Incorporating soil ecosystem services into urban planning: status, challenges and opportunities

Silva, Ricardo Teixeira da; Fleskens, Luuk; Delden, Hedwig van; Ploeg, Martine van der

doi:10.1007/s10980-018-0652-x

Cited by 34 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(46 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…We conclude that increasing plant diversity together with soil protective management practices have the potential to increase soil functions as well as foster biodiversity, and to create more biophilic 59 urban gardens, supporting human well-being and the ecological value of urban green spaces. Even though soil is a key resource in cities, it has not been integrated in most urban green space plans 75 , thus we recommend that urban gardens including ecological management practices should be integrated in future green city strategies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect effects of urban gardening on aboveground and belowground diversity influencing soil multifunctionality

Tresch

Frey

Bayon

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban gardens are popular green spaces that have the potential to provide essential ecosystem services, support human well-being, and at the same time foster biodiversity in cities. We investigated the impact of gardening activities on five soil functions and the relationship between plant (600 spp.) and soil fauna (earthworms: 18 spp., springtails: 39 spp.) in 85 urban gardens (170 sites) across the city of Zurich (Switzerland). Our results suggest that high plant diversity in gardens had a positive effect on soil fauna and soil multifunctionality, and that garden management intensity decreased plant diversity. Indices of biological activity in soil, such as organic and microbial carbon and bacterial abundance, showed a direct positive effect on soil multifunctionality. Soil moisture and disturbance, driven by watering and tilling, were the driving forces structuring plant and soil fauna communities. Plant indicator values proved useful to assess soil fauna community structure, even in anthropogenic plant assemblages. We conclude that to enhance soil functions, gardeners should increase plant diversity, and lower management intensity. Soil protective management practices, such as applying compost, mulch or avoiding soil tilling, should be included in urban green space planning to improve urban biodiversity and nature’s contribution to people.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect effects of urban gardening on aboveground and belowground diversity influencing soil multifunctionality

Tresch

Frey

Bayon

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The ESs offer the opportunity to improve the land use planning, considering their direct contribution to the amelioration of the life quality and the welfare of the community [88,89]. In this direction, new environmental ecological standards have generally been recognized in the analyzed plans, but they are not linked to the services and benefits provided by the ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Standards and Ecosystem Services: The Evolution of the Services Planning in Italy from Theory to Practice

Colavitti¹,

Floris²,

Serra³

2020

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human well-being is determined by multiple factors related to health, social relations, safety, environment, landscape, cultural heritage, and quality of services. The Italian planning system provided a set of “urban standards”, in terms of threshold values of areas per inhabitant destined for public services and facilities. The application of urban standards, for a period of more than fifty years, did not result in a broad improvement of life quality in the urban areas. This paper discusses the issue of urban facilities in Italy in order to evaluate the opportunity to innovate traditional standards according to the environmental and ecological paradigm, focusing on the benefits provided to humans by natural ecosystems, the so-called ecosystem services (ESs). The paper investigates the evolution of the Italian planning practice through the introduction of quality standards and innovative tools able to meet the ever-changing social demand. The research aims to verify if the ES concept is really implemented in the Italian planning practice and if the ecosystem approach has a real impact on political decision-making. Using a comparative method, four case-studies of urban municipal plans are selected and analyzed in order to identify different approaches and possible fields of innovation. The research highlighted a lack of integration of ecosystem services approach in the land use decisions, although there is an in-depth survey on the state of conservation of ecological and environmental resources. The local experiments of qualitative standards represent an attempt to deal with specific ecological emergencies, namely flood risk, air, water, and soil pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Conclusions discuss, from an international perspective, the need to revise the traditional planning approach in the field of public services and facilities, taking into account the influence of ecosystem services on human well-being.

show abstract

“…For instance, interventions in mobility, such as reducing cars in the city and improving shared commuting, have been adopted for reducing the negative impact of air and noise pollution on health [3,39]. Another example is the awareness of improving access to green spaces, which also recognizes the need to pay proper attention to soil-related indicators like the presence of unsealed soils [70]. In our study, soil did not reach the level of agreement to be included as relevant to assess EH in Lisbon.…”

Section: Eh In Urban Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selecting Indicators to Monitor and Assess Environmental Health in a Portuguese Urban Setting: A Participatory Approach

Salgado

Vieira

Torres³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Environmental health (EH) is influenced by complex interactions between health and the built and natural environments, there being little research on its specificities in urban settings. The use of suitable indicators to monitor and assess EH is fundamental in informing evidence-based interventions at the local level. A participatory approach to selecting indicators to inform the monitoring and assessment of EH in Lisbon is herein considered. Evidence derived from a systematic review of literature and data from Lisbon and Portuguese databases were analyzed by 12 Portuguese experts in individual semi-structured interviews. The interviews aimed at identifying relevant indicators and important emerging issues in the Lisbon urban setting. The outputs from the interviews were validated by a two-round Web-Delphi process in which panelists (22 experts) from different areas of expertise expressed their views regarding the relevance of the indicators for the analysis of EH in urban settings. Seventeen indicators were validated in the Web-Delphi process. High participation achieved along this process supports the view that this participatory approach was useful for validation. Results from the adopted participatory approach point out gaps in the collection of noise and mobility indicators data and raise emerging issues on housing indicators that require further research. The results also suggest the need for local action to improve indicators and tools in order to help the monitorization of EH in urban contexts. The adopted participatory approach can be replicated for other Portuguese and European urban settings.

show abstract

Incorporating soil ecosystem services into urban planning: status, challenges and opportunities

Cited by 34 publications

References 43 publications

Direct and indirect effects of urban gardening on aboveground and belowground diversity influencing soil multifunctionality

Direct and indirect effects of urban gardening on aboveground and belowground diversity influencing soil multifunctionality

Urban Standards and Ecosystem Services: The Evolution of the Services Planning in Italy from Theory to Practice

Selecting Indicators to Monitor and Assess Environmental Health in a Portuguese Urban Setting: A Participatory Approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About