Urban Green Spaces as a Component of an Ecosystem

Vargas-Hernández, José́ G.; Pallagst, Karina; Zdunek-Wielgołaska, Justyna

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-71312-0_49

Cited by 25 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 119 publications

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“…Our study reveals that UES have an intrinsic relationship with urban forestry. Depending on their size, location and quality, they may have significant contributions towards improving eco-mobility, circulation, rainwater drainage, aeration and microclimatic conditions, which are discrete functions within urban city management [38]. Thus, policy planning for the development and management of urban forestry should involve intersectoral participation and mapping among local government agencies and be based on systems-oriented and sectorally integrated approaches to enhance social-ecological resilience and sustainability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Ecosystem Services: A Review of the Knowledge Components and Evolution in the 2010s

2020

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In an effort to reconnect urban populations to the biosphere, which is an urgent task to ensure human sustainability, the concept of urban ecosystem services (UES) has recently garnered scholarly and political attention. With an aim to examine the emerging research trends and gaps in UES, we present an up-to-date, computer-based meta-analysis of UES from 2010 to 2019 by implementing a keyword co-occurrence network (KCN) approach. A total of 10,247 author keywords were selected and used to analyze undirected and weighted networks of these keywords. Specifically, power-law distribution fitting was performed to identify overall UES keyword trends, and clusters of keywords were examined to understand micro-level knowledge trends. The knowledge components and structures of UES literature exhibited scale-free network characteristics, which implies that the KCN of the UES throughout the 2010s was dominated by a small number of keywords such as “urbanization”, “land use and land cover”, “urban green space” and “green infrastructure”. Finally, our findings indicate that knowledge of stakeholder involvement and qualitative aspects of UES are not as refined as spatial UES approaches. The implications of these knowledge components and trends are discussed in the context of urban sustainability and policy planning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Ecosystem Services: A Review of the Knowledge Components and Evolution in the 2010s

2020

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“…The primary way people currently practice reconciliation ecology and provide habitat for other species in our cities is through urban green spaces [3]. Green spaces are critical pieces of urban green infrastructure [4,5] that improve urban environmental quality and human health and reduce the burden on existing grey infrastructure, such as stormwater drains [6][7][8][9]. By providing vegetated habitat [2,10,11], they positively contribute to ecosystem services, such as climate regulation, purification, species maintenance, and provide opportunities for people to connect with nature [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Architecture as Habitat: Enhancing Urban Ecosystem Services Using Building Envelopes

MacKinnon¹,

Zari²,

Brown³

2021

AEER

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The practice of reconciliation ecology in urban environments relies heavily on urban green space as the primary source of vegetated habitat in cities. However, most cities lack the quantity, connectivity, and accessibility of green space needed to provide essential ecosystem services for the health, well-being, and resilience of human and non-human species. In reaction to urban densification and the increasing frequency and severity of climate change impacts, this study argues that architecture could strategically provide vegetated habitats to supplement existing urban green space and provide refuges for non-human species during extreme disturbances. A spatial analysis was conducted to test the performance of the existing green space network against targets for human well-being and Indigenous avifauna habitat needs in a 1.93 km2 neighborhood in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, during normal conditions and flooding. The results showed an insufficient quantity and connectivity of green space during both normal conditions and flooding to meet the habitat needs of Indigenous avifauna. Though the per capita green space and accessibility targets for human well-being are met under normal conditions, there is insufficient green space to meet those targets during flooding. During normal conditions, 9% of the roofs in the neighborhood need to be converted to green roofs to achieve the targets for both human well-being and Indigenous avifauna. The amount increases to 17% if the targets are to be maintained during flooding. At least 3% of the roofs need to function as small and medium-sized habitat patches in key locations to increase the existing green space network's connectivity. The study concludes that though ground-level green space is limited, with regenerative architecture strategies and supporting governance policy, the surplus of existing roofs could be used to increase urban habitat provision, thereby enhancing the health and resilience of humans and Indigenous avifauna in cities.

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“…Compared to traditional "grey" 2 of 20 infrastructure, UGS can be a cost-effective stormwater management strategy with lower investment and maintenance costs [7]. UGS can also provide other benefits, such as noise absorption, Urban Heat Island mitigation, energy saving, biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and air quality improvement [8][9][10]. In addition, UGS also contributes to urban sustainability to improve environmental quality and human health and well-being [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological Effects of Urban Green Space on Stormwater Runoff Reduction in Luohe, China

Song

Guo

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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This paper reveals the role of urban green space (UGS) in regulating runoff and hence on urban hydrological balance. The modeling software i-Tree Hydro was used to quantify the effects of UGS on surface runoff regulation and canopy interception capacity in four simulated land-cover scenarios. The results showed that the existing UGS could mitigate 15,871,900 m3 volume of runoff (accounting for 9.85% of total runoff) and intercept approximately 9.69% of total rainfall by the vegetation canopy. UGS in midterm goal and final goal scenarios could retain about 10.74% and 10.89% of total rainfall that falls onto the canopy layer, respectively. The existing UGS in the Luohe urban area had a positive but limited contribution in runoff regulation, with similar responses in future scenarios with increased UGS coverage. UGS rainfall interception volume changed seasonally along with changing leaf area index (LAI) and precipitation, and the interception efficiency was distinctly different under various rain intensities and durations. The UGS had a relatively high interception performance under light and long duration rain events but performed poorly under heavy and short rain events due to limited surface storage capacities. Our study will assist urban planners and policy-makers regarding UGS size and functionality in future planning in Luohe, particularly regarding future runoff management and Sponge City projects.

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Urban Green Spaces as a Component of an Ecosystem

Cited by 25 publications

References 119 publications

Urban Ecosystem Services: A Review of the Knowledge Components and Evolution in the 2010s

Urban Ecosystem Services: A Review of the Knowledge Components and Evolution in the 2010s

Architecture as Habitat: Enhancing Urban Ecosystem Services Using Building Envelopes

Hydrological Effects of Urban Green Space on Stormwater Runoff Reduction in Luohe, China

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