Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Urban Green Spaces in Rwanda The Case of City of Kigali Jean Bosco NTAGANIRA College of Science and Technology School of Science Master of Geo-Information Science for Environment and Sustainable Development June 2016 Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Urban Green Spaces in Rwanda The Case of City of Kigali By Jean Bosco NTAGANIRA 214003374 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geo- Information for Environment and Sustainable Development In the College of Science and Technology Supervisor: Dr. Gaspard RWANYIZIRI June 2016 Statement of Originality I, Jean Bosco NTAGANIRA, do hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and has never been submitted or examined in any university as an academic requirement for any award. Signature: ........................................ Jean Bosco NTAGANIRA Date Supervisor: Signature: ................................................ Dr. Gaspard RWANYIZIRI Date Dedication This work is dedicated: To My mother & late father who perfectly played their role as parents and My brothers and sisters for their encouragement i Acknowledgement This research would not have been successfully completed without support from different persons. That is why I would like to express my gratefulness to those who made everything happen in a good way. My foremost thanks go to the Almighty God for His priceless mercy and grace and guidance throughout my life and the strength to complete this study. Sincere appreciations are addressed to my supervisor Dr. Gaspard Rwanyiziri for his direction, constructive comments and important advice. In addition, my gratitude goes to Mr. Theodomir Mugiraneza, PhD Student at Royal Institute of Technology-Sweden for his support in getting high resolution satellites images. Special recognition goes to all respondents who provided me with answers to my household questionnaire and interview guide. Furthermore, my credits are addressed to all classmates, for making the class a pleasant and enjoyable place for academic learning, sharing ideas and scientific discussions, for their cooperation and team spirit. Finally, may God bless all persons who directly or indirectly contributed to the accomplishment of this study. Jean Bosco NTAGANIRA June 2016 ii Abstract Urban green spaces constitute a fundamental part of an urban environment. Unfortunately, City of Kigali, Rwanda‘s largest and fastest growing city has lost much of its green spaces over time. This study aimed at assessing the dynamics of urban green spaces in Rwandan with particular reference to the City of Kigali and proposed alternative solutions towards a sustainable management of these spaces. The study proceeded with the case study approach and utilized publications that related to urban green spaces but most importantly centered on remote sensing whereby archived Landsat, Quick Bird and Worldview_2 images were classified and then analyzed using Erdas Imagine 2014. Moreover, this study also made use of the consultative approach (interviews) in order to have various views on the research topic. The findings of the study revealed that green spaces in the City of Kigali are mainly composed by forests, wetlands, agricultural lands, public and private gardens, and roadside trees. It was found that the surface area covered by green spaces has been decreasing over time. As complement of results from the classification of satellite images, the majority of respondents confirmed the decrease of UGS. This decrease was revealed to be caused by different factors such as conversion to other land uses mostly through urban sprawl, weakness in the implementation of policies related to Green Spaces. To overcome these issues, this study proposed alternative solutions including among others; raising public awareness on the benefits of Urban Green Spaces in the City, compliance with Kigali master plan and other policies in regards with development and preservation of Green Spaces, encouraging private sector to invest in Green Spaces and finally reduction of urban sprawl by adopting high density buildings also known as compact city. Key Words: Urban green spaces, dynamics, Urban Part of Kigali City iii List of Abbreviations and Acronyms CBD Central Business District CGIS-UR Centre for Geographic Information System of University of Rwanda CoK City of Kigali EDPRS Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy MINECOFIN Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning MININFRA Ministry of Infrastructure MINITRACO Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications NISR National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda REMA Rwanda Environment Management Authority RHA Rwanda Housing Authority RNRA Rwanda Natural Resources Authority UGS Urban Green Spaces UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNCHS United Nations Centre for Human Settlements UNEP United Nations Environment Program UPKC Urban Part of Kigali City USA United States of America WHO World Health Organization iv Table of Contents Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ii List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ......................................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................................. vii List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Background Information ................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 1.3. Research Objectives .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3.1. General Objective ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3.2. Specific Objectives .................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.4. Research Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................................................ 6 1.5. Research Questions ........................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.6. Scope of the Study ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 1.7. Limitation of the Study ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1. Definitions of Key Concepts ............................................................................................................................................. 9 2.1.1 General Definition of Urban Green Space .................................................................................................................. 9 2.1.2 Green Spaces vs Open Spaces .................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.3 Other Definitions of Urban Green Spaces .................................................................................................................. 9 a) European Definition ................................................................................................................................................... 9 b) UK Definition ........................................................................................................................................................... 10 c) USA Definition ......................................................................................................................................................... 10 d) China’s Definition .................................................................................................................................................... 10 e) Japan’s Definition .................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.2. Types of Green Spaces.................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.3 Benefits of Urban Green spaces ......................................................................................................................................