Ecosystem services in practice: well-being and vulnerability of two European urban areas

La gran mayoría de la población europea habita en ciudades y el mejoramiento de la calidad de vida en zonas urbanas constituye un objectivo primordial de las políticas gubernamentales. Las ciudades se ven típicamente afectadas por apiñamientos, tráfico intenso, contaminación atmosférica y acústica, y factores que aumentan su vulnerabilidad con respecto a riesgos naturales. Esta Tesis explica cómo los ecosistemas contribuyen a mejorar la habitabilidad de las ciudades, con foco en zonas urbanas europeas medianas, sirviéndose para ello de estudios empíricos integrados (por ejemplo cualitativos y cuantitativos o socio-ecológicos), así como estudios relevantes con respecto a las medidas a tomar por las autoridades gubernamentales. Explora cómo y porqué las zonas urbanas pueden beneficiarse, en términos del bienestar de sus habitantes y de la reducción de las vulnerabilidad frente a riesgos naturales, de una más amplia gama de medidas y soluciones cuando se tienen en cuenta en forma apropriada los aspectos ecológicos utilizando diferentes escalas geográficas. La revisión de la literatura consultada para esta Tesis comprueba que las funciones reguladoras de los sistemas ecológicos a menudo proveen alternativas eficientes y rentables o soluciones complementarias para las infraestructuras que contribuyen a asegurar el bienestar de la población urbanas y reducir el riesgo de desastres. La investigación empírica en la ciudad de Colonia (Alemania) demuestra que las variables medioambientales juegan un rol central y decisivo, ya que determinan las características de la vulnerabilidad del sistema socio-ecológico urbano por ejemplo cuando es afectado por olas de calor. A su vez, en Barcelona (España), el asesoramiento de servicios reguladores ejemplifica cómo una ciudad compacta se beneficia al estar rodeada de una vasta superficie verde adyacente, que le permite alcanzar un nivel de rendimiento ecológico y un potencial regulador de amenazas naturales comparables con otras ciudades más “verdes” de la Europa occidental. Por lo tanto, aparte de las dimensiones sociales, económicas y físicas bien exploradas de la vulnerabilidad, también su dimensión ecológica debe ser tenida en cuenta en el estudio de las zonas urbanas. En este sentido, dos aspectos revelan ser esenciales cuando se analiza la fragilidad urbana: los impactos de la urbanización en los sistemas ecológicos locales que tienden a agudizar aún más los daños causados por el sistema social-ecológico cuando azota un riesgo; y las conexiones del centro de la urbe con las zonas verdes circundantes. La investigación presentada en esta Tesis provee asimismo conclusiones teóricas respecto a la naturaleza de las interacciones y el acoplamiento de los sistemas sociales y ecológicos al asesorar la vulnerabilidad relacionada con amenazas naturales. Subraya cómo el sistema social depende del ecosistema para reducir la exposición a tales riesgos y aumentar la resiliencia. Para ello se requiere también la inclusión de datos ecológicos detallados concernientes la salud del ecosistema. El ecosistema, especialmente en caso de degradación, puede perder efectividad o fallar en la provisión de servicios en caso de amenazas, exacerbando así la vulnerabilidad de la populación humana. Volviendo atrás los pasos que llevaron en el pasado a la configuración y distribución actual de zonas verdes en y alrededor de la ciudad de Colonia y en especial de Barcelona, la investigación contribuye a caracterizar las dimensiones históricas y políticas de los ecosistema pertinentes, y por lo tanto, de la vulnerabilidad en zonas urbanas. Los ecosistemas, a más de ser determinados por características biofísicas del territorio, son el producto del enfrentamiento de diferentes articulaciones sociales valuatorias que son a menudo antagónicas. Los conflictos referentes a la gestión de zonas verdes son evidentes en su mayor parte en las zonas urbanas dado el alto valor del espacio y la lucha por obtenerlo. Los ecosistemas por lo tanto pueden ser vistos como construcciones sociales que no solamente requieren ser asesoradas y valorizadas, sino también ser incluídas en un proceso más amplio de toma de decisiones en el que se discuten los conflictos de intereses en forma participative. Finalmente, en cada uno de los capítulos que enfocan los diferentes grados de dependencia de la población urbana de los servicios proporcionados por los ecosistemas (tanto en el ámbito urbano propiamente dicho como en cuencas y vertientes), la