Systemic Governance of Mountains, Rivers, Forests, Farmlands, Lakes and Grasslands: Theoretical Framework and Approaches

Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies ◽

10.1142/s2345748121500214 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yan ZHENG ◽

Guiyang ZHUANG

Keyword(s):

Green Infrastructure ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Global Climate ◽

Value Theory ◽

Ecological System ◽

Ecological Ethics ◽

Pilot Projects ◽

Ecological Civilization ◽

Green Development ◽

Systemic Governance

The life community of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands (MRFFLG) and its systemic governance are key components to build ecological civilization in China. It comprises diverse connotations in value, scientific and economic dimensions. Epistemologically, it comes from the Chinese traditional philosophy of harmonious coexistence of heaven, earth and man, and conforms to the Western ecological ethics, complex system science and environmental value theory. Methodologically, as a complex socio-ecological system in which man and nature interact and coexist, the life community of the MRFFLG should be governed coordinately from both narrow and broad views. At the policy level, from the perspectives of narrow synergy among ecological subsystems and broad synergy among the complex socio-ecological system, this paper evaluates the performance indicators of 16 pilot projects of the MRFFLG, and points out that the design of most pilot projects well reflects the narrow synergy of multiple ecological elements, but is short of attention to the broad synergy of green development and ecological civilization. There are two practical ways to promote the systemic governance of the MRFFLG. First, it needs to focus on the coordinated governance of watershed and ecological environment restoration against the background of global climate and environmental change. The goal is to restore and improve the service functions of ecological subsystems and enhance their climate adaptability. Second, in the context of new urbanization and green development transition, it requires a collaborative planning focusing on natural capital and green infrastructure investment, which is aimed at cultivating ecological dividends and realizing ecological economy.

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Analysis of Several Problems in the Construction of Sponge City

Journal of World Architecture ◽

10.26689/jwa.v6i1.2884 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 5-9

Author(s):

Wei Li

Keyword(s):

Urban Planning ◽

Pilot Projects ◽

Ecological Civilization ◽

Urban Flood ◽

Sponge City ◽

Urban Construction ◽

Green Development ◽

Flood Disasters ◽

Ecological Problems ◽

The City

Sponge city refers to a new urban construction concept used to solve urban flood disasters and water ecological problems. It is important for the construction of ecological civilization. It plays an important role in the green development and livability of the city. In the construction of a sponge city, it is necessary to make special urban planning and improve the top-level design. In recent years, China has developed a number of sponge city pilot projects. The numerous experiments act as important references for the urban construction in China. This paper mainly analyzes the requirements for the construction of sponge city and discusses several problems as well as solutions in the construction.

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The Effect of Blue-Green Infrastructure on Habitat Connectivity and Biodiversity: A Case Study in the Ōtākaro/Avon River Catchment in Christchurch, New Zealand

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126732 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6732

Author(s):

Thuy Thi Nguyen ◽

Colin Meurk ◽

Rubianca Benavidez ◽

Bethanna Jackson ◽

Markus Pahlow

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Research Question ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Habitat Connectivity ◽

Added Value ◽

Environmental Evaluation ◽

Representative Species ◽

The Matrix

The natural capital components in cities (“blue-green infrastructure” BGI) are designed to address long-term sustainability and create multi-benefits for society, culture, business, and ecology. We investigated the added value of BGI through the research question “Can the implementation of blue-green infrastructure lead to an improvement of habitat connectivity and biodiversity in urban environments?” To answer this, the Biological and Environmental Evaluation Tools for Landscape Ecology (BEETLE) within the Land Utilisation and Capability Indicator (LUCI) framework was adopted and applied in Christchurch, New Zealand, for the first time. Three ecologically representative species were selected. The parameterisation was based on ecological theory and expert judgment. By implementation of BGI, the percentages of habitats of interest for kereru and paradise shelduck increased by 3.3% and 2.5%, respectively. This leads to improved habitat connectivity. We suggest several opportunities for regenerating more native patches around the catchment to achieve the recommended minimum 10% target of indigenous cover. However, BGI alone cannot return a full suite of threatened wildlife to the city without predator-fenced breeding sanctuaries and wider pest control across the matrix. The socio-eco-spatial connectivity analysed in this study was formalised in terms of four interacting dimensions.

