ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OF THE PORT OF OLD TOWN ANALYSIS BY QUANTIFICATION OF VEGETABLE COVERAGE AND GREEN AREAS FOR URBAN PERIMETER
Green areas; Vegetal cover; Green Urban
The urban green is considered as an indicator in the evaluation of the environmental quality of a city due to the benefits that it provides to the environment, so its lack or inadequate quantity can cause problems in the environment and for the population. Porto Velho, capital of Rondônia, is a relatively new city that has developed and accelerated growth and is driven by economic cycles and government plans that have substantially influenced the structuring and composition of the landscape with the reduction of urban vegetation. Inadequate urban planning, the inexistence or inefficiency of legislation that guides and controls city growth, as well as real estate speculation, are some reasons for the disorderly growth and, consequently, poor distribution and inadequate amount of vegetation in the city. Carrying out a mapping of the vegetation (herbaceous, shrubby and arboreal) present within the urban perimeter of the municipality of Porto Velho through supervised processing of the satellite image, it was possible to verify that, neighborhoods need attention, central areas of the city are devoid of afforestation and with vegetation cover rates below the recommended minimum of 5%. It was also possible to verify that, in general, the peripheral regions of the city have high indices of vegetation, however and due to the lack of vegetation in the central regions there isn’t a connection between these areas. It is necessary to readjust these areas with low levels of vegetation coverage, and for this, in addition to urban revitalization planning, the population and government agencies need to realize that the city space is produced by man and for man, that quality the environment in which we live is fundamental.