A framework for assessing urban greenery's effects and valuing its ecosystem services

Abstract

Ongoing urban exploitation is increasing pressure to transform urban green spaces, while there is increasing awareness that greenery provides a range of important benefits to city residents. In efforts to help resolve associated problems we have developed a framework for integrated assessments of ecosystem service (ES) benefits and values provided by urban greenery, based on the ecosystem service cascade model. The aim is to provide a method for assessing the contribution to, and valuing, multiple ES provided by urban greenery that can be readily applied in routine planning processes. The framework is unique as it recognizes that an urban greenery comprises several components and functions that can contribute to multiple ecosystem services in one or more ways via different functional traits (e.g. foliage characteristics) for which readily measured indicators have been identified. The framework consists of five steps including compilation of an inventory of indicator; application of effectivity factors to rate indicators' effectiveness; estimation of effects; estimation of benefits for each ES; estimation of the total ES value of the ecosystem. The framework was applied to assess ecosystem services provided by trees, shrubs, herbs, birds, and bees, in green areas spanning an urban gradient in Gothenburg, Sweden. Estimates of perceived values of ecosystem services were obtained from interviews with the public and workshop activities with civil servants. The framework is systematic and transparent at all stages and appears to have potential utility in the existing spatial planning processes.

Quantifying and mapping land use changes and regulating ecosystem service potentials in a data-scarce peri-urban region in Kenya

“…The processes and consequences of anthropogenic activities in the area also relate to the views by Adeloye and Rustum (2011), Pauleit et al (2005). Other articles have applied biophysical approaches to assess potentials for selected regulating ES (Nedkov and Burkhard 2012;Kaiser et al 2013;Larondelle et al 2014;Andersson-Sköld et al 2018).…”

From Cascade to Bottom-Up Ecosystem Services Model: How Does Social Cohesion Emerge from Urban Agriculture?

“…Current attempts at quantifying cultural ES do not seem to account for the social structures and processes involved in the creation of these services. For instance, Andersson-Sköld et al [69] related cultural ES to abundance indicators (e.g., leaf area) through the cascade model, but social parameters were not specifically assessed. In this sense, quantifying the benefits and values that result from cultural ES is not straightforward.…”

Optimal Budget Allocations for Protected Area Acquisition To Store Carbon in a Local Community Under Economic Growth Uncertainty

“…We use five clusters of land in and around the urban areas of Knox County, TN, as a case study (see Figure 2). A local community, instead of a larger area, is used as a case study because local communities are under increasing pressure to adopt innovative strategies to increase or sustain carbon storage (Elmqvist et al 2015;Miller Hauer, and Werner 2015;Andersson-Sköld et al 2018). The clusters are chosen for having large tracts of undeveloped contiguous land.…”