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Enhancing Water Security through Restoration and Maintenance of Ecological Infrastructure: Lessons From the uMngeni River Basin, South Africa

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11537 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Graham Jewitt ◽

Catherine Sutherland ◽

Sabine Stuart-Hill ◽

Jim Taylor ◽

Susan Risko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Capital ◽

River Basin ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Critical Role ◽

Water Security ◽

Constitutive Relationship ◽

Ecological Infrastructure ◽

Sustainable Water Supply

The uMngeni River Basin supports over six million people, providing water to South Africa&#8217;s third largest regional economy. A critical question facing stakeholders is how to sustain and enhance water security in the catchment for its inhabitants. The role of Ecological Infrastructure (EI) (the South African term for a suite of Nature Based Solutions and Green Infrastructure projects) in enhancing and sustaining water and sanitation delivery in the catchment has been the focus of a project that has explored the conceptual and philosophical basis for investing in EI over the past five years.The overall aim of this project was to identify where and how investment into the protection and/or restoration of EI can be made to produce long-term and sustainable returns in terms of water security assurance. In short, the project aimed to guide catchment managers when deciding &#8220;what to do&#8221; in the catchment to secure a more sustainable water supply, and where it should be done. This seemingly simple question encompasses complexity in time and space, and reveals the connections between different biophysical, social, political, economic and governance systems in the catchment.Through the study, we highlight that there is an interdependent and co-constitutive relationship between EI, society, and water security. In particular, by working in spaces where EI investment is taking place, it is evident that socio-economic, environmental and political relations in the catchment play a critical role in making EI investment possible, or not possible.The study inherently addresses aspects of water quantity and quality, economics, societal interactions, and the governance of natural resources. It highlights that ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water resources requires both transdisciplinary and detailed biophysical, economic, social and development studies of both formal and informal socio-ecological systems, and that investing in human resources capacity to support these studies, is critical. In contrast to many projects which have identified this complexity, here, we move beyond identification and actively explore and explain these interactions and have synthesised these into ten lessons based on these experiences and analyses.<ul><li>1 - People (human capital), the societies in which they live (societal capital), the constructed environment (built capital), and natural capital interact with, and shape each other</li> <li>2 - Investing in Ecological Infrastructure enhances catchment water security</li> <li>3 - Investing in Ecological Infrastructure or BuiIt/Grey infrastructure is not a binary choice</li> <li>4 - Investing in Ecological Infrastructure is financially beneficial</li> <li>5 - Understanding history, legacy and path dependencies is critical to shift thinking</li> <li>6 - Understanding the governance system is fundamental</li> <li>7 - Meaningful participatory processes are the key to transformation</li> <li>8 - To be sustainable, investments in infrastructure need a concomitant investment in social and human capital</li> <li>9 - Social learning, building transdisciplinarity and transformation takes time and effort</li> <li>10 - Students provide new insights, bring energy and are multipliers</li> </ul>

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Landscape Design of Urban Green Space Adaptive to Global Climate Change a Review

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.243-249.6842 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 243-249 ◽

pp. 6842-6845

Author(s):

Jian Zhang ◽

Yan Hui Sui ◽

Xue Biao Geng

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Green Space ◽

Global Climate ◽

Urban Green Space ◽

Design Solution ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Urban Green ◽

Ecological Principle ◽

Low Carbon City

Low-carbon city provide both opportunity and challenge for landscape architecture. Urban green space planning and design are the most important way to achieve the landscape adaptive to globe climate change. In this paper, we introduced importance and significance of urban green space in low-carbon landscape, and reviewed many new design solutions, such as construction of green infrastructure, protection of natural vegetation and ecosystems, use of phytoremediation and application of urban productive landscape. Via innovative design solution and ecological principle, landscape architects would create a substantially new aesthetics to ensure the survivance of humanity.

