Objective This paper investigates the characterization of plant community structure and diversity in urban communities from different climatic zones in northern China, aiming to provide a scientific basis for the configuration and management of green space vegetation in these areas.

Method Sample surveys were conducted in 765 green spaces of 39 residential areas from six typical cities (Beijing, Xi’an, Qingdao, Shenyang, Qian’an, Xining) in northern China. The species importance value and plant diversity index were calculated to quantitatively analyze the species composition, structural characteristics, and plant diversity of community green spaces from different zones.

Result (1) there were 756 plant species, belonging to 108 families and 378 genera in the investigated residential areas. Qingdao, a coastal city, had the most plant species of 327, while the plant species of inland cities, such as Beijing and Xining with 182 and 226 plants, respectively, were relatively small. (2) The importance value of herbaceous plants in the community green space of eastern and western cities was higher than central cities, while trees and shrubs had higher importance value in the central cities. The most common dominant species of the surveyed areas were single type of ‘tree’, ‘shrub’ and ‘grass’, accounting for 68.9% of total community green space. (3) In terms of life-form stratification, plant diversity followed the pattern of tree layer > herbaceous layer > shrub layer. The Jaccard distance indicated that Xining’s plant communities were the most distinct from those of other cities (0.886 1), while Beijing showed the highest similarity (0.837 9), the herb layer was the most sensitive to spatial and environmental heterogeneity. Compared with natural factors, socioeconomic variables (including residential area size, per capita GDP, and construction year of residential areas) exerted a stronger influence on plant diversity.

Conclusion The investigated urban residential areas in northern China exhibit rich configurations in plant community structure within green spaces, yet the dominant species groups are primarily characterized by a single life form arrangement of “trees”, “shrubs”, and “grasses”. Additionally, plant diversity gradually increases from west to east, primarily influenced by socio-economic factors.