Greening cities amidst urban sprawl and fragmented governance in the Global South mega-urban regions

draw aten�on to how different policies of fragmented governments in mega-urban regions harden efforts to regulate urban sprawl.Urbaniza�on in the Global South is pushed to facilitate economic growth. Therefore, infrastructure, facili�es, and investments are concentrated, which are expected to accelerate economic development by spilling over into the surrounding areas. Conversely, priori�zing urban growth leads to overly agglomerated economic ac�vi�es in mega-urban regions, thereby widening dispari�es with other areas (Rus�adi et al., 2021).Mega-urban regions are characterized by urban sprawl beyond the urban core boundary. This is uncontrollable as fragmented governance has less capacity to manage rapid and vast urbaniza�on across jurisdic�ons (Salim Zheng et al., 2022). The increasing economic value of land parcels in the urban core has pushed urban housing to cheaper land in the urban fringes (Aswin Rahadi et al., 2016), driving peri-urbaniza�on, where urban and rural land uses are intermingled. In the Global South context, this creates the typical mixture of urbanrural land use called desakota (McGee, 2022). Due to this situatedness, reduced green spaces in the urban core are followed by fragmented green spaces in the peri-urban (Chen et al., 2022). Severely, daily commu�ng has made traffic jams a rou�ne, releasing greenhouse gas emissions into the mega-urban space. High levels of urban mobility also strain infrastructure capacity, as the popula�on accumulates in certain loca�ons and at certain �mes, especially in the urban core during working hours.Without effort, mega-urban ecosystems worsen rapidly, risking the economic growth achieved. Therefore, greening mega-urban regions should be priori�zed, albeit it is very challenging amid the con�nua�on of urban sprawl in areas of fragmented governance. As costs, benefits, and risks flow across governmental jurisdic�ons in mega-urban regions, divided policies set aside investment in developing green spaces that have low economic returns.In the Global South mega-urban context, challenges to greening ci�es are typical. First, increasing land demand for high-return economic ac�vi�es puts pressure on the remaining small patches of green spaces. Second, the high demand for land has raised land prices, making investment in green space development too expensive. Third, a limited government budget hinders the development of high-cost and high-technology applica�ons of green infrastructure. Fourth, scatered and fragmented green open spaces are at risk of damage due to a polluted urban environment and resource limita�ons (i.e., healthy soil and fresh water). Fi�h, a lack of knowledge of the func�ons and design of urban greenery in urban planning has led to grey infrastructure domina�ng. Sixth, urban sprawl leads to the occupa�on of green spaces by urban clusters, crea�ng environmental injus�ce and disturbing the natural capacity to provide ecosystem services.S�ll, those challenges should be addressed, as environmental degrada�on, coupled with the impacts of climate change, increasingly threatens mega-urban func�ons as major engines of growth. While ci�es in the Global North are turning sprawl into compact ci�es, equipped with smart-green technology and infrastructure (Artmann et al., 2019;Hansen et al., 2019;Richter Khoirunisa et al., 2026;Pauleit et al., 2021). Other evidence came from cemeteries, used to connect green space and culture that respects the late ancestors (Iswoyo et al., 2025;Ocón Kabisch et al., 2016).On the other hand, in peri-urban areas, urban sprawl not only converts land use but also divides green open spaces. Industrial estates occupy large areas, including green spaces, to reserve land for future development. Housing developers provide large green spaces as a selling point to market proper�es. Tourism businesses offer vast green spaces to serve urban-nature connected lifestyles. As they all focus on environmental quality within their clusters, the integra�on of green spaces as an ecosystem is overlooked. For instance, changing the landscape and river channels to avoid flood risk damages the watershed system; occupying riverbanks for recrea�on and accommoda�on disturbs the riparian ecosystem; clearing mangroves for beau�ful sea-view housing and tourism threatens the coastal ecosystem, etc. Therefore, the integra�on of green spaces in the peri-urban area should be designed based on the ecosystem-based adapta�on (EbA) approach. EbA focuses on sustainable management, conserva�on, and restora�on of the ecosystem as a way to adapt to climate change. Socioeconomic ac�vi�es are also taken into account; thus, peri-urban farming, agroforestry, eco-tourism, and other uses of green spaces, such as industrial parks and residen�al parks, can become elements that support the ecosystem (Kabisch et al., 2016). In the majority of Global South mega-urban regions, a watershed-based ecosystem exists that extends from upstream mountainous areas to downstream coastal areas (Chan et al., 2012;Vollmer et al., 2015;Zain et al., 2022). In this case, integra�ng natural elements such as water catchments, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and coastal areas with man-made elements such as irriga�on, dams, fishponds, embankments, infiltra�on wells, in facilita�ng ac�vi�es such as rice farming, regenera�ve dryland and upland agriculture, agroforestry, ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM), and recrea�onal areas, can be designed to enhance the watershed ecosystem. Therefore, mul�-scalar governance from the community to the city level, coupled with inclusive and par�cipatory planning, offers a solu�on in managing periurban or desakota land use (Salem et al., 2025).Combining GI-NBS in the urban core and EbA in the peri-urban requires coordina�on between local governments. Therefore, measuring the costs, benefits, and risks taken by each local government jurisdic�on is important (Cor�novis Radford Tian et al., 2020). It should be clarified who the providers and beneficiaries of green spaces management are across the mega-urban landscape. A clear and fair incen�ve-disincen�ve policy that involves all government en��es in mega-urban regions is needed, enhanced by public par�cipa�on in monitoring and control. Schema�cally, this framework is drawn in Figure 1. Ci�es in the Global South tend to sprawl, forming mega-urban regions that give rise to socioecological issues. It is the implica�on of development planning strategies that focus on crea�ng engines of growth, which then expand uncontrollably beyond the management capacity of government en��es in the region. Greening such ci�es through compact-smart-green approaches, like ci�es in the Global North, is ineffec�ve due to a lack of knowledge, technology, budget, and fragmented governance. Therefore, different approaches are required: GI-NBS can be applied in the remaining open spaces within dense built-up areas of the urban core, while EbA can be adopted in the peri-urban or the typical urban-rural mixture called desakota, for instance, in upstream watershed ecosystems and downstream coastal ecosystems. To reach that, the integra�on of government policies and ac�ons is needed, underpinned by cost, benefits, and risk sharing in green space development and investment. People's par�cipa�on also plays a key role in pressuring the government to apply those strategies.