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University’s multi-scale initiatives for redefining city development

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education ◽

10.1108/ijshe-05-2015-0089 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 50-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Natalia Ratajczyk ◽

Iwona Wagner ◽

Agnieszka Wolanska-Kaminska ◽

Tomasz Jurczak ◽

Maciej Zalewski

Keyword(s):

Green Infrastructure ◽

Large Scale ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Legal Protection ◽

Education Institution ◽

City Development ◽

Capital Projects ◽

Content Type ◽

The University ◽

The City

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the varied roles played by the University of Lódz (UL) in maintaining and restoring the natural capital of a city as a driver for sustainable city development. The higher education institution can be perceived as visionary, originator and executor of natural capital projects. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyses three cases performed by the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, UL, in the city of Lódz. The activities are based on different scales ranging from city-wide to local, e.g. river and green infrastructure, and which vary in character from policy planning to implementation. Findings Natural capital projects influence city development on different levels: by the initiation of legal protection, by the implementation of rehabilitation concepts for rivers and by influencing the strategic documents for mid-term and long-term urban development. Originality/value The university has the potential for multidisciplinary engagement in the development of urban sustainability. In large-scale projects, academics play a more conceptual role, in capacity building and knowledge transfer, while in local-scale implementations, their role includes innovation, know-how and technology transfer. Moreover, it may act as a reinforcement hub, by safeguarding and strengthening the natural capital of the city.

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Knowledge Map of Urban Morphology and Thermal Comfort: A Bibliometric Analysis Based on CiteSpace

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings11100427 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 427

Author(s):

Yuan Chen ◽

Yupeng Wang ◽

Dian Zhou

Keyword(s):

Thermal Comfort ◽

Bibliometric Analysis ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Global Climate ◽

Urban Morphology ◽

Anthropogenic Heat ◽

Sustainable Urban Development ◽

Future Research ◽

Knowledge Map ◽

Scale Morphology

In the context of global climate change, urban morphology is closely related to thermal comfort and contributes to sustainable urban development. Academics started to pay attention to related topics and carried out many studies during the last decades. This paper aims to summarize the research achievements and the development track for future studies. The Web of Science database and CiteSpace were used in this paper to conduct a bibliometric analysis of 556 studies in related fields from 1993 to 2020. Using a three-level co-occurrence analysis of 446 keywords, 1187 cocited literature clusters, and 15 landmark studies, the research topics and mainstream research frameworks were identified. The results show that with the increasing participation of disciplines such as computer science, ecology, and chemistry, the purpose of future research will shift to a focus on anthropogenic heat emissions, energy consumption, air pollution, and other aspects, and new research tools will be needed. In addition to building-scale and block-scale morphology, urban-scale morphology and green infrastructure will become the focus in the future. This study provides a systematic review of research about urban morphology and thermal comfort, which can inspire other researchers and policy makers.

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Towards the Coupling Coordination Relationship between Economic Growth Quality and Environmental Regulation: An Empirical Case Study of China

Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society ◽

10.1155/2021/2563335 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Huan Huang ◽

Fan Wang ◽

Yi Xiao ◽

Jiaxin Kuang

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Environmental Regulation ◽

Global Climate ◽

Interaction Mechanism ◽

Entropy Method ◽

Evaluation Index System ◽

Ecological Civilization ◽

Research Perspective ◽

Per Capita ◽

Growth Quality

With the deterioration of the global climate, there is consensus that the environment and economy must develop in coordination. Effective environmental regulation (ER) is an important incentive of environmental protection, and there is a clear interaction mechanism between it and the economic growth quality (EGQ). In order to explore the intrinsic link between ER and EGQ, this study establishes a comprehensive evaluation index system from the research perspective of the coupling coordination degree (CCD). Based on the panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in mainland China (excluding Tibet), from 2004 to 2017, the entropy method, coupling coordination model, and spatial econometric model are used to explore the CCD and the factors influencing the CCD of ER and EGQ. The key findings of this study were as follows: (1) The CCD of ER and EGQ system showed an upward trend in the fluctuation from 2004 to 2017. (2) In 2017, Beijing showed good coordination, Yunnan and Qinghai showed primary coordination, and the rest of the provinces showed moderate coordination. (3) The CCD of different regions in China is uneven. (4) Per capita GDP, per capita FDI, ER intensity, and industrial structure adjustment have promoting effects on the CCD, while per capita investment in fixed assets and environmental pressure have inhibiting effects on the CCD. Our conclusions are significant for promoting the integrated development of regional economy and ecological civilization, and provide a theoretical reference for other countries and regions to explore the relationship between ER and EGQ.

