174,207 research outputs found

    Can urban metabolism models advance green infrastructure planning? Insights from ecosystem services research

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    Urban metabolism studies have gained momentum in recent years as a means to assess the environmental performance of cities and to point to more resource-efficient strategies for urban development. Recent literature reviews report a growing number of applications of the industrial ecology model for Material Flow Analysis (MFA) in the design of the built environment. However, MFA applications in green infrastructure development are scarce. In this article, we argue that: i) the use of MFA in green infrastructure practice can inform decision-making towards more resource-efficient urban planning; ii) the ecosystem service concept is critical to operationalize MFA for green infrastructure planning and design, and, through this, can enhance the impact of urban metabolism research on policy making and planning practice. The article draws from a systematic review of literature on urban ecosystem services and benefits provided by green infrastructure in urban regions. The review focuses on ecosystem services that can contribute to a more energy-efficient and less carbon-intensive urban metabolism. Using the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services as a baseline, we then discuss opportunities for integrating energy provision and climate regulation ecosystem services in MFA. Our discussion demonstrates that the accounting of ecosystem services in MFA enables expressing impacts of green infrastructure on the urban energy mix (renewable energy provision), the magnitude of energy use (mitigation of building energy demand), and the dynamics of biogeochemical processes in cities (carbon sequestration). We finally propose an expanded model for MFA that illustrates a way forward to integrate the ecosystem service concept in urban metabolism models and to enable their application in green infrastructure planning and design

    Integrating Ecosystem Services Into Urban Park Planning & Design

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    Urban parks, which include a variety of green, brown, and gray infrastructure (e.g. greenways, native desert parks, plazas), are key providers of ecosystem services within cities. Given the importance of urban ecosystem services to the social and ecological health of urban ecosystems, there is a growing consensus that ecosystem service considerations should be integrated into urban park planning, policy, and design. Yet this integration is limited by a lack of relevant, accessible tools and standards for implementation. To address these deficiencies the present study developed the Urban Park Ecosystem Services (UPES) tool. UPES an open-source, geographically contextualized planning tool and site design guidelines for systematically integrating multiple ecosystem service considerations into urban park planning. To maximize relevancy and accessibility to practitioners, the tool was based on an existing planning ordinance, already in use by planners. UPES was customized to an arid city using Phoenix, Arizona as a case study, but can be modified for use in other cities based on their specific geographic conditions and policy goals. UPES provides a starting point and foundation for the integration of ecosystem service considerations into urban park planning and design to maximize their benefits across an urbanized region

    Close-To-Nature Heuristic Design Principles for Future Urban Green Infrastructure

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    The global nature-climate crisis along with a fundamental shift in world population towards cities and towns has sharpened the focus on the role of urban green infrastructure. Green infrastructure has the potential to deliver cost-effective, nature-based solutions to help mitigate problems of climate change as well as provide improved human well-being through the ecosystem services inherent in landscapes rich in biodiversity. The absence of under-pinning science, specifically complex systems science and ecosystem theory in the design and planning of urban green infrastructure, has limited the capacity of these landscapes to deliver ecosystem services and to effectively demonstrate natural resilience to the impacts of climate change. To meet future challenges of environmental uncertainty and social change, the design of urban green space should embrace an adaptive ecosystem-based approach that includes fully integrated participatory planning and implementation strategies founded on principles of close to nature science. Our article offers two models to inform green space planning: urban green space framework and sustainable urban community network. Both concepts provide the foundation for six ecosystem-based design principles. In a case study on Essex green infrastructure, UK, recommendations made by the Essex Climate Action Commission to transform land management practices are presented as examples of adopting principles of the ecosystem approach and nature-based science. Our article concludes by emphasising the importance of reconnecting society with nature in cities through close-to-nature design of urban green space to secure essential ecosystem services and to build resilience to the impacts of climate change

    Ecosystem services of collectively managed urban gardens : exploring factors affecting synergies and trade-offs at the site level

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    Collective management of urban green space is being acknowledged and promoted. The need to understand productivity and potential trade-offs between co-occurring ecosystem services arising from collectively managed pockets of green space is pivotal to the design and promotion of both productive urban areas and effective stakeholder participation in their management. Quantitative assessments of ecosystem service production were obtained from detailed site surveys at ten examples of collectively managed urban gardens in Greater Manchester, UK. Correlation analyses demonstrated high levels of synergy between ecological (biodiversity) and social (learning and well-being) benefits related to such spaces. Trade-offs were highly mediated by site size and design, resulting in a tension between increasing site area and the co-management of ecosystem services. By highlighting synergies, trade-offs and the significance of site area, the results offer insight into the spatially sensitive nature of ecosystem services arising from multi-functional collectively managed urban gardens

    Location matters. A systematic review of spatial contextual factors mediating ecosystem services of urban trees

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    To ensure and maintain ecosystem service delivery in cities undergoing densification, strategic tree planting is important. The effects of tree location on ecosystem service delivery have been emphasised. However, there is no integrated overview of the different aspects of tree location, here called spatial contextual factors, that mediate urban tree ecosystem services. This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review and provides a comprehensive overview of spatial contextual factors recognised by research as relevant for ecosystem service delivery by urban trees. To support creating such an overview, we first gain insight into the current common understanding of what spatial context is conceptually and how it participates in the co-production of ecosystem services. We find that generally, spatial context is represented by both social and ecological structures and processes and that it mediates ecosystem services by four mechanisms along the ecosystem service cascade. In the next step, we identify 114 unique spatial contextual factors mediating 31 ecosystem services of urban trees. Of all factors, people, represented by physical location, socio-demographics or building functions, mediate the highest number of services, highlighting the importance of urban planning and design in mediating urban tree ecosystem services

