Mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services. Urban ecosystems

Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 requires member states to Map and Assess the state of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES). This report provides guidance for mapping and assessment of urban ecosystems. The MAES urban pilot is a collaboration between the European Commission, the European Environment Agency, volunteering Member States and cities, and stakeholders. Its ultimate goal is to deliver a knowledge base for policy and management of urban ecosystems by analysing urban green infrastructure, condition of urban ecosystems and ecosystem services. This report presents guidance for mapping urban ecosystems and includes an indicator framework to assess the condition of urban ecosystems and urban ecosystem services. The scientific framework of mapping and assessment is designed to support in particular urban planning policy and policy on green infrastructure at urban, metropolitan and regional scales. The results are based on the following different sources of information: a literature survey of 54 scientific articles, an online-survey (on urban ecosystems, related policies and planning instruments and with participation of 42 cities), ten case studies (Portugal: Cascais, Oeiras, Lisbon; Italy: Padua, Trento, Rome; The Netherlands: Utrecht; Poland: Poznań; Spain: Barcelona; Norway: Oslo), and a two-day expert workshop. The case studies constituted the core of the MAES urban pilot. They provided real examples and applications of how mapping and assessment can be organized to support policy; on top, they provided the necessary expertise to select a set of final indicators for condition and ecosystem services. Urban ecosystems or cities are defined here as socio-ecological systems which are composed of green infrastructure and built infrastructure. Urban green infrastructure (GI) is understood in this report as the multi-functional network of urban green spaces situated within the boundary of the urban ecosystem. Urban green spaces are the structural components of urban GI. This study has shown that there is a large scope for urban ecosystem assessments. Firstly, urban policies increasingly use urban green infrastructure and nature-based solutions in their planning process. Secondly, an increasing amount of data at multiple spatial scales is becoming available to support these policies, to provide a baseline, and to compare or benchmark cities with respect to the extent and management of the urban ecosystem. Concrete examples are given on how to delineate urban ecosystems, how to choose an appropriate spatial scale, and how to map urban ecosystems based on a combination of national or European datasets (including Urban Atlas) and locally collected information (e.g., location of trees). Also examples of typologies for urban green spaces are presented. This report presents an indicator framework which is composed of indicators to assess for urban ecosystem condition and for urban ecosystem services. These are the result of a rigorous selection process and ensure consistent mapping and assessment across Europe. The MAES urban pilot will continue with work on the interface between research and policy. The framework presented in this report needs to be tested and validated across Europe, e.g. on its applicability at city scale, on how far the methodology for measuring ecosystem condition and ecosystem service delivery in urban areas can be used to assess urban green infrastructure and nature-based solutions

Urban ecosystem services – assessment of potential at the different spatial scale: an example of Poznań

The aim of the article is the mapping and assessment of ES potential in the scale of the city and identification of site-specific elements that support or reduce the ES potential at the site scale. For this purpose, a multi-criteria spatial analysis, mapping and field vision were conducted. The results showed urban areas with the lowest ES potential that are also characterized by the highest population density. At the site scale, land cover and land-use types with other anthropogenic elements that affect the ES potential and flow were identified. The results can be used to support the transformation process of the city toward nature-based solutions

Diversity of the influence of urbanisation on valuable nature areas according to selected features of the cities of Wielkopolska

The purpose of this study was to classify the cities of the voivodeship of Wielkopolska with regard to the diverse value of the natural environment of their surroundings and the intensity of urban pressure exerted on them. Two groups of factors were analysed. The first group included factors related to the value of the natural environment of the city surroundings within a 1 km wide belt along the administrative boundaries of cities. In regard to this the following features were taken into consideration: the surface area and share of protected areas, the surface area and share of ECONET-PL areas, CORINE biotopes sites and wildlife corridors connecting NATURE 2000 sites. In the second part of the analysis, which concerned the urban pressure, the following factors were analysed: the population density in the urban fabric, the surface area of land used for investment, land cover changes from open into investment areas between 1990 and 2000, and the density of roads. As a result of the research conducted, 4 types of spatial relationships between cities and valuable nature areas in the voivodeship of Wielkopolska were distinguished. Among the cities whose surroundings have a valuable natural environment it was the cities exerting the strongest pressure on the regional nature system that were identified as causing the most severe spatial interference in the region