Assessing Urban Ecosystem Services

2018 ◽  
pp. 183-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marise Barreiros Horta ◽  
Maria Inês Cabral ◽  
Iva Pires ◽  
Laura Salles Bachi ◽  
Ana Luz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Belo Horizonte ◽  
Economic Perspectives

By integrating social, ecological, and economic perspectives, the assessment of ecosystem services (ES) provides valuable information for better targeting landscape planning and governance. This chapter summarizes different participatory approaches for assessing ES in urban areas of three countries. In Belo Horizonte (Brazil), a conceptual framework for the vacant lots ES assessment is presented as an attempt to integrate landscape, social, and political dimensions. In Leipzig (Germany), a combination of site surveys, interviews, and remote sensing provides a valuable data set that fostered a comparative study between two forms of urban gardening. In Lisbon (Portugal), the study is based on interviews that offer a social insight into the horticultural parks situation, which in turn demands a better dialogue with the municipality. In general, the studies demonstrate the potential benefits of utilizing the ES assessment approaches on urban landscapes, especially for better understanding the interactions between people and nature in urban sites.

Assessing Urban Ecosystem Services

2020 ◽  
pp. 312-359
Author(s):  
Marise Barreiros Horta ◽  
Maria Inês Cabral ◽  
Iva Pires ◽  
Laura Salles Bachi ◽  
Ana Luz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Belo Horizonte ◽  
Economic Perspectives

By integrating social, ecological, and economic perspectives, the assessment of ecosystem services (ES) provides valuable information for better targeting landscape planning and governance. This chapter summarizes different participatory approaches for assessing ES in urban areas of three countries. In Belo Horizonte (Brazil), a conceptual framework for the vacant lots ES assessment is presented as an attempt to integrate landscape, social, and political dimensions. In Leipzig (Germany), a combination of site surveys, interviews, and remote sensing provides a valuable data set that fostered a comparative study between two forms of urban gardening. In Lisbon (Portugal), the study is based on interviews that offer a social insight into the horticultural parks situation, which in turn demands a better dialogue with the municipality. In general, the studies demonstrate the potential benefits of utilizing the ES assessment approaches on urban landscapes, especially for better understanding the interactions between people and nature in urban sites.

scholarly journals A Differentiated Spatial Assessment of Urban Ecosystem Services Based on Land Use Data in Halle, Germany

Land ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janis Arnold ◽  
Janina Kleemann ◽  
Christine Fürst
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Urban Ecosystem Services ◽  
Climate Regulation ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
Cooling Effects

Urban ecosystem services (ES) contribute to the compensation of negative effects caused by cities by means of, for example, reducing air pollution and providing cooling effects during the summer time. In this study, an approach is described that combines the regional biotope and land use data set, hemeroby and the accessibility of open space in order to assess the provision of urban ES. Hemeroby expresses the degree of naturalness of land use types and, therefore, provides a differentiated assessment of urban ES. Assessment of the local capacity to provide urban ES was conducted with a spatially explicit modeling approach in the city of Halle (Saale) in Germany. The following urban ES were assessed: (a) global climate regulation, (b) local climate regulation, (c) air pollution control, (d) water cycle regulation, (e) food production, (f) nature experience and (g) leisure activities. We identified areas with high and low capacity of ES in the urban context. For instance, the central parts of Halle had very low or no capacity to provide ES due to highly compact building styles and soil sealing. In contrast, peri-urban areas had particularly high capacities. The potential provision of regulating services was spatially limited due to the location of land use types that provide these services.

scholarly journals Bundling ecosystem services at a high resolution in the UK: trade-offs and synergies in urban landscapes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Karimi ◽  
Ron Corstanje ◽  
Jim A. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Rank Correlation ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Nutrient Retention ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Pollinator Abundance ◽  
Trade Offs

Abstract Context Ecosystem service bundles can be defined as the spatial co-occurrence of ecosystem services in a landscape. The understanding of the delivery of multiple ecosystem services as bundles in urban areas is limited. This study modelled ecosystem services in an urban area comprising the towns of Milton Keynes, Bedford and Luton. Objectives The objectives of this study were to assess (1) how ecosystem service bundles scale at a 2 m spatial resolution and (2) identify and analyse the composition of ecosystem service bundles. Methods Six ecosystem services were modelled with the InVEST framework at a 2 m resolution. The correlations between ecosystem services were calculated using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient method. Principal Component Analysis and K-means cluster analysis were used to analyse the distributions, spatial trade-offs and synergies of multiple ecosystem services. Results The results showed that regulating services had the tendency to form trade-offs and synergies. There was a significant tendency for trade-offs between supporting service Habitat quality and Pollinator abundance. Four bundle types were identified which showed specialised areas with prevalent soil erosion with high levels in water supply, areas with high values in nutrient retention, areas with high levels in carbon storage and urban areas with pollinator abundance. Conclusions This study demonstrates the existence of synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services and the formation of ecosystem service bundles in urban areas. This study provides a better understanding of the interactions between services and improve the management choices in ecosystem service provision in urban and landscape planning.

