Assessment and Mapping Green Areas Ecosystem Services and Socio-Demographic Characteristics in Turin Neighborhoods (Italy)

Abstract

The ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being are keywords that guide the Italian strategy on urban greening. The development of ES priorities linked to specific land uses help to guide the drafting of management plans. The aim of the research was to assess and map green areas ecosystem services and socio-demographic characteristics in Turin neighborhoods in order to identify where to improve the provision of ecosystem services and the socio-demographic conditions. The Preliminary Assessment Method (PAM) was used for the assessment of provision and regulating services based on land use. The Species-specific Air Quality index (S-AQI) was used to assess the regulating services provided by trees. Three socio-demographic characteristics were analyzed at the neighborhood level-age index, housing density, and % of economically assisted citizens. PAM results show that Turin provides more ecosystem services in peripheral areas of the city. Trees with high S-AQI values represent 21% of the censed trees. Not recommended trees are 18%. The neighborhoods with higher S-AQI values are not always characterized by a higher number of trees/km 2 or species richness. Results show that the northern part of the city is characterized by higher values of ES and socio-demographic conditions than the central-southern part. This aspect is related to the conspicuous presence of agricultural land uses and water bodies, together with the presence of tree species with a high S-AQI values and high or medium socio-demographic conditions. 57% of the neighborhoods present low results for both aspects. Actions to improve the quality of green spaces in those neighborhoods could have great effects on liveability. Future management and planning strategies for increasing citizens' well-being through urban greening should consider the proposed approach.Forests 2020, 11, 25 2 of 19 (ES), beneficiaries and potential mismatches with their location of supply, as well as on the quality and quantity of ES, are essential to make informed decisions for the proper management of natural resources [5]. Moreover, human well-being is positively influenced by the level of biodiversity present in urban and peri-urban green spaces [6], which must be maintained or increased through effective management of plant and animal species, improving the quality of existing habitats through management [7]. In addition, socioeconomic inequalities in health are less pronounced in people with greater exposure to green space than in those with less exposure [8].As many ecosystem services are provided by urban green spaces, these will need to be better managed and planned to ensure a high standard of living in urban areas [9]. For the assessment of ecosystem services in urban areas, several methods can be applied [10][11][12]. Some of them are based on spatially explicit biophysical indicators to analyze the spatial distribution of ES delivery [13], others on suite of models or web-based modeling platforms for the spatially-explicit assessment of ecosystem services [14,15], and fi...

Stakeholders’ Perceptions on the Role of Urban Green Infrastructure in Providing Ecosystem Services for Human Well-Being

“…The overview of the weight factors used to describe potential link intensity between ES group (provisioning, regulating, cultural) and individual WB components are shown in Table 1. The MEA approach and the assumed strengths of the linkages between ES and WB can be partially supported by the review literature, which indicates that the most frequently assessed urban ES are from the categories of regulation and maintenance [15,34] or provision [29], suggesting that these ES categories are perceived to have the most important impacts on WB. The strength of the connection between ES and WB (weak, medium, and strong) was taken from the MEA, but is to some extent supported by the literature review.…”

“…Further, instead of referring to WB as one lump phenomenon, it focuses on individual WB components and provides a weighted link between separate ES categories and individual WB components. In this respect, the approach we used could be further developed to evaluate the contribution of UGI to WB through ES using WB indicators and objectivize WB evaluation using literature review, field research, spatial analysis involving GIS and remote sensing, land use, landscape metrics, or statistical methods [26][27][28][29][30][31]. Finally, unlike most of the studies reviewed, the approach undertaken in our research focuses on a comprehensive list of ESs.…”

“…Approaches used in these reviewed articles focus on subjective WB, using the participatory process, personal observation, experience, social survey, questionnaire, manipulated reality, or fuzzy cognitive mapping [20][21][22][23][24][25]. Others objectivize WB evaluation using literature review, field research, spatial analysis involving GIS and remote sensing, land use, landscape metrics, statistical methods [26][27][28][29][30][31], or a combination of subjective and objective WB evaluation methods [32,33].…”

Perceptions of Urban Green Areas during the Social Distancing Period for COVID-19 Containment in Italy

“…Moreover, these spaces provide many ecological, psychological, and social benefits [7,8]. For example, in 2020, Battisti et al [9] showed that in an urbanized context (City of Turin) the ecosystem services provided by public green areas differed among neighborhoods and were related with socio-demographic conditions.…”

Ambient Air Quality as a Condition of Effective Healthcare Therapy on the Example of Selected Polish Health Resorts

“…Natural elements, including those in cities, e.g., roadside trees or green areas, affect the level of air pollution. The absorption of gaseous and particulate matter pollutants is one of the regulating services provided by the environment, whose effectiveness and benefits have been estimated by research conducted around the world [3][4][5]. The parameters of the impact of various tree species growing in urban areas on air quality were determined e.g., in [6].…”