with a typical warm monsoon climate which determines that the local natural vegetation is deciduous broad-leaved plants. This city has experienced rapid expansion of urban green spaces in the past three decades. By 2018, the urban green spaces in Xuzhou include 74 parks with various types such as urban park, forest park, wetland, botanical garden, etc. The per-capita urban green space is 17 m2 (Zhao and Huang 2021 (link)).
Hong Kong is a big dense city in southern China. More than 80% of its total area is hilly terrain which is unfavourable for urban development, thus, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world (Wan and Shen 2015 (link)). Although the government has recognized the positive aspects of urban green spaces for sustainable development and resident’s health, and put great efforts to provide green spaces, open spaces accounts for only 9% of the developed land area of the city, and, compared with cities of similar size, Hong Kong’s proportional provision of urban green spaces is among the lowest in the world (Tan et al. 2013 (link)). The local natural vegetation in Hong Kong is tropical or subtropical evergreen broad-leaved plants under the subtropical monsoon climate. Obviously, Xuzhou and Hong Kong have significant differences in terms of urban green spaces, which is conducive to the comparison in VAQ between the two cities and VAF between local and non-local landscapes.
Hong Kong is a big dense city in southern China. More than 80% of its total area is hilly terrain which is unfavourable for urban development, thus, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world (Wan and Shen 2015 (link)). Although the government has recognized the positive aspects of urban green spaces for sustainable development and resident’s health, and put great efforts to provide green spaces, open spaces accounts for only 9% of the developed land area of the city, and, compared with cities of similar size, Hong Kong’s proportional provision of urban green spaces is among the lowest in the world (Tan et al. 2013 (link)). The local natural vegetation in Hong Kong is tropical or subtropical evergreen broad-leaved plants under the subtropical monsoon climate. Obviously, Xuzhou and Hong Kong have significant differences in terms of urban green spaces, which is conducive to the comparison in VAQ between the two cities and VAF between local and non-local landscapes.
