Green Infrastructure in the Space of Flows: An Urban Metabolism

Recent research demonstrates that urban metabolism studies hold ample scope for informing more sustainable urban planning and design. The assessment of the resource flows that are required to sustain the growth and maintenance of cities can allow gaining a clear picture of how cities operate to comply with environmental performance standards and to ensure that both human and ecosystem health are preserved. Green infrastructure (GI) plays a key role in enhancing both cities’ environmental performance and health. For example, GI interventions mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect (improved thermal comfort), reduce particulate matter concentration (healthier air quality), and sequestrate and store atmospheric carbon (climate change mitigation). Research on ecosystem services and the application of the concept in urban planning provides a growing evidence base that an understanding of provisioning and regulating services can facilitate more environmentally informed GI planning and design. The contribution of GI in enhancing human health and psychological wellbeing is also evidenced in recent studies valuing both material and immaterial benefits provided by urban ecosystems, including cultural ecosystem services. Therefore, the use of ecosystem service frameworks can help reveal and quantify the role of GI in fostering both urban environmental quality and the wellbeing of human populations. However, there remains little discussion of how health and wellbeing aspects can be integrated with environmental performance objectives. In this chapter, urban metabolism thinking is proposed as a way forward, providing analytical tools to inform environmentally-optimized strategies across the urban scales. Opportunities to foster integrated urban metabolism approaches that can inform more holistic GI planning are discussed. Finally, future research avenues to incorporate the multiple dimensions of human health and wellbeing into urban metabolism thinking are highlighted

Urban ecosystem cervices

En un mundo cada vez más urbanizado, el papel de los espacios verdes en las ciudades se destaca cada vez más por su capacidad para proporcionar servicios de los ecosistemas. Sin embargo, el valor de los espacios verdes urbanos todavía está ampliamente pasado por alto. Esta tesis investiga la multifuncionalidad y la multiplicidad de valores asociados a los espacios verdes urbanos en el marco del apoyo a las decisiones en las policticas de planeamineto y en la gobernanza urbana. En primer lugar, investigamos a través de una revisión de la literatura el carácter multifuncional de los espacios verdes urbanos y los beneficios que generan para los humanos mediante la provisión de servicios de los ecosistemas. En segundo lugar, el pluralismo de valores asociados a los servicios de los ecosistemas urbanos se examina a través de casos de estudio de los espacios verdes urbanos en Barcelona, España. En estos casos de estudio, las percepciones aociadas a distintos tipos de valor son examinadas mediante una combinación de métodos, incluyendo teledetección, observaciones participativas, entrevistas, encuestas, análisis estadísticos y sistemas de información geográfica. Por último, mediante una revisión del conocimiento existente sobre análisis multicriterio para la toma de decisiones, se exploran las vías para desarrollar una valoración integrada de los servicios de los ecosistemas en el marco de la planificación urbana. La tesis muestra el carácter multifuncional de los espacios verdes urbanos mediante la generación de servicios y resalta su importancia específica para la provisión de servicios de los ecosistemas culturales. Adoptando la perspectiva del pluralismo de valores en relación a los servicios de los ecosistemas proporcionados por los espacios verdes urbanos, los datos obtenidos demuestran que la percepción de valores divergentes está determinada principalmente por las características del "valorador", el contexto social e institucional, así como por los diferentes lenguajes de valoración adoptados. Laperspectiva del pluralismo de valores, tal como se demuestra en esta tesis, subraya la necesidad de una valoración integrada de los servicios de los ecosistemas para informar la toma de decisiones y la gobernanza. La tesis destaca el análisis multicriterio como una herramienta con gran potencial para facilitar la valoración integrada de los serviciso de los ecosistemas en el contexto de la planificación y la gobernanza urbana. Mediante la aplicación de métodos que ponen de relieve el valor de los servicios de los ecosistemas para el binestar humano, esta tesis pretende ofrecer herramientas para informar políticas que permitan avanzar hacia ciudades más sostenibles y resilientes que reconozcan la dependencia de las ciudades de ecosistemas saludables para asegurar la calidad de vidaIn an increasingly urbanizing world, the role of green spaces in cities is increasingly highlighted for their capacity to provide ecosystem services for human well-being. Yet, the value of urban green spaces is still widely overlooked in urban policy and planning. This dissertation examines the evidence base for the multi-functionality and values of urban green spaces, in the context of decision support and for priority setting in urban policy and governance. First, the multi-functional character of urban green spaces and the many benefits they provide to humans through the delivery of ecosystem services is studied through a literature review. Secondly, the pluralism of values is examined through case studies from urban green spaces in Barcelona, Spain. Within these case studies, value perceptions, value emergence and value dimensions are scrutinized by combining different methods, including remote sensing, participatory observations, interviews, surveys, statistical analysis and geographical information systems. Finally, pathways for an integrated valuation of ecosystem services in urban planning are explored through a review of state-of-the-art knowledge on multi-criteria decision analysis applied in relation to ecosystem services. The dissertation shows the multi-functional character of urban green spaces and outlines their specific importance for the provision of cultural ecosystem services. It contributes to operationalize the perspective of value pluralism in the assessment of ecosystem services from urban green spaces. It is noted that the perception of diverging values is mainly determined by the characteristics of the 'valuator', the socio-institutional context, as well as different valuation languages through which values are assessed. The perspective of value pluralism endorsed in this thesis, underlines the need for an integrated valuation of ecosystem services to inform decision-making and governance. The thesis examines the potential of multi-criteria decision analysis as a tool to facilitate such integrated valuation of ecosystem services, in the context of urban planning. By putting forward the value of ecosystem services for humans, the thesis intents to provide a cornerstone for policies towards more sustainable and resilient cities that recognize the interconnection and dependency of cities on healthy ecosystems worldwide