Rethinking urban green infrastructure and ecosystem services from the perspective of sub-Saharan African cities

Cities in sub-Saharan Africa are currently confronted with a multitude, and hitherto unexperienced, magnitude of transformative phenomena such as rising inequality, exclusion, poverty and increased residency in informal settlements. These stressors are posing challenges to cities in terms of housing, infrastructure and provision of basic services as well as climate change adaptation. Despite the high dynamics and novel characteristics of city transformation, this urban transition seems to take place rather ‘quietly’ and has, so far, obviously hardly been understood or appreciated by researchers and governments. Subsequently, the multifaceted and extremely challenging problems associated with the process of urbanisation cannot be adequately addressed. Green infrastructure (GI) is currently emerging as a concept for cost-effective urban sustainability and livelihood security. Preservation and provision of accessible urban green spaces is increasingly recognised as an essential part of the liveability of cities. Extensive literature review revealed that the systematic integration of GI concepts in urban planning is seen by an increasing number of researchers as an essential approach to tackle major current and future challenges. Based on the literature review, we suggest that broadening the concept of urban GI by linking it to governance and rights-based conceptualisations will have the potential to unlock more resourceful paths for sustainable, green, and inclusive urban development of cities in Southern and Eastern Africa.

Section: The Green Infrastructure Approach Its Benefits To Environmementioning

confidence: 99%

Pathways for Sustainable and Inclusive Cities in Southern and Eastern Africa through Urban Green Infrastructure?

Titz

Chiotha²

2019

“…The urban green space constitutes the supply system of ecosystem services, and its layout plays a critical role in ecosystem service functions [42,43]. This paper attempts to combine the evolution mechanism of an urban green space system with the evolution process of urban land use development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development Simulation of Urban Green Space System Layout Based on the Land Use Scenario: A Case Study of Xuchang City, China

Liu

Zhang

2019

The development and evolution of an urban green space system is affected by both natural effects and human intervention. The simulation and prediction of an urban green space system can enhance the foresight of urban planning. In this study, several land use change scenarios of the main urban area of Xuchang City were simulated from 2014 to 2030 based on high-resolution land use data. The layout of each scenario was evaluated using landscape indexes. A Cellular Automata–based method (i.e., future land use simulation, FLUS) was applied to develop the urban green space system, which we combined with urban land use evolution. Using recent data, the FLUS model effectively dealt with the uncertainty and complexity of various land use types under natural and human effects and solved the dependence and error transmission of multiperiod data in the traditional land use simulation process. The root mean square error (RMSE) of probability of the suitability occurrence module and the Kappa coefficient of the overall model simulation accuracy verification index both met accuracy requirements. It was feasible to combine the evolution of the urban green space system with urban land development. Moreover, under the Baseline Scenario, the urban land use layout was relatively scattered, and the urban green space system showed a disordered development trend. The Master Plan Scenario had a compact urban land use layout, and the green space system was characterized by networking and systematization, but it did not consider the service capacity of the green space. The Planning Guidance Scenario introduced constraint conditions (i.e., a spatial development strategy, green space accessibility, and ecological sensitivity), which provided a more intensive and efficient urban space and improved the service function of the green space system layout. Managers and planners can evaluate the urban future land use development mode under different constraints. Moreover, they would be able to adjust the urban planning in the implementation process. This work has transformed the technical nature of the planning work from “static results” to a “dynamic process”.

“…The importance of ecosystem services (sensu MEA [1]) generated and used in urban areas is increasingly being recognized [2][3][4], setting the foundation for a revolution in the manner in which sustainable cities are conceptualized and designed [5,6]. Urban dwellers are as dependent on ecosystem services as their rural counterparts, although the origin of many of the services that they consume is often spatially divorced from their immediate surroundings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aesthetic and Spiritual Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Sacred Sites

Lacy¹,

Shackleton

2017

Self Cite

Abstract:The range and use of ecosystem services provided by urban sacred sites has hardly been considered in studies of urban ecology, sustainability and human wellbeing. This paper examines the perceived ecosystem services supplied by green spaces or gardens associated with places of religious worship and appreciated by worshippers in a mid-sized town in South Africa. A questionnaire with open, closed and Likert scale questions was administered at 30 places of worship (25 with gardens and five without). Respondents identified a wide diversity of ecosystem services provided by gardens, with social ones being more recognized than ecological, and economic services the least. Approximately two-thirds of respondents visited a sacred site garden weekly or more often. The majority of respondents (96%) felt that a garden was necessary because it added to their feelings of connection with God, or helped them relax and so be better able to concentrate, and 54% stated that a garden enhanced their overall spiritual experience. Regression analysis revealed that aesthetic appreciation of a garden was significantly related to woody plant species richness, number and basal area in the garden. On the other hand, spiritual experience was positively related to woody plant basal area, but not species richness nor tree number. Neither size of the garden, nor number of years the respondents had been vising a particular sacred site had any influence on the rated spiritual or aesthetic experiences. These results reveal the widely appreciated ecosystem services provided by urban sacred spaces and their centrality in enhancing spiritual satisfaction for some.