investigación demuestra que, a pesar del foco tradicional concentrado en la escala local, el ecosistema urbano alberga en si mismo diferentes niveles anidados que complementan los servicios prestados a los habitantes de la ciudad. Esta definición más comprensiva de lo que los ecosistemas urbanos abarcan implica la ampliación del conjunto de medidas y soluciones políticas que tienen como objetivo favorecer las zonas urbanas.The large majority of the population in Europe lives in cities and the improvement of the quality of life in urban areas is a policy objective of primary importance. Cities are typically affected by crowding, traffic, air and noise pollution and present features that make them more vulnerable to natural hazards. This Thesis explains how ecosystem services help improve the livability of cities, with a focus on European medium-sized urban areas, using empirical, integrated (e.g. qualitative and quantitative or social-ecological) and policy relevant studies. It explores how and why urban areas can benefit, in terms of well-being and reduction of vulnerability to hazards, from a broader range of policies when ecological aspects are properly accounted for at different geographical scales. The literature reviews of this Thesis find that the regulating functions of ecosystems often provide efficient, cost-effective alternatives or complementary solutions to hard infrastructures for the wellbeing of populations and disaster risk reduction in urban areas. Empirical research in the city of Cologne (Germany) shows that environmental variables play a central role in shaping the vulnerability of the urban social-ecological system to heat waves. While, in Barcelona (Spain), the assessment of regulating and cultural services supplied by the Collserola peri-urban Natural Park, demonstrates how a compact city benefits from the presence of a vast adjacent green area that enables it to reach an environmental performance and a hazards regulation potential comparable to that of other greener, western urban areas. Thus, besides the well-explored social, economic and physical dimensions of vulnerability, information about the ecological dimension needs also to be taken into account in urban vulnerability studies. In this respect, two features are found to be essential with respect to the vulnerability of urban areas: the impacts of urbanization on the local and surrounding ecosystems, which tend to further increase the damages that the social-ecological system can cause when a hazard strikes; and the connections of the urban core with surrounding green areas. The research presented in this Thesis also yields theoretical conclusions about the nature of the interactions and coupling between the social and the ecological systems in the vulnerability assessment to natural hazards. It highlights how the social system depends on the ecosystem for exposure reduction and increased resilience. Detailed ecological information on ecosystem health should also be included. The ecosystem, especially if degraded, might not be effective or fail in supplying services when a hazard strikes, exacerbating the vulnerability of the human population. Tracing back the steps that led to the present configuration and distribution of green areas in and around Cologne and especially in Barcelona, the research contributes to the characterization of the historical and political dimension of ecosystem services, and thus of vulnerability, in urban areas. Ecosystem services, besides being determined by the biophysical features of the territory, are the outcome of the controversy between different and more often than not antagonistic social articulations of value. Conflicts over the management of green areas are mostly evident in urban areas due to the highly contested nature of space. Ecosystem services can thus be seen as socially constructed and need not only to be assessed and valued, but also to become part of a broader, participatory decision making process in which conflicting interests are discussed. Finally, in each of the chapters focusing on different scales of the dependence of the urban population on ecosystems (from the properly urban to the watershed), the research shows that, despite the traditional focus on the local scale, the urban ecosystem presents different nested levels which are complementary in terms of the ecosystem services they provide to the city’s inhabitants. This broader definition of urban ecosystems has implications in terms of an enlarged set of more targeted policies that can benefit urban areas

