Urparian area

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-029323",
  "term": "Urparian area",
  "field": "Environment",
  "term_source": "Urparian Area",
  "definition": "Urparian describes the vegetated areas around roads and sidewalks. The term comes from combining urban and riparian to form a single word. In less urbanized systems, the corridor around streams (the riparian zone) is extremely important for water quality. This area of vegetation captures and processes pollutants before they can make it into surface waters. In urban areas, however, riparian zones are often less effective at removing pollutants. One reason is that urban streams tend to be deeply incised, causing the riparian zone to be disconnected from the stream below. Secondly, the streams in many urban areas have been functionally replaced with storm sewers. In this context, the soil and vegetation around roads and sidewalks is the new riparian zone. By increasing tree canopy in the urparian zone, we can return some of the environmental benefits of riparian areas to urban systems.",
  "subject": "Built environments",
  "references": [
    "USDA Urban Tree Canopy Assessment Glossary"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/urparian-area/"
}