Sambieni and colleagues provide one of the clearest ecological inventories of Kinshasa’s urban and peri-urban green spaces. The study examines 87 sites through typology, spatial structure, vegetation, management, maintenance and ecosystem-service characteristics. Its iconic operation is classificatory: green space ceases to be an undifferentiated category and becomes a heterogeneous urban system composed of parks, gardens, planted areas and other collective spaces with different ecological and managerial conditions. The theoretical contribution lies in linking biodiversity and ecosystem services to the pressures of peri-urbanisation. Methodologically, field inventory and spatial characterisation make the city’s green infrastructure empirically legible at the level of individual sites. The bridge to planning is immediate: maintaining ecological function requires not only recognising green-space quantity but understanding management regimes, connectivity and the specific services provided by distinct spatial types.
URBANISM MEETS ART