Green Areas per Citizen measures the square metres of green area available per inhabitant within the monitored site, expressed in m²/person. It is a direct, continuous indicator of urban environmental quality and public health: higher values indicate more green space per person, which correlates with lower heat stress, better mental health outcomes, stronger pollinator networks, and greater urban resilience.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum of 9 m² of urban green space per capita as a baseline threshold for acceptable living conditions, with an ideal target of at least 50 m² per person. Values above 1,000 m²/person generally indicate rural or semi-natural land with strong forest dominance.
The indicator is not inverted: higher values are better. It belongs to the Land Use assessment category (ESRS topic E4) and is companion to the Green Areas per Employee KPI, which uses the same formula but divides by manually-configured employee headcount instead of population.
ESRS alignment: E4 (biodiversity and ecosystems), sub-topic E4-5.
Green Areas per Citizen is computed by dividing the green surface area of the site (derived from the land cover layer) by the estimated population within the site boundary, then converting the result from hectares to square metres.
where Green area (ha) = total hectares of Forest pixels from the CLC land cover classification, Estimated population = GHSL mean population density (persons/ha) multiplied by the ROI area (ha)
The multiplication by 10,000 converts hectares to square metres.
Data are sourced from a multi-source CLC (CORINE Land Cover) fusion pipeline at 10 m resolution for land cover and from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS_POP R2023A) at 100 m resolution for population density.
Gauge. A semicircular gauge displaying the site's green area per citizen, the control area reference value, a quality grade badge, and a delta value.
Purpose: How much green space per person does the monitored site provide, and how does it compare to the WHO reference and to the surrounding control area?
Description: A semicircular arc runs from E (left, 0 m²) to A (right, 10,000 m²) and is divided into five colour-coded quality segments. Two markers are shown on the arc: one for the Site (ROI) value and one for the Control Area (CA) value. Above the gauge, the site value is shown in large text (e.g., 85.3 m²) with the CA value below it (e.g., CA: 42.1 m²). A grade badge (A-E, colour-coded) and benchmark reference line indicate how the site compares to the sector average. A signed delta badge below the gauge shows ROI minus CA (e.g., +43.2 m²), making the site-vs-control gap immediately readable. Below the chart, the description text reads: "Comparison of habitat density per citizen control-site." The section heading reads "Green areas per citizen" with an E4 ESRS badge.
85.3m²/personGreen Areas per Citizen
How it's calculated: The ROI value is (Forest hectares / GHSL estimated population) multiplied by 10,000. The grade is assigned by the thresholds A > 1,000 / B 200-1,000 / C 50-200 / D 10-50 / E 0-10. The CA value uses the same formula applied to the control polygon.
Legend:
| Level | Range (m²/person) | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | > 1,000 | ■ #00A67A | Excellent — strong forest/green dominance |
| B | 200 — 1,000 | ■ #00DF80 | Good — ample green space |
| C | 50 — 200 | ■ #FFD21E | Moderate — sufficient suburban green |
| D | 10 — 50 | ■ #FF8B16 | Poor — near WHO minimum |
| E | 0 — 10 | ■ #FF367F | Critical — below WHO 9 m²/person threshold |
Interpretation example:
If this gauge shows 85.3 m²/person for the site and 42.1 m²/person for the control area, it means the site provides nearly twice as much green space per inhabitant as the surrounding landscape — both values exceed the WHO recommended minimum of 9 m², but the site has significantly richer green infrastructure.
Highlights Card. A compact KPI summary card in the Environmental KPIs panel on the right sidebar of the Maps > Land Use view.
Purpose: What is the green-space-per-citizen grade and control-area reference value for this site, at a glance while viewing the map?
Description: The card shows the label "Green / Citizen", a letter grade badge (A-E, colour-coded), the reference label "CA", and the control area value in m² (e.g., 36.9 m²). It allows users to check the green-per-citizen grade without leaving the map view.
Quality Scale
Excellent> 1,000Good200 — 1,000Moderate50 — 200Poor10 — 50Critical0 — 10
How it's calculated: Same formula as the Assessment gauge. Grade is assigned by the same A-E thresholds.
Legend:
| Level | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| A | ■ #00A67A | Excellent |
| B | ■ #00DF80 | Good |
| C | ■ #FFD21E | Moderate |
| D | ■ #FF8B16 | Poor |
| E | ■ #FF367F | Critical |
Interpretation example:
If the card shows grade D and CA 36.9 m², it means the control area averages under 50 m²/person — modest green space that is near but not above the WHO recommended target of 50 m²/person.
Highlights Table Row. A row in the KPI comparison table on the Panoramica (Overview) page showing the green-per-citizen value for the site.
Purpose: How does the site's green area per citizen rank relative to all monitored sites in one view?
Description: The Highlights table on the Panoramica page lists multiple KPIs in rows. The "Green for Citizen" row displays the site's m²/person value with contextual colour-coding, enabling high-level cross-KPI and cross-site comparison. Values are colour-coded by the same A-E quality scale.
How it's calculated: Same formula as Assessment. The value shown is the site's current green-areas-per-citizen in m²/person.
Interpretation example:
If the Green for Citizen row shows a value of 8.4 m²/person highlighted in red (grade E), it signals that this site falls below the WHO 9 m² minimum and should be prioritised for green infrastructure intervention.
| Source | Provider | Coverage | Resolution | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESA WorldCover | ESA | Global | 10 m | 2020-2021 |
| Impact Observatory Annual LULC | Impact Observatory | Global | 10 m | 2017-present |
| Sentinel-2 SCL Annual Composite | ESA / Copernicus | Global | 20 m | 2017-present |
| Google Dynamic World Annual Composite | Global | 10 m | Continuous | |
| OpenStreetMap Roads | OpenStreetMap | Global | Vector | Continuously updated |
| CLC+ Backbone | EEA / Copernicus | Europe | 100 m | 2012-2018 |
| CORINE Land Cover | EEA / Copernicus | Europe | Vector | 1990-2018 |
| European Dominant Leaf Type | Copernicus | Europe | 10 m | Annual |
| European Crop Map | JRC | Europe | 10 m | Annual |
| Lombardy Forest Type | Regione Lombardia | Italy (Lombardy) | - | 2023 |
| GHSL Population (GHS_POP R2023A) | JRC / European Commission | Global | 100 m | 1975-2030 |
The green area is derived from the CLC (CORINE Land Cover) multi-source fusion pipeline, which classifies every pixel of the site. Only pixels assigned to the Forest class are counted as green. Natural open areas and all agricultural and artificial surfaces are excluded from the green count — they may contribute to natural coverage but not to this indicator.
The site population is estimated from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) population density raster (GHS_POP R2023A, 100 m resolution, JRC). The mean population density is multiplied by the total ROI area in hectares to yield the total number of inhabitants within the site boundary. The closest-date map layer image to the current reference year is used.
The final ratio divides the green area in hectares by the estimated population and multiplies by 10,000 to convert to square metres per person. The same computation is applied independently to the control polygon to produce the CA reference value.
For sites outside Europe, the Lombardy Forest Type layer and the European-specific datasets (CLC+, CORINE, Dominant Leaf Type, European Crop Map) are not applied; classification relies only on global sources.