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ASSESSMENT OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FOR PLANNING OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

Environment Technology Resources Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical Conference ◽

10.17770/etr2019vol1.4085 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 315

Author(s):

Maija Ušča ◽

Ivo Vinogradovs ◽

Agnese Reķe ◽

Dāvis Valters Immurs ◽

Anita Zariņa

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Hot Spots ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Human Beings ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Wide Range ◽

Supply Potential

Ecosystem services (ES) are defined as the benefits that human beings derive from ecosystem functions. Assessment and mapping of these benefits are crucial for sustainable environmental planning and future natural capital. Green infrastructure (GI) is natural or semi-natural territories that provide wide range of ES. Human affected ecosystems tend to fail to provide certain sets of ES due to the trade-offs among those services, which could be mitigated through implementation of GI. Mapping of ES, as well as assessing the interactions among various ES and analysing their supply potential’s cold/hot spots considerably enhances and substantiates the planning process of GI, particularly at the regional scale and for the territories with diverse landscape potential. The aim of this paper is to discuss the assessment of ES supply potential and analyse its spatial distribution to reveal cold/hot spots of ecosystem capacity to provide wide range services and functions for GI. The study presents GIS based assessment of ES in a case study of Zemgale Planning Region. ES supply potential was assessed for 27 Corine land use classes (CLC2018) together with 10 regulatory, 12 provisioning and 6 cultural ES. An expert-based ranking approach using a two-dimensional ES matrix and a geospatial analysis was applied to determine total ES supply potential, spatial patterns and relations among multiple ES. Additional statistical analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) was performed on spatial distribution of regulatory ES to disclose statistically significant capacity of ecosystems to function as GI in given surroundings. Preliminary results show uneven distribution of ES, trade-offs between regulatory and provisioning ES and landscape dependent spatial clustering of these trade-offs supported by result of Getis-Ord Gi* analysis, thus laying a foundation for further planning of GI at the regional scale.

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Future directions in Blue-Green Infrastructure research

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-695 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Emily O’Donnell

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Flood Risk ◽

Social Practice ◽

Green Space ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Urban Flood ◽

Community Preferences ◽

Urban Flood Risk

As global cities rethink their approaches to urban flood risk and water management in response to climate change, accelerating urbanisation and reductions in public green space, Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) is gaining increasing recognition due to the advantages of multifunctional BGI solutions over traditional piped drainage and grey infrastructure. BGI, including green and blue roofs, swales, rain gardens, street trees, ponds, urban wetlands, restored watercourses, reconnected floodplains, and re-naturalised rivers, is designed to turn &#8216;blue&#8217; (or &#8216;bluer&#8217;) during rainfall events in order to reduce urban flood risk. In addition to managing flood risk and increasing water security, BGI generates a range of socio-cultural, economic and environmental co-benefits that help city authorities tackle other urban challenges and ultimately improve the quality of life of city dwellers.Extensive research over the last decade has focused on improving knowledge of BGI systems in several broad areas, including: hydrological and hydraulic modelling of water flow through BGI assets; biochemical assessments of sediment and water quality; public preferences; identification and evaluation of BGI co-benefits, and; BGI planning and governance. Emerging research into adaptation pathways, natural capital accounting and social practice approaches for understanding community preferences demonstrate how BGI research is moving beyond hydrodynamic modelling to explore decision making under future uncertainty and placing greater emphasis on the role of community preferences in designing BGI that is accepted and supported by those who directly benefit.This presentation will explore these emerging research areas, particularly focusing on the need for interdisciplinary research into BGI to enable the challenges and opportunities to be fully appreciated. Current knowledge gaps that present research opportunities in BGI will also be discussed, including the need for rigorous assessment criteria to determine the success of multifunctional BGI systems; greater investigation of the social benefits of BGI and the value people place on different types of BGI; the role of implicit perceptions in designing BGI assets, and; the role of urban watercourses as multifunctional BGI corridors able to safely convey stormwater while boosting water quality, providing multiple urban pathways (active transport, wildlife movements, etc.) and increasing green space in cities.

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