a b s t r a c t
Sky garden is a hot topic in current research in urban ecology and landscape planning. However, due to
the difficulty of data collection and processing, there are surprisingly few published guidelines exploring
the spatial distribution of sky gardens and the factors that influence their presence in compact cities. By
matching maps of buildings, green cover, district boundaries and roof and podium level layers, the spatial
pattern of sky gardens and the factors in Hong Kong were analyzed. Suggestions for future development
of sky gardens were also discussed. The results indicate that both roofs and podiums are not adequately
utilized by green spaces. High green ratios of roof gardens exist on 5–20-floor buildings or buildings
located in areas of low density for most land uses and most districts. Several factors play significant roles
in the green ratios of podium gardens in some districts, such as building density in WC, S, E and HKI as a
whole and podium areas in WC, SSP and KC. The development of sky gardens has not improved with town
development and has not adequately compensated for limited ground-level green spaces. The spacious
roof and podium areas that are available provide the potential for the extensive development of sky
gardens with high green ratios and biodiversity. Systematic planning on a large scale that incorporates
measures for increasing biodiversity and forming green networks may be an effective strategy to solve
the problem of the extreme shortage of sky gardens in compact cities.