Urban Forests and Their Ecosystem Services in Relation to Human Health

Abstract

In this chapter we briefly discuss the concept of forest taking into account the provision of different goods and services. We provide some technical information on the forest classification systems adopted in Europe which are then reflected in the different roles and meanings that Europeans give to forests. We give a special emphasis to urban forests considering their origins, typologies and indicators. The importance of urban forests is analyzed including the role that forest areas and green spaces can play in contemporary (sustainable) cities. Different citizens' attitudes towards urban environment are also discussed considering the cultural differences existing at European level. The effects of urban forests on urban environments (i.e., hydrology climate, air quality, biodiversity) and human health are finally discussed. This chapter considers the social role of urban forest and the relationship existing between forests and communities through emerging approaches such as community forests.

Canopy precipitation interception in urban forests in relation to stand structure

“…Urban forests provide numerous important ecosystem services (Bolund and Hunhammar 1999;Tyrväinen et al 2005;Sanesi et al 2011). The most recognized benefits, stemming from urban forest ecological services (McPherson et al 2005), are: rainwater retention (Chen and Jim 2008), flood regulation (Sanders 1986), water quality protection (Xiao et al 1998), moderation of the urban climate (Lafortezza et al 2009;Hamada and Ohta 2010;Armson et al 2012) and air pollution reduction (Brack 2002;Bealey et al 2007;McDonald et al 2007;Zupancic et al 2015).…”

Proceedings of the American elm restoration workshop 2016

“…; Angel, P.; Barton, C.; Slavicek, J. 2015 Extended Abstract.-Urban forests contribute significantly to human health and environmental quality (Sanesi et al 2011). As such, maintaining healthy urban forests resilient to pollution (atmospheric and soil), high temperatures, compacted soils, and poor drainage is critical.…”

Temporal Variation of Ecological Factors Affecting Bird Species Richness in Urban and Peri-Urban Forests in a Changing Environment: A Case Study from Milan (Northern Italy)

“…Urban and peri-urban forests (UPUFs) are crucial to maintain biodiversity, which in turn provides a large number of ecosystem services upon which local human communities depend [10]. Indeed, UPUFs can provide refuge for species whose native habitats have been largely lost [11], even allowing for the occurrence of forest specialists in these urban and peri-urban landscapes [12,13].…”