Science-Policy Communication for Improved Water Resources Management: Contributions of the Nostrum-DSS Project

The Nostrum-DSS EU funded Co-ordination Action (CA) aims at contributing to the achievement of improved governance and planning in the field of sustainable water management within the Mediterranean Basin by establishing a network between the science, policy, and civil society spheres and through the development and dissemination of Best Practices Guidelines (BPGs) for the design and implementation of DSSs for IWRM in the Mediterranean Area. Decision Support Systems (DSS) have a great theoretical potential as tools for the identification of optimal water resource management regimes in the Mediterranean basin, thus helping policy makers (PMs) to bring the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) into practice. However, such tools are only episodically exploited outside the academia. This article presents the outcomes of project activities targeting the development of more effective communication strategies, in order to facilitate the development of research products with greater potential for been up taken by the expected end-users, i.e. the community of policy makers, and their staffs, advisors, consultants, etc., in the Mediterranean Region

In the AI of the beholder: A comparative analysis of computer vision-assisted characterizations of human-nature interactions in urban green spaces

Big data from photo-sharing platforms offer unique opportunities for the study of human-nature interactions and landscape planning. Research increasingly relies on computer vision in artificial intelligence to identify elements of interest in photographs and user preferences and sentiment towards them. Studies largely rely on pre-trained models from one of several available cloud-based, commercial image recognition services, but the extent to which findings depend on the implemented technology has not yet been explored. Here, we analyze ∼ 10,000 outdoor photographs retrieved from three social media platforms and geolocated within green and blue spaces in Haifa (Israel) by means of machine tags from three popular cloud-based services. We find that clustering of the 45 investigated sites based on common characteristics of the photographs is considerably affected by the image recognition service chosen, especially for sites with limited data points (<80 photographs). Moreover, after associating the individual tags to specific aspects of the outdoor experience, we find substantial differences in the identification and ranking of outdoor recreational activities, characterization of the local biophysical environment (e.g., wildlife and vegetation), and feelings associated with the photographs. With no image recognition service clearly outperforming the others in all evaluation criteria, we argue that the optimal choice of image recognition service to rely on likely depends on the intended final application. Time and resource permitting, future studies should consider combining information from multiple sources for a characterization that is more nuanced and less prone to be affected by the idiosyncrasies of the individual technologies

Urban Watershed Services For Improved Ecosystem Management and Risk Reduction, Assessment Methods and Policy Instruments: State of the Art

Under scenarios of increasing unplanned urban expansion, environmental degradation and hazard exposure, the vulnerability of urban populations, especially of their poorer segments, needs to be tackled through integrated economic, social and environmental solutions. Basing our analysis on the concept of ecosystem services, we suggest that urban areas would benefit from a shift in perspective towards a more regional approach, which recognizes them as one of many interconnected elements that interact at the watershed level. By integrating an ecosystem approach into the management of water-related services, urban management policies can take a first step towards fostering an improvement of the health of upstream and downstream areas of the watershed, activating environmentally sound practices which aim at guaranteeing the sustainable and cost effective supply of services. These strategies can for instance be supported by using payment schemes for ecosystem services or similar strategies, allowing for the redistribution of resources among communities in the watershed. From our analysis it results that, through the recognition of the primary role played by watershed ecosystems, cities can benefit from an enlarged set of policies, which can help strengthen the supply of essential environmental services, while reducing the vulnerability of its population and contributing to the maintenance of healthy ecosystems

Heat waves and floods in urban areas: a policy-oriented review of ecosystem services

Urbanisation is increasing and today more than a half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Cities, especially those where urbanisation is un-planned or poorly planned, are increasingly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological hazards such as heat waves and floods. Urban areas tend to degrade the environment, fragmenting and isolating ecosystems, compromising their capacity to provide services. The regulating role of ecosystems in buffering hydro-meteorological hazards and reducing urban vulnerability has not received adequate policy attention until now. Whereas there is a wide body of studies in the specialised biological and ecological literature about particular urban ecosystem features and the impacts of hazards upon people and infrastructures, there is no policy-driven overview looking holistically at the ways in which ecosystem features can be managed by cities to reduce their vulnerability to hazards. Using heat waves and floods as examples, this review article identifies the aggravating factors related to urbanisation, the various regulating ecosystem services that buffer cities from hydro-meteorological impacts as well as the impacts of the hazards on the ecosystem. The review also assesses how different cities have attempted to manage related ecosystem services and draws policy-relevant conclusions

Ecosystem services in practice: well-being and vulnerability of two European urban areas

