Balancing Increased Urban Density with Green Spaces: The Marketing of New Housing Estates in Poland

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the transformation of urban greenery into greenfield housing development from 2019 to 2023 in the medium-sized city of Rzeszow (Poland) by evaluating the validity of references to the greenery in advertising texts on the developers’ websites. Furthermore, to assess the impact of the proposed greenery-related changes on urban green infrastructure. Through web-based research, 13 greenfield housing developments were identified. Changes in land use of areas that were allocated to urban green infrastructure were highlighted by applying GIS spatial analysis. The written and visual content analysis identified references to greenery in advertising campaigns. Finally, status relations analysis was performed to assess whether the specific advertising website presents an added ecological asset that can be considered as a nature-based solution or should be interpreted as greenwashing. The study revealed that the advertising websites for greenfield housing development constructed from 2019 to 2023 in Rzeszow do not represent an additional ecological asset, but committed greenwashing. All analysed housing estates trigger irretrievable environmental damage. The advertising material does not define the environmental indicators of the housing estates, including how the new construction would compensate for the destruction of natural habitats.