scholarly journals Global Variation in Climate, Human Development, and Population Density Has Implications for Urban Ecosystem Services

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Richards ◽  
Mahyar Masoudi ◽  
Rachel R. Y. Oh ◽  
Erik S. Yando ◽  
Jingyuan Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Urban Ecosystem Services ◽  
Global Variation ◽  
The World ◽  
Tropical Cities ◽  
Future Work

Humans rely upon ecosystem services to regulate their environment and to provide resources and cultural benefits. As the world’s urban population grows, it becomes increasingly important to find ways of improving the provision of ecosystem services in urban areas. However, the kinds of ecosystem services that are most needed or demanded by urban populations, and the opportunities to provide these, vary widely in cities around the world. Here we explore variation in climate, Human Development Index (HDI), and population density, and discuss their implications for providing and managing urban ecosystem services. Using 221 published studies of urban ecosystem services, we analyse the extent to which existing research adequately covers global variation in climatic and social conditions. Our results reveal an under-representation of studies from tropical cities and from lower HDI countries, with implications for how we conceptualize and quantify urban ecosystem services, and how we transfer benefits across case studies. Future work should be aimed at correcting these deficits and determining the extent to which conclusions about urban ecosystem services are transferable from one city to another.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Cost of Ecosystem Services of Urban Landscapes (by the Example of Moscow)

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 1975-1986
Author(s):  
O. V. Semenyuk ◽  
G. V. Stoma ◽  
K. S. Bodrov
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Chemical Elements ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Cost Calculation ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Ecological State ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Cost

Abstract— The cost of park-recreational, residential, and residential-transport urban landscapes of Moscow has been estimated taking into account land use and the relationships between ecosystem services and ecological functions and properties of individual landscape components. On the basis of the methodology previously proposed by the authors, a wide range of ecosystem services of urban landscapes, mainly associated with soils and their ecological state, has been assessed. The cost of ecosystem services provided by the soil in urban landscapes is 20–30 times higher in comparison with that of green spaces, and some soil services can be considered invaluable because of the difficulty of renewing this natural resource. The cost of ecosystem services of undisturbed soils of park and recreational landscapes is 1.5–2 times higher than that of anthropogenically transformed soils of residential and residential-transport urban territories. The main contribution to the overall cost of ecosystem services of soils in urban landscapes is due to the following services: carbon sequestration, preservation of the genetic material of biota, and filtration and accumulation of chemical elements in the ecosystem. These services can be considered as promising in the monetization of ecosystem services in urban landscapes. The decline in the cost of ecosystem services from park and recreational landscapes to residential and residential-transport landscapes is largely determined by the deterioration of the ecological state of soils. The benefits provided by the natural block of landscapes are comparable to or greater than those of the cultural (human-created) block. In relation to the all-Russia assessment of ecosystem services, a specific feature of urban areas is a significant share (on average, 25%) of the cultural block in the total cost of ecosystem services and a decrease in the cost of regulatory services by about 30%. The results of the economic assessment of ecosystem services of urban landscapes indicate an underestimation of the value of natural components, a significant contribution of soil to the natural block, the need to search for simplified integral indicators of its state, and the presence of cost calculation problems. The methodological approaches and provisional results of this study can be used in urban planning with the aim to preserve the soil cover of urban landscapes and optimize their functioning.

scholarly journals Social-Ecological Connectivity to Understand Ecosystem Service Provision across Networks in Urban Landscapes

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 530
Author(s):  
Monika Egerer ◽  
Elsa Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Landscape Connectivity ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Ecological Connectivity ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Scale Network