    Restoration of Tajan River through ecological design approach

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    Rivers are one of the main natural landscape element in urban areas. The ecosystem of the Riverfront is important as well as the ecosystem of the Rivers. However, research has shown that the current urban river development and riverfront maintenance projects has neglected regarding to the importance of organisms and urban ecosystem .Recent studies on the Tajar River in Iran are illustrated that ecological policies and strategies have not been succeeded in different aspects. Therefore, restoration of the Tajan River is not considered as a main issue for ecological design. The aim of this paper is identification of ecological issues of the Tajan River. Then, some ecological design approaches are presented and feasibility of the approaches are investigated in this paper. A qualitative method is proposed which includes interview and observation method. Based on above, ecological approaches and suggestions are recommended to habitation the health of river ecosystems. The results are indicated that application of the proposed approaches may effect on the ecosystem balance and ecological improvement of Tajan River

    Mapping the Design Process for Urban Ecology Researchers

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    The integration of research into the design process is an opportunity to build ecologically informed urban design solutions. To date, designers have traditionally relied on environmental consultants to provide the best available science; however, serious gaps in our understanding of urban ecosystems remain. To evaluate ecosystem processes and services for sustainable urban design and to further advance our understanding of social-ecological processes within the urban context, we need to integrate primary research into the urban design process. In this article, we develop a road map for such a synthesis. Supporting our proposals by case studies, we identify strategic entry points at which urban ecology researchers can integrate their work into the design process

    Modelling urban ecosystem services: Spatial patterns and implications for aspects of urban design

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    Urbanisation causes profound changes in natural ecosystems, often reducing or eliminating ecosystem services, i.e. benefits from nature to human well-being. Cities can nevertheless contain a substantial amount of greenspace, which has the potential to continue to provide such services. Knowledge of how to manage urban ecosystems from this perspective has the potential to improve citizens’ quality of life and urban sustainability. This thesis presents six urban ecosystem service models, namely: reduction of air pollution; heat island mitigation; stormwater runoff reduction; carbon storage; opportunities for cultural ecosystem services in public greenspaces; and provision of habitat for biodiversity. These are explored to examine the nature and spatial pattern of ecosystem service provision in an urban system, using the city of Sheffield, UK as a case study. Key results from this are: (1) There is a general increase in ecosystem service production from the urban centre outwards, although there some service hotspots in the urban centre. (2) The production of different services is not spatially co-incident. (3) Perceived spatial pattern of service provision is dependent upon the spatial resolution used for analysis. (4) Certain features of urban morphology can improve levels of the modelled ecosystem services. (5) There is significant socioeconomic inequity in access to ecosystem services, with unskilled manual workers, multicultural communities, and young households being particularly deprived. (6) Combining information from these analyses allows identification of neighbourhood morphologies that provide higher levels of ecosystem services to the most deprived groups, with housing that they can still afford. Overall, this study shows the potential for insights into urban ecosystem service provision from to be gained from tractable spatial models, and that these could provide starting points for enhancing the well-being of urban residents through appropriate urban design

    Comparing the implicit valuation of ecosystem services from nature-based solutions in performance-based green area indicators across three European cities

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    Performance-based green area indicators are increasingly used as policy instruments to promote nature-based solutions in urban property development. We explore the differences and parallels of three green area indicators: Berlin’s Biotope Area Factor (BAF), Stockholm’s Green Area Factor (GYF) and Oslo’s Blue Green Factor (BGF). As policy instruments they vary in their complexity and goals for green and blue structures. The urban planning literature devotes increasing attention to urban ecosystem services (ES) and its potential for utilitarian valuation including assigning preference weights, valuation and pricing of green and blue characteristics of urban development projects. Our comparison shows, however, that nature-based solutions in urban development projects in these three cities are largely planned, designed and implemented without using an explicit ES approach. Nevertheless, the choices of green structures and weighting of areas and structures in each city’s performance-based index constitute implicit valuation of bundles of ecosystem services. By investigating how the three indicator systems’ scores vary in parcel-scale development projects, we identify which ecosystem services each system implicitly promote and neglect. We discuss how variation in the systems’ complexity is the result of policy instrument design trade-offs between comprehensiveness and implementation costs. We argue that using physical proxies of performance in lieu of valuation of ecosystem services lowers site-specific information costs of green area indicators at property level. In the absence of an explicit ES approach, performance-based green area indicators in the three cities have been encouraging nature-based solutions in urban development without pricing of ecosystem services, without apologies. Policy design Green area points Blue-green factor Biotope factor Green space factor Ecosystem ServicesacceptedVersio

    Assessing the ecosystem services of various types of urban green spaces based on i-Tree eco

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    Urban green spaces play a crucial role in maintaining urban ecosystem sustainability by providing numerous ecosystem services. How to quantify and evaluate the ecological benefits and services of urban green spaces remains a hot topic currently, while the evaluation is barely applied or implemented in urban design and planning. In this study, super-high-resolution aerial images were used to acquire the spatial distribution of urban green spaces; a modified pre-stratified random sampling method was applied to obtain the vegetation information of the four types of urban green spaces in Luohe, a common plain city in China; and i-Tree Eco model was further used to assess the vegetation structure and various ecosystem services including air quality improvement, rainfall interception, carbon storage, and sequestration provided by four types of urban green spaces. The modeling results reveal that there were about 1,006,251 trees in this area. In 2013, all the trees in these green spaces could store about 54,329 t of carbon, sequester about 4973 t of gross carbon, remove 92 t of air pollutants, and avoid 122,637 m3 of runoff. The study illustrates an innovative method to reveal different types of urban green spaces with distinct ecosystem service productivity capacity to better understand their various roles in regulating the urban environment. The results could be used to assist urban planners and policymakers to optimize urban green space structure and composition to maximize ecosystem services provision
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