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Breuste J., Schnellinger J., Qureshi S., Faggi A.: Urban ecosystem services on the local level: Urban green spaces as providers. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 32, No. 3, p. 209-304, 2013. Ecosystem services are provided at different spatial and service/functional scales. The local level is the basic unit for ecosystem services, especially when it comes to the human dimension of urban landscapes. These services are provided by green elements (patches) or basic complex ecosystems (green areas) which differ from their neighbourhoods through their structures and functions. This study reviews the generally available knowledge on urban green functions and services at the site level and explains them by using own studies in five different cities in three different continents related to distinct ecosystem services. This allows the development of a methodology to evaluate and compare ecosystem services at the site level. The methodology is based at two levels, patch and green space, and includes the relationship with the surrounding green and built-up space. Different urban green space types are characterized by their internal structures of vegetation, size, shape and location in relation to at least a semi-quantitative scaling of their urban ecosystem services. The evaluated urban green spaces are public urban green spaces. The urban ecosystem services assessed include climate regulation, biodiversity, nature experience, recreation and health. The actual urban challenges, such as land use change, adaptation to climate change, demographic change and urban cultural diversity, demand a systematic and very concrete monitoring of urban ecosystem services at the site level.

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Compact urbanization is the main strategy for sustainable urban development. However, it is yet unclear whether compact urban forms are ecologically more favourable than dispersed ones. In this paper, we studied the effects of urban sprawl on the riparian vegetation condition in one of the most degraded watersheds in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, Argentina. We conducted random sampling of the riparian vegetation at sites along streams in the basin and assessed urban indicators at the reach and sub‐watershed scales for each of those sites in a geographic information system: urban area, impervious surface, population density and two landscape metrics of dispersion. The indicators assessed explained a high proportion of the variability of the vegetation response variables, thereby confirming the importance of urban sprawl pressure in shaping riparian communities in fluvial ecosystems. Dispersed urbanization had more positive than negative effects on the vegetation in the study area. Riverbanks associated with dispersed urbanization had more plant species, including exotics, when urban sprawl was assessed at the local scale. At the sub‐watershed scale, dispersed urbanized areas were richer in native plants and most of the functional groups, and poorer in exotic species. The model of the compact city, including bio‐corridors along watercourses, has been proposed for the Buenos Aires conurbation process for the next decades. Our results showed that the quality of existing river corridors across the compact matrix was not desirable and best practices for redesigning a more sustainable landscape structure are necessary, including the restoration of habitats for wetland species. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.