Urban Forest Ecosystem Services Vary with Land Use and Species: A Case Study of Kyoto City

The demand for urban ecosystem services increases with the rapid growth of the urban population. The urban forest is a crucial ecosystem services provider in cities. To achieve a better estimation of urban ecosystem services, an understanding of the link between heterogeneity and ecosystem services within cities is needed. Other than street trees and forest remnants, the contribution of dispersed green spaces should also be considered. In this study, a ground-based sample quadrat investigation of trees across a sequence of land types in Kyoto City was applied. The ecosystem services and monetary values of trees were further calculated using a customized i-Tree Eco tool. The ecosystem services calculated include carbon storage and sequestration, air pollutants removal, and runoff reduction. Ecosystem services of different land use classes were compared at both quadrat and single-tree levels. We found no significant difference across land use for all the ecosystem services at the quadrat level. However, ecosystem services were different across land use at the single-tree level. We performed a species-specific analysis and found that the pattern of ecosystem services at the single-tree level across land use varies with both the service tested and species. Our study suggests that the heterogeneity within a city should be considered when estimating urban ecosystem services. The results also provide insight into the urban green space management of Kyoto City.

Systematic Review on Urban Ecosystem Services in South-East Asia: Asean Countries

Urban ecosystem services refer to all the benefits of nature especially to the urban community and economy for maintaining human well-being. This concept links to the economic, community and environmental aspects and shows how nature conservation is important for human and economic principles. However, the view of urban ecosystem services assessment based on essential categories with current urban development is provided. So, this paper reviews the aim to analyze the types and assessing the categories of urban ecosystem services and the methodological used in ASEAN countries. Furthermore, understanding studies about urban ecosystem services are important in long-term studies for monitoring purpose. As a result, 8 out of 10 ASEAN countries excluding Laos and Brunei have studied urban ecosystem services. In this context, the result also shows the most studies specify the significance of the ecosystem services given by the urban as regulating (waste absorption, climate regulation, water purification, flood regulation, and disease control) and followed by cultural (tranquility, social relations, and recreation). Thus, exploring urban ecosystem interaction in current ASEAN countries may have added benefits in terms of improving the urban ecosystem services to streamline the urban area planning. Finally, we conclude that all the ASEAN countries should play an important role to make sure the countries maintain sustainable and more livable with the right policies and guidelines like can fit in Paris Agreement especially in Climate Strategies and plans.

Engaging students in redesigning a local urban space to improve ecosystem services

Ecosystem services are an important, but often invisible component of the urban landscape. Humans have altered the environment in cities, leading to degraded or missing ecosystem services in many cases. To enhance or replace these services, many urban municipalities are integrating green spaces and infrastructure into urban planning. We have designed an activity to help undergraduate students: 1) recognize the importance of urban ecosystem services, 2) identify when they are degraded or missing, and 3) integrate “green” ideas from multiple sources to propose improvements to them. To help students achieve these goals, we asked them to evaluate an underutilized space on their own campus, and propose a redesign of that space to support ecosystem services. While many students struggled initially to link urban ecosystem services with specific proposed improvements, we found that having students work together in groups for a second redesign often improved understanding and also resulted in more creative and interdisciplinary designs. The exercise also helped students to better identify ecosystem services and allowed them to practice integrating multiple viewpoints while proposing solutions to local environmental problems.