Abstract
A new analytical method was developed to clarify the relationship between the spatial distribution of forests accessible to urban residents and their land use, to realize a nature-positive society. A detailed analysis was conducted for the area of Densely Inhabited Districts and their surrounding regions in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, using high-resolution land-cover maps and open data such as parcel area survey drawings. The results revealed the importance of forests in diverse land uses in the city, including not only government-managed open green spaces in urbanized areas but also forestry and agricultural lands in traditional settlements. Based on these results, new policy recommendations for forest conservation and recreational use have been made in relation to the accessibility of urban residents. This study is expected to contribute to urban planning and nature conservation policies by clarifying the role of forests in diverse land uses in urban areas, which has not been adequately considered in previous studies. Furthermore, the utilization of open data demonstrates the potential for the construction of models to understand the relationships between forests, land use, and citizen access, aligning with the growing trend towards open-source monitoring.