Landscape connectivity is a critical component of dynamic processes that link the structure and function of networks at the landscape scale. In the Anthropocene, connectivity across a landscape-scale network is influenced not only by biophysical land use features, but also by characteristics and patterns of the social landscape. This is particularly apparent in urban landscapes, which are highly dynamic in land use and often in social composition. Thus, landscape connectivity, especially in cities, must be thought of in a social-ecological framework. This is relevant when considering ecosystem services—the benefits that people derive from ecological processes and properties. As relevant actors move through a connected landscape-scale network, particular services may “flow” better across space and time. For this special issue on dynamic landscape connectivity, we discuss the concept of social-ecological networks using urban landscapes as a focal system to highlight the importance of social-ecological connectivity to understand dynamic urban landscapes, particularly in regards to the provision of urban ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Urban Ecosystem services on the local level: Urban green spaces as providers

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Breuste ◽  
Johanna Schnellinger ◽  
Salman Qureshi ◽  
Anna Faggi
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Urban Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Spaces

AbstractBreuste J., Schnellinger J., Qureshi S., Faggi A.: Urban ecosystem services on the local level: Urban green spaces as providers. Ekologia (Bratislava), Vol. 32, No. 3, p. 209-304, 2013. Ecosystem services are provided at different spatial and service/functional scales. The local level is the basic unit for ecosystem services, especially when it comes to the human dimension of urban landscapes. These services are provided by green elements (patches) or basic complex ecosystems (green areas) which differ from their neighbourhoods through their structures and functions. This study reviews the generally available knowledge on urban green functions and services at the site level and explains them by using own studies in five different cities in three different continents related to distinct ecosystem services. This allows the development of a methodology to evaluate and compare ecosystem services at the site level. The methodology is based at two levels, patch and green space, and includes the relationship with the surrounding green and built-up space. Different urban green space types are characterized by their internal structures of vegetation, size, shape and location in relation to at least a semi-quantitative scaling of their urban ecosystem services. The evaluated urban green spaces are public urban green spaces. The urban ecosystem services assessed include climate regulation, biodiversity, nature experience, recreation and health. The actual urban challenges, such as land use change, adaptation to climate change, demographic change and urban cultural diversity, demand a systematic and very concrete monitoring of urban ecosystem services at the site level.

scholarly journals Shedding Light on Peri-Urban Ecosystem Services Using Automated Content Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9182
Author(s):  
Gabriella Vindigni ◽  
Alexandros Mosca ◽  
Tommaso Bartoloni ◽  
Daniela Spina
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Urban Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Urban Core ◽  
Starting Point

The objective of this paper is to provide an overall perspective on peri-urban ecosystem services in European Countries. The phenomenon of urbanization affecting our era has seen the shift of the city from compact and well-defined structures to agglomerations with a seamless expansion. This has led to several environmental consequences that have affected the urbanized areas and the surroundings. The peri-urban areas may be the main urban design and planning challenge of the 21st century. These hybrid landscapes, characterized by high fragmentation, can be turned into opportunities to improve the sustainability and quality of urban areas, generating multiple economic, social and environmental benefits. Areas beyond the immediate urban core can be considered a zone of influence, which represent a critical resource in terms of provisioning, regulating, supporting services and cultural ecosystem services. Our study has been developed in the framework of the project “Fertile Lands, Fragile Lands” funded by the University of Catania. A multi-phased method has been applied, showing strong, heterogeneous ties between landscape and ecosystem services. While the importance of literature studies on this topic is well recognized, the same attention has not been placed on the tools and methods of conducting systematic and incremental literature reviews. Using Leximancer software, we propose a text mining approach to extract relevant themes and concepts as well as related topics of interest from identified literature on peri-urban ecosystems. We first introduce the overall methodology and then discuss each phase in detail. The outputs can be used as starting point for broad exploratory reviews and allow further exploration in this issue. The results show how the peri-urban space can be seen as a mosaic in which the settlement, the agricultural and the environmental systems interact and coexist, placing at the centre the relationship of reciprocity between the built environment and the open territory.

scholarly journals Urban Ecosystem: An Interaction of Biological and Physical Components

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassanali Mollashahi ◽  
Magdalena Szymura
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Physical Components

Urban ecosystems are composed of biological components (plants, animals, microorganisms, and other forms of life) and physical components (soil, water, air, climate, and topography) which interact together. In terms of “Urban Green infrastructure (UGI)”, these components are in a combination of natural and constructed materials of urban space that have an important role in metabolic processes, biodiversity, and ecosystem resiliency underlying valuable ecosystem services. The increase in the world’s population in urban areas is a driving force to threat the environmental resources and public health in cities; thus, the necessity to adopt sustainable practices for communities are crucial for improving and maintaining urban environmental health. This chapter emphasizes the most important issues associated with urban ecosystem, highlighting the recent findings as a guide for future UGI management, which can support city planners, public health officials, and architectural designers to quantify cities more responsive, safer places for people.

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