[The Actual Green Spaces in New Sham Suburb and its Effect on the Improvement of the Environment]

This study was carried out ta New Sham suburb which situates west of the capital, Damascus, about 4 km from its center. Four islands different in their models of building and their levels of green spaces and methods of organization were chosen. They are the islands: First, Third, Fourth and Ninth. The field study was conducted at these islands in assistance with supposed plans which have been obtained from the Damascus governorate. The study included determining the styles and types of green spaces, distribution at each island individually, and the preparation of a site plan instead for these islands after removing discrepancies between what is supposed to be of green spaces in the site plan and what is actually done. The field study also comprehended a detailed study of green spaces in all of the islands in term of their levels (types) and their natural and structural components. Based upon that, a proposed site plan has been prepared to show the proposed green spaces in the studied islands. The study showed that most levels of green spaces in the studied islands need rehabilitation and they need in common more natural and structural components, in addition to organization and maintenance, especially for public gardens which are small in area in comparison to an area of these islands, where the share out of it is not exceeding 2.51 m2 per capita. In addition it was noticed a lack of attention of setback residential buildings and they untidy well and do not offer any kind of services to the population, although they represent 25% of the area of the studied islands and 54.8% of the area of green spaces in these islands. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of green spaces in terms of services, environmental elements and the aesthetical aspects in the studied islands the public garden at the 147 first island was chosen. Although it is the major public garden for the suburb as a whole, the views of 200 visitors through a questionnaire during the summer of 2011 (May, June, July) on different days of the week including week-ends and during different times of the day indicated that the garden was established extemporary without relying on any plans and that the service aspects were satisfied partially, but the environmental and aesthetical aspects is insufficient. To activate the role of green spaces in improving the urban environment of the studied islands, two different levels of green spaces were chosen. They are garden setback of a residential building and parking, lot. A complete study was achieved of these two levels and all the necessary plans were prepared to be implemented on the ground as a proposed models when rehabilitation of green spaces in the studied islands, takes place.