We introduce a conceptual model of the urban forest patch as a complex social-ecological system, incorporating cross-scale interactions. We developed this model through an interdisciplinary process engaging social and ecological scientists and urban land management decision makers, with a focus on temperate forest social-ecological systems. In this paper, we place the production and management of urban forest patches in historical perspective, present a conceptual model of urban forest patches within a broader regional context, and identify a series of research questions to highlight future directions for research on urban forest patches. This conceptual model identifies how spatial and temporal social-ecological drivers interact with patch-level conditions at multiple scales. Our integrative approach can provide insights into the role of social-ecological drivers in shaping forest health, biodiversity, and benefits forest patches provide to people in urban and urbanizing regions, with direct implications for decision-making to improve management outcomes.
Green infrastructure is a salient approach to address climate change adaptation in cities. However, some green infrastructure like community gardens are rarely incorporated in resilience and adaptation plans. In this paper, we argue that community gardens should be a prioritized element of green infrastructure to improve adaptation to climate change. Community gardens can reduce urban heat islands, provide various ecosystem services, and increase storm water retention. From a socioeconomic perspective, these gardens also build trust, facilitate participation, improve responses to natural disasters and food security -all vital components of effective adaptation and resilience to climate change. Yet, our qualitative analysis of 18 policy documents for Baltimore, Chicago, and New York City, U.S.A, found that green infrastructure to improve climate change adaptation prioritizes rain gardens, bioswales, and green roofs, but seldom acknowledge the role of community gardens. Furthermore, community gardens historically emerged in these cities to respond to stressors like economic, social, and political instability. Therefore, policies that address climate change should explicitly incorporate community gardens. Keywords: adaptive capacity; climate change adaptation; green infrastructure; urban greening. p. 242. The underutilized role of community gardens in improving cities' adaptation to climate change: A review
Connectivity of social-ecological systems promotes resilience across urban landscapes. Community gardens are social-ecological systems that support food production, social interactions, and biodiversity conservation. We investigate how these hubs of ecosystem services facilitate socioecological connectivity and service flows as a network across complex urban landscapes. In three US cities (Baltimore, Chicago, New York City), we use community garden networks as a model system to demonstrate how biophysical and social features of urban landscapes control the pattern and magnitude of ecosystem service flows through these systems. We show that community gardens within a city are connected through biological and social mechanisms, and connectivity levels and spatial arrangement differ across cities. We found that biophysical connectivity was higher than social connectivity in one case study, while they were nearly equal in the other two. This higher social connectivity can be attributed to clustered distributions of gardens within neighborhoods (network modularity), which promotes neighborhood-scale connectivity hotspots, but produces landscape-scale connectivity coldspots. The particular patterns illustrate how urban form and social amenities largely shape ecosystem service flows among garden networks. Such socio-ecological analyses can be applied to enhance and stabilize landscape connectedness to improve life and resilience in cities. Urban landscapes are social-ecological systems that are growing in geographic area and population density across much of the world 1,2. Indeed, nearly two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities by 2050 3 , with 89% projected for the USA alone. This forecast is prompting discussion on the sustainability of urban growth, and the maintenance of social well-being 4 and environmental integrity in urban landscapes 5. The interactions between social and biophysical features in cities regulate ecosystem functions 1,5-8 which provides essential ecosystem services to urban populations 9. Ecosystem services include supporting services (e.g. nutrient cycling), provisioning services (e.g. food), regulating services (e.g. climate regulation), and cultural services (e.g. recreation) 10. These services enhance the well-being of urban residents by improving physical and mental health 11 , and providing the basic materials for a good life that allow people freedom and choice of action 10. Yet the maintenance and management of ecosystem services across urban landscapes is challenging because of high spatial heterogeneity in land use composition and structure 12 , and the high social diversity in demographics and resource access among populations 13-15. Urban ecosystem services that support human well-being are thus derived from multiple and diverse biophysical, social, technological, and economic features that vary with spatial scale 16 across the landscape 17,18. Biophysical and social heterogeneity of landscapes determines the connectivity of ecosystem services through the facilitation o...
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