Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Services as Landscape Analysis and Assessment Tools for Ecological Landscape Planning

Abstract

Landscape ecology, with its models and indicators and ecosystem services, can be the key to interpreting the processes and characteristics of a landscape. An applied methodology is presented in the case study of a peri-urban context (south of the city of Milan, northern Italy), where the urban-rural boundary is often abrupt and unmitigated, a characteristic that significantly increases ecological vulnerability. The multi-scale study, both in space and time, using landscape ecology and ecosystem services, helps to understand the structure of the landscape, its dynamics and the ecological behaviour of the landscape element system. It will also help to identify drivers of vulnerability and resilience, as well as design and planning solutions to rebalance the urban-rural relationship, increase environmental sustainability and resilience to anthropogenic pressures and climate change, and enhance ecosystem services.