scholarly journals Analysis of Wetland Landcover Change in Great Lakes Urban Areas Using Self-Organizing Maps

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 4960
Author(s):  
Elissa Penfound ◽  
Eric Vaz

Wetland loss and subsequent reduction of wetland ecosystem services in the Great Lakes region has been driven, in part, by changing landcover and increasing urbanization. With landcover change data, digital elevation models (DEM), and self-organizing maps (SOM), this study explores changing landcover and the flood mitigation attributes of wetland areas over a 15-year period in Toronto and Chicago. The results of this analysis show that (1) in the city of Toronto SOM clusters, the landcover change correlations with wetland volume and wetland area range between −0.1 to −0.5, indicating that a more intense landcover change tends to be correlated with small shallow wetlands, (2) in the city of Chicago SOM clusters, the landcover change correlations with wetland area range between −0.1 to −0.7, the landcover change correlations with wetland volume per area range between −0.1 to 0.8, and the landcover change correlations with elevation range between −0.2 to −0.6, indicating that more intense landcover change tends to be correlated with spatially small wetlands that have a relatively high water-storage capacity per area and are located at lower elevations. In both cities, the smallest SOM clusters represent wetland areas where increased landcover change is correlated with wetland areas that have high flood mitigation potential. This study aims to offer a new perspective on changing urban landscapes and urban wetland ecosystem services in Toronto and Chicago.

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 5475-5488
Author(s):  
R. H. de Oliveira ◽  
C. de C. Carneiro ◽  
F. G. V. de Almeida ◽  
B. M. de Oliveira ◽  
E. H. M. Nunes ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco de la Barrera ◽  
Cristián Henríquez ◽  
Fanny Coulombié ◽  
Cynnamon Dobbs ◽  
Alejando Salazar

Abstract Urban expansion in Latin-American cities is faster than urban planning. In order to implement sustainable planning the capacity of peri-urban areas to provide ecosystem services must be evaluated in the context of competing urbanization and conservation pressures. In this study we analyzed the effect of urban expansion on peri-urban vegetation of the Metropolitan Area of Santiago and what ecosystem services are provided by El Panul, land rich in biodiversity embedded in the fringe of the city. The city has lost vegetation while urbanized areas grow. Under this context, we evaluated the multi-functionality of El Panul through the quantification of three ecosystem services (ES): sense of place through the interviews of 60 residents, recreation via GIS analyses, and local climate regulation determined with air temperature measurements. El Panul increased the provision of urban green spaces, where inhabitants recognize and appreciate ES, and it plays a significant role in mitigating the urban heat island on summer nights. ES have emerged as a concept and framework for evaluating competing urban development alternatives.


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 1189 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. C. Davidson ◽  
A. A. van Dam ◽  
C. M. Finlayson ◽  
R. J. McInnes

In this study, we have re-estimated the 2011 global monetary values of natural wetland ecosystem services using new information on the areas of different coastal and inland wetland classes, and included estimates for forested wetlands. The 2011 global monetary value of natural wetland ecosystem services is now estimated at Int$47.4 trillion per year, 43.5% of the value of all natural biomes. Despite forming only ~15% of global natural wetland area, coastal wetlands are estimated to deliver 43.1% (Int$20.4 trillion per year) of the total global ecosystem services monetary value of all natural wetland classes. There is a need to further refine these value estimates by factoring in other determinants of wetland ecosystem service monetary value, by disaggregating unit monetary values to each wetland class and by updating unit monetary values with more recent sources, especially for ecosystem services with no, or few, value estimates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1328
Author(s):  
Young-Su Kim ◽  
U-Yeol Park ◽  
Seoung-Wook Whang ◽  
Dong-Joon Ahn ◽  
Sangyong Kim

Construction projects in urban areas tend to be associated with high-rise buildings and are of very large-scales; hence, the importance of a project’s underground construction work is significant. In this study, a rational model based on machine learning (ML) was developed. ML algorithms are programs that can learn from data and improve from experience without human intervention. In this study, self-organizing maps (SOMs) were utilized. An SOM is an alternative to existing ML methods and involves a subjective decision-making process because a developed model is used for data training to classify and effectively recognize patterns embedded in the input data space. In addition, unlike existing methods, the SOM can easily create a feature map by mapping multidimensional data to simple two-dimensional data. The objective of this study is to develop an SOM model as a decision-making approach for selecting a retaining wall technique. N-fold cross-validation was adopted to validate the accuracy of the SOM model and evaluate its reliability. The findings are useful for decision-making in selecting a retaining wall method, as demonstrated in this study. The maximum accuracy of the SOM was 81.5%, and the average accuracy was 79.8%.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2787
Author(s):  
Francesca Vignoli ◽  
Claudia de Luca ◽  
Simona Tondelli

