Adaptive Public Open Space Planning in A Cold-climate Ger District: A GIS and Participatory Study of Bilgekh Valley, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

In Ulaanbaatar, the rapid and unplanned expansion of ger districts has significantly heightened exposure to seasonal environmental hazards. This vulnerability is further compounded by a critical deficiency in climate-resilient public open spaces. This paper presents a mixed-methods research framework and a reproducible approach for the adaptive planning of public spaces in Bilgekh Valley, a peri-urban ger district located in northern Ulaanbaatar. Covering approximately 7,460.17 hectares with a current population of roughly 28,950, the valley serves as a representative case of large-scale, unplanned informal settlement within a harsh, cold-climate urban fringe.

The study integrates GIS analysis with participatory mapping. The spatial-physical analysis is conducted using QGIS, leveraging high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and Meteonorm climatic datasets. By synthesising these data, the research generates surface runoff and flood indicators (including flow accumulation and slope) as well as wind and air stagnation indices to perform a comprehensive vulnerability assessment. The initial phase focuses on land-use balance and environmental evaluation to identify unplanned, underutilised, or misused vacant lots and parcels that currently obstruct the development of community spaces.

Concurrently, community mapping surveys were conducted to document environmental vulnerabilities—such as seasonal flooding, aufeis (groundwater icing), and localised pollution—while identifying potential intervention sites suggested by residents. This community-sourced data is digitised and integrated into the QGIS environment. This conference presentation outlines the methodological framework, preliminary land-use findings, and digitised participatory maps, discussing how these results inform potential interventions for adaptive open spaces. Ultimately, the research seeks to establish a reproducibility approach for planning climate-resilient public spaces in Mongolian ger districts and similar cold-climate informal settlements.