Socio-economic impacts of green blue infrastructure in low-income neighbourhoods of Sighthill, Glasgow and Gorbitz, Dresden
Caleb, Pratibha Ruth (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025102626446
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025102626446
Tiivistelmä
Urban Green-Blue Infrastructure (GBI) is promoted as a multifunctional strategy to address climate, ecological, and social challenges. While its environmental benefits such as heat mitigation, flood management, and biodiversity enhancement are well recognised, concerns persist over its potential to drive socio-economic change that disproportionately benefits higher-income groups, known as “green gentrification.” This thesis examines the socio-economic impacts of GBI in two low-income European neighbourhoods undergoing regeneration: Gorbitz in Dresden, Germany, and Sighthill in Glasgow, United Kingdom.
A comparative mixed-methods approach combined a Hedonic Pricing Model (HPM) with stakeholder questionnaires. The HPM analysed rental listings to assess the influence of GBI features namely, rain gardens, park views, street trees, and proximity to waterbodies on to rental values. Questionnaires with municipal officials, housing providers, planners, environmental agencies, and researchers explored perceptions of equity, access, governance, and community outcomes.
In Gorbitz, rain gardens/bioswales were linked to statistically significant rental premiums, while park views and proximity to waterbodies showed positive but insignificant effects, reflecting uneven market valuation in a post-socialist context. In Sighthill, the data found was limited due to ongoing redevelopment and limited occupancy. This led to reduced statistical certainty, though proximity to blue infrastructure (Spiers Wharf) suggested potential value recognition.
Stakeholders in both areas reported that GBI improved public space quality, safety, and recreation, supporting social resilience through community cohesion and place attachment. However, access was uneven: peripheral estates in Gorbitz remained less served, while Sighthill’s construction phases temporarily limited connectivity.
Governance and housing tenure are also believed to have shaped some of the outcomes. Gorbitz’s cooperative and municipal housing has been able to preserve the affordability of housing despite upgrades, thereby limiting displacement risks. Sighthill’s tenure-blind redevelopment with 25% affordable housing has also maintained affordability so far, although ongoing monitoring is advised. Furthermore, planning approaches differed, for instance, participatory and neighbourhood-based in Gorbitz versus masterplan-led in Sighthill.
The study thus concludes that while GBI can benefit disadvantaged areas, equitable outcomes require integration with affordable housing policy, long-term maintenance funding, equity-focused evaluation, and community participation.
A comparative mixed-methods approach combined a Hedonic Pricing Model (HPM) with stakeholder questionnaires. The HPM analysed rental listings to assess the influence of GBI features namely, rain gardens, park views, street trees, and proximity to waterbodies on to rental values. Questionnaires with municipal officials, housing providers, planners, environmental agencies, and researchers explored perceptions of equity, access, governance, and community outcomes.
In Gorbitz, rain gardens/bioswales were linked to statistically significant rental premiums, while park views and proximity to waterbodies showed positive but insignificant effects, reflecting uneven market valuation in a post-socialist context. In Sighthill, the data found was limited due to ongoing redevelopment and limited occupancy. This led to reduced statistical certainty, though proximity to blue infrastructure (Spiers Wharf) suggested potential value recognition.
Stakeholders in both areas reported that GBI improved public space quality, safety, and recreation, supporting social resilience through community cohesion and place attachment. However, access was uneven: peripheral estates in Gorbitz remained less served, while Sighthill’s construction phases temporarily limited connectivity.
Governance and housing tenure are also believed to have shaped some of the outcomes. Gorbitz’s cooperative and municipal housing has been able to preserve the affordability of housing despite upgrades, thereby limiting displacement risks. Sighthill’s tenure-blind redevelopment with 25% affordable housing has also maintained affordability so far, although ongoing monitoring is advised. Furthermore, planning approaches differed, for instance, participatory and neighbourhood-based in Gorbitz versus masterplan-led in Sighthill.
The study thus concludes that while GBI can benefit disadvantaged areas, equitable outcomes require integration with affordable housing policy, long-term maintenance funding, equity-focused evaluation, and community participation.