Sustainable Urban Green Spaces: A Comparative Water-Saving Analysis of Xeriscaping in Ankara, Turkiye

The increasing impacts of climate change and drought have made water-efficient management of urban green spaces a critical issue in semi-arid cities. This study evaluates the water-saving potential of xeriscape landscape design principles in two major recreational areas in Ankara, Türkiye: Batıkent and Bademlidere. In the first stage, existing planting designs were inventoried, and annual crop water consumption was calculated using the Penman–Monteith method and species-specific crop coefficients (Kc). In the second stage, xeriscape-based alternatives composed of lower-water-use species were developed and compared with the existing designs. The results showed that total annual water consumption was 90,591 m3 for Bademlidere and 185,566 m3 for Batıkent. For Batıkent, the proposed xeriscape design reduced annual demand to 82,835 m3, corresponding to a saving of 102,731 m3 (55.4%), or approximately the annual domestic water use of 600 households. Notably, clover groundcover, which is often promoted as a lawn alternative, was calculated to consume more water per square meter (1.31 m3 m−2 yr−1) than turfgrass (1.14 m3 m−2 yr−1) when a green appearance was maintained. These findings show that xeriscaping can substantially reduce irrigation demand in semi-arid urban landscapes; however, the water-saving performance of turf alternatives depends strongly on species composition, planting density, and site-specific management.