La gran mayoría de la población europea habita en ciudades y el mejoramiento de la calidad de vida en zonas urbanas constituye un objectivo primordial de las políticas gubernamentales. Las ciudades se ven típicamente afectadas por apiñamientos, tráfico intenso, contaminación atmosférica y acústica, y factores que aumentan su vulnerabilidad con respecto a riesgos naturales. Esta Tesis explica cómo los ecosistemas contribuyen a mejorar la habitabilidad de las ciudades, con foco en zonas urbanas europeas medianas, sirviéndose para ello de estudios empíricos integrados (por ejemplo cualitativos y cuantitativos o socio-ecológicos), así como estudios relevantes con respecto a las medidas a tomar por las autoridades gubernamentales. Explora cómo y porqué las zonas urbanas pueden beneficiarse, en términos del bienestar de sus habitantes y de la reducción de las vulnerabilidad frente a riesgos naturales, de una más amplia gama de medidas y soluciones cuando se tienen en cuenta en forma apropriada los aspectos ecológicos utilizando diferentes escalas geográficas. La revisión de la literatura consultada para esta Tesis comprueba que las funciones reguladoras de los sistemas ecológicos a menudo proveen alternativas eficientes y rentables o soluciones complementarias para las infraestructuras que contribuyen a asegurar el bienestar de la población urbanas y reducir el riesgo de desastres. La investigación empírica en la ciudad de Colonia (Alemania) demuestra que las variables medioambientales juegan un rol central y decisivo, ya que determinan las características de la vulnerabilidad del sistema socio-ecológico urbano por ejemplo cuando es afectado por olas de calor. A su vez, en Barcelona (España), el asesoramiento de servicios reguladores ejemplifica cómo una ciudad compacta se beneficia al estar rodeada de una vasta superficie verde adyacente, que le permite alcanzar un nivel de rendimiento ecológico y un potencial regulador de amenazas naturales comparables con otras ciudades más "verdes" de la Europa occidental. Por lo tanto, aparte de las dimensiones sociales, económicas y físicas bien exploradas de la vulnerabilidad, también su dimensión ecológica debe ser tenida en cuenta en el estudio de las zonas urbanas. En este sentido, dos aspectos revelan ser esenciales cuando se analiza la fragilidad urbana: los impactos de la urbanización en los sistemas ecológicos locales que tienden a agudizar aún más los daños causados por el sistema social-ecológico cuando azota un riesgo; y las conexiones del centro de la urbe con las zonas verdes circundantes. La investigación presentada en esta Tesis provee asimismo conclusiones teóricas respecto a la naturaleza de las interacciones y el acoplamiento de los sistemas sociales y ecológicos al asesorar la vulnerabilidad relacionada con amenazas naturales. Subraya cómo el sistema social depende del ecosistema para reducir la exposición a tales riesgos y aumentar la resiliencia. Para ello se requiere también la inclusión de datos ecológicos detallados concernientes la salud del ecosistema. El ecosistema, especialmente en caso de degradación, puede perder efectividad o fallar en la provisión de servicios en caso de amenazas, exacerbando así la vulnerabilidad de la populación humana. Volviendo atrás los pasos que llevaron en el pasado a la configuración y distribución actual de zonas verdes en y alrededor de la ciudad de Colonia y en especial de Barcelona, la investigación contribuye a caracterizar las dimensiones históricas y políticas de los ecosistema pertinentes, y por lo tanto, de la vulnerabilidad en zonas urbanas. Los ecosistemas, a más de ser determinados por características biofísicas del territorio, son el producto del enfrentamiento de diferentes articulaciones sociales valuatorias que son a menudo antagónicas. Los conflictos referentes a la gestión de zonas verdes son evidentes en su mayor parte en las zonas urbanas dado el alto valor del espacio y la lucha por obtenerlo. Los ecosistemas por lo tanto pueden ser vistos como construcciones sociales que no solamente requieren ser asesoradas y valorizadas, sino también ser incluídas en un proceso más amplio de toma de decisiones en el que se discuten los conflictos de intereses en forma participative. Finalmente, en cada uno de los capítulos que enfocan los diferentes grados de dependencia de la población urbana de los servicios proporcionados por los ecosistemas (tanto en el ámbito urbano propiamente dicho como en cuencas y vertientes), la investigación demuestra que, a pesar del foco tradicional concentrado en la escala local, el ecosistema urbano alberga en si mismo diferentes niveles anidados que complementan los servicios prestados a los habitantes de la ciudad. Esta definición más comprensiva de lo que los ecosistemas urbanos abarcan implica la ampliación del conjunto de medidas y soluciones políticas que tienen como objetivo favorecer las zonas urbanas.The large majority of the population in Europe lives in cities and the improvement of the quality of life in urban areas is a policy objective of primary importance. Cities are typically affected by crowding, traffic, air and noise pollution and present features that make them more vulnerable to natural hazards. This Thesis explains how ecosystem services help improve the livability of cities, with a focus on European medium-sized urban areas, using empirical, integrated (e.g. qualitative and quantitative or social-ecological) and policy relevant studies. It explores how and why urban areas can benefit, in terms of well-being and reduction of vulnerability to hazards, from a broader range of policies when ecological aspects are properly accounted for at different geographical scales. The literature reviews of this Thesis find that the regulating functions of ecosystems often provide efficient, cost-effective alternatives or complementary solutions to hard infrastructures for the wellbeing of populations and disaster risk reduction in urban areas. Empirical research in the city of Cologne (Germany) shows that environmental variables play a central role in shaping the vulnerability of the urban social-ecological system to heat waves. While, in Barcelona (Spain), the assessment of regulating and cultural services supplied by the Collserola peri-urban Natural Park, demonstrates how a compact city benefits from the presence of a vast adjacent green area that enables it to reach an environmental performance and a hazards regulation potential comparable to that of other greener, western urban areas. Thus, besides the well-explored social, economic and physical dimensions of vulnerability, information about the ecological dimension needs also to be taken into account in urban vulnerability studies. In this respect, two features are found to be essential with respect to the vulnerability of urban areas: the impacts of urbanization on the local and surrounding ecosystems, which tend to further increase the damages that the social-ecological system can cause when a hazard strikes; and the connections of the urban core with surrounding green areas. The research presented in this Thesis also yields theoretical conclusions about the nature of the interactions and coupling between the social and the ecological systems in the vulnerability assessment to natural hazards. It highlights how the social system depends on the ecosystem for exposure reduction and increased resilience. Detailed ecological information on ecosystem health should also be included. The ecosystem, especially if degraded, might not be effective or fail in supplying services when a hazard strikes, exacerbating the vulnerability of the human population. Tracing back the steps that led to the present configuration and distribution of green areas in and around Cologne and especially in Barcelona, the research contributes to the characterization of the historical and political dimension of ecosystem services, and thus of vulnerability, in urban areas. Ecosystem services, besides being determined by the biophysical features of the territory, are the outcome of the controversy between different and more often than not antagonistic social articulations of value. Conflicts over the management of green areas are mostly evident in urban areas due to the highly contested nature of space. Ecosystem services can thus be seen as socially constructed and need not only to be assessed and valued, but also to become part of a broader, participatory decision making process in which conflicting interests are discussed. Finally, in each of the chapters focusing on different scales of the dependence of the urban population on ecosystems (from the properly urban to the watershed), the research shows that, despite the traditional focus on the local scale, the urban ecosystem presents different nested levels which are complementary in terms of the ecosystem services they provide to the city's inhabitants. This broader definition of urban ecosystems has implications in terms of an enlarged set of more targeted policies that can benefit urban areas

