Urban blue and green spaces in the UK: Distribution, equity and ecological implications

Cities are closely linked to the 'triple planetary crisis', climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, and urbanisation impacts human health through the removal of natural cover. Urban blue and green spaces offer mitigating effects, but research is traditionally green-focused. Here, we investigate blue space availability and land cover patterns across 500 cities in Great Britain, and for the first time, rank and compare cities by blue cover. City-scale habitat data were paired with deprivation indices to compare equality of blue space, green space, and urban habitat diversity. We found that blue space cover is lower than green space but more evenly distributed across socioeconomic gradients. Additionally, land cover diversity can be higher in deprived areas, suggesting that urban regeneration could result in land cover homogenisation. These findings emphasise the potential of underutilised blue spaces to address environmental injustices and highlight how underexplored land-use patterns can contribute to advancing urban sustainability.