In recent years, both mapping and assessing urban Ecosystem Services (ESs) to support urban planning has been a topic of great debate. This work aims at contributing to this discussion by developing and testing a methodological approach to first assess and map supply and demand of ESs, and then identify areas of priority of intervention. Starting from the existing models, the work develops a tailored approach to map and assess three ESs (water retention and runoff, PM10 removal, and carbon sequestration and storage) that are tested in the city of Bologna and tailored according to available open data. All data are processed in a GIS environment to allow for spatial distribution and visualization of ESs. These maps facilitate defining supply and demands and, consequently, the presence and distribution of ESs deficiencies. Building on mismatches, this paper proposes four clusters by grouping the city’s districts based on predominant land use (built-up, green urban areas) and tree canopy cover. This classification enabled the identification of intervention priority areas and suggestions of relevant nature-based solutions (NBS) to be implemented. The proposed method can serve other urban areas to perform a rapid assessment of their current needs and challenges in terms of ES provision.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Levan Alpaidze ◽  
Rocco Pace

Abstract BackgroundAll cities globally are growing considerably as they are experiencing an intensive urbanization process resulting in significant economic, social, and environmental challenges. One of the major risks is the deterioration of living environment in urban areas due to the high soil consumption and pollution of environmental components. For this reason, cities are required to adopt measures to reduce air pollution concentration and CO2 emissions, preserve biodiversity and mitigate the urban heat island effect. In this context, tree planting has been suggested as one cost-effective strategy because green infrastructures can provide important environmental and social functions which contribute to the quality of life and health of city dwellers.Tbilisi is the largest city in Georgia, with a population of over 1,100,000 inhabitants (about 30% of total population of Georgia). The green space availability in Tbilisi (5-6 m2 per inhabitant) is low compared to other European cities, and in recent years the need to increase the amount of urban vegetation has been underlined at planning level.ResultsIn our study, we implemented for the first time in an Eastern European city the i-Tree Eco model to quantify the main ecosystem services from common tree species in Southern Caucasus. Two parks, Expo Park (694 trees) and Red Park (1027 trees) in the city of Tbilisi have been measured and a model simulation was performed for the year 2018. These urban forests store large amounts of carbon in their woody tissues (198.4 t for Expo park and 126.5 t for Red park) and each year they remove 4.6 and 4.7 t of CO2 for Expo park and Red park. They also positively contribute to the air quality by removing 119.6 and 90.3 kg of pollutants (CO, NO2, O3, PM2.5, SO2), and reducing water runoff of 269.5 and 200.5 m3, respectively.Conclusions This analysis highlighted the key role of urban forests in improving the environmental sustainability of the city of Tbilisi and provides important decision support for the tree species selection in this geographic area with the aim of maximizing the benefits trees can supply to cities.


2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. McInnes

Ecosystems, and wetlands in particular, provide services that support and enhance human well being. In an increasingly urbanising world, the appropriate planning and management of ecosystem services can benefit a growing urban population. In 2011 UN-Habitat’s Governing Council adopted a Resolution that provided a mandate to promote biodiversity, wetlands and ecosystem services within the human settlement agenda. Subsequently, and developed in collaboration with UN-Habitat, in 2012 the Ramsar Convention also adopted a Resolution on the principles for the planning and management of urban and periurban wetlands and invited countries to raise awareness of the importance of wetlands to urban populations. This paper considered case studies drawn from cities across the globe in order to understand the level of awareness of ecosystem services from urban areas. The study demonstrated that ecosystem services were consistently under-recognised and that the failure to recognise the benefits is greatest for the ecosystem services provided by wetlands and in particular for supporting services. To ensure that the obligations under the two resolutions are implemented, and that urbanisation delivers high levels of societal well being, will require the development, dissemination and adoption of practical tools and a more robust integration of ecosystem services into urban planning and decision-making.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 393
Author(s):  
Biancamaria Torquati ◽  
Giulia Giacchè ◽  
Tiziano Tempesta

The recent decades have witnessed a significant increase in the population in peri-urban areas which led to a progressive transformation of peri-urban landscapes, and the reduced ability of agriculture to provide ecosystem services. In order to understand the complex relationships established in peri-urban areas between reference urban centre, urban services (US) and ecosystem services (ES), with particular attention to the landscape, a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was carried out in the transitional peri-urban areas of six municipalities located near the city of Perugia (Italy). The two main goals of this study are analysing the effect of the presence of US and ES on the demand for housing, and exploring the implications in terms of peri-urban land use policy. The results highlight that the availability of some ES can have a significant impact on choice of housing location.


2015 ◽  
Vol 725-726 ◽  
pp. 1057-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Simankina ◽  
Olga Popova

The algorithm for clustering based on neural network modeling using T. Kohonen's self-organizing maps for the analysis of the housing stock is considered. This analysis of housing stock is required for the planning of complex reproduction of housing and major repairs regional programs development. The mechanism of self-organization is submitted. The representative sample clustering of the housing stock is produced. Its result is 16 groups of objects with a high level of internal similarity. The basic advantages of this approach for monitoring and analysis of the city housing stock are described.


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