Social media data for environmental sustainability : A critical review of opportunities, threats, and ethical use

Social media data are transforming sustainability science. However, challenges from restrictions in data accessibility and ethical concerns regarding potential data misuse have threatened this nascent field. Here, we review the literature on the use of social media data in environmental and sustainability research. We find that they can play a novel and irreplaceable role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by allowing a nuanced understanding of human-nature interactions at scale, observing the dynamics of so-cial-ecological change, and investigating the co-construction of nature values. We reveal threats to data ac-cess and highlight scientific responsibility to address trade-offs between research transparency and privacy protection, while promoting inclusivity. This contributes to a wider societal debate of social media data for sustainability science and for the common good.Peer reviewe

Data for the paper, "Social media data for environmental sustainability: a critical review of opportunities, threats and ethical use"

These data were collected for the paper, "Social media data for environmental sustainability: a critical review of opportunities, threats and ethical use" published in One Earth. It includes a database of studies applying social media data in environmental sustainability research, which were collected and reviewed in full by the authors. Rather than providing a comprehensive summary of all relevant literature like in a systematic review, our objective was to take stock and evaluate the previous body of work in the field in order to promote conceptual innovation from its critical examination. Building on a set of 169 studies collected in a previous systematic review of social media data applications in environmental research (Ghermandi and Sinclair 2019), the database includes additional relevant studies that were identified by snowballing previous references and adding further gray and scientific academic articles known to the authors. For studies to be included in our analysis, they had to involve the use of data from one or more social media platforms and investigate human interactions with and/or impacts on the environment. We relied on a broad definition of social media including any website or application that enables users to create and share content or to participate in social networking (e.g., blogging sites, recommendation sites, and online forums). We further strengthened the analysis by including insights from additional literature on social media that do not have a direct application to environmental sustainability (e.g., studies on biases in social media data). The final database consists of 415 studies, which were published between 2011 and 2021. Ghermandi, Andrea, and Michael Sinclair. "Passive crowdsourcing of social media in environmental research: A systematic map." Global environmental change 55 (2019): 36-47