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Ecosystem services provided by urban gardens in Barcelona, Spain: Insights for policy and planning
... According to Angeletto [2] and Camps Calvet et al. [9] urban ecology is a science that integrates the theories and methods of natural science and social science to study the standards and processes of the urban ecological theme system. The intersection of natural science and social science is the core paradigm of urban ecology. ...
... The protection of urban soils and water bodies can also be mentioned. In addition, trees are an important habitat for urban biodiversity, and urban vegetation points (residential gardens, squares, parks, and indigenous vegetation fragments) can be used as ecological corridors or steps connecting urban and forest landscapes [9,21] . Some epidemiological studies have shown that it is positive to enter green space for a longer time because areas with abundant vegetation, including the Kuntai area, are more capable of reducing air pollution and urban heat island. ...
... Economic benefits include assessing wellvegetated housing in residential areas, reducing heating and cooling costs, and making it easier to attract capital, business, and employment opportunities. Associated with more abundant tree coverage, residential electricity costs can be reduced by up to 30% [9,15] . ...
p>The global large-scale urbanization of the territory is one of the most important ecological phenomena today. The standards used in urban growth are crucial to the protection of biodiversity and affect the provision of a reasonable quality of life for the urban population. Contrary to the views of many biologists and other scholars, cities are barren environments. Contrary to nature, urban ecology, as a necessary interdisciplinary science, recent developments show that cities are heterotrophic ecosystems, which need to be planned in a way to reduce their impact on the biosphere and improve their ability to maintain biodiversity.</p
... Its importance increased during wars and economic crises. At that time, crops grown on allotments supplemented food shortages and allotment houses became places to live [6][7][8][9]. In Central and Eastern Europe, allotment gardening became particularly popular during the era of the centrally planned economy, due to the problems of meeting the population's food needs and the restriction of civil liberties. ...
... The low importance of the productive development of plots observed in Poznań AGs in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic is surprising. The surprise stems from the fact that the importance of the productive function of AGs increases during periods of crisis, as is commonly reported in the literature, e.g., studies by Bell et al. [19], Camps-Calvet et al. [7], and Calvet-Mir and March [9]. While the consequence of the pandemic is a renaissance in allotment gardening in Poland, this did not involve an increase in the scale of cultivation. ...
... Our study does not confirm this, although it is undeniable that AGs perfectly 'fit' into the concept of urban agriculture. They are also relevant for sustainable urban development, as they can support environmental education [7,19,84]. ...
Allotment gardening as element of green infrastructure and integral part of urban agriculture supports the city’s sustainable development and builds urban resilience. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to revisit allotment gardening in a situation of unprecedented health crisis. Therefore, this study aims to recognise the importance of allotment gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poznań (Poland), a city with a ‘famine of plots’ observed for years. A survey was conducted among allotment holders who had acquired plots during the course of the pandemic and in-depth interviews were conducted with the president of the Polish Allotment Federation of Poznań and the managers of the allotment gardens wherein we had identified the highest proportion of new allotment holders. Information was collected during field research, also using available statistical data. The methods used included desk research and a case study, interviews and a survey. The results of the study show that the pandemic caused a renaissance in allotment gardening. The increased interest in allotments triggered an increase in their price, thus further restricting access. A generational change in the allotment community was also noted, with young people appearing on allotments. However, the survey showed no change in the use of allotments: recreation is still their dominant function, with allotment holders focusing on cleaning and renovation work. For new allotment holders, the plot was a green refuge in times of isolation, a place for contact with nature, loved ones and family, and a safe space for relaxation. Our research indicates that allotment holders also appreciated its positive impact on their physical and mental health.. Moreover, the study indicates that despite the long-standing shortage of allotments in the city, only restorative allotment gardens are being created.
... In Ghana, urban initiatives like "Green Ghana" promote home gardening as part of community development, fostering social connections and shared environmental responsibility [42]. Despite challenges like insecure land tenure and limited water access, home gardening has the potential to enhance social cohesion by diversifying food sources and promoting knowledge-sharing among households [43,44]. ...
... Table 4 shows the practice of home gardening as a means of enhancing community development to identify the level of importance these benefits hold in fostering sustainability. The high RII score of 0.989 for the enhancement of biodiversity correlates with works such as Camps-Calvet et al. [43], which highlights the positive impact of urban gardens on the ecosystems and environment in general. The vegetation cooling effect (RII = 0.978) complements the study by Ayoni et al. [81], where the importance of greenery in urban areas to combat heat was also stressed. ...
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), home gardening supports approximately 20% of household food needs, highlighting its significance in addressing food insecurity. This practice has emerged as a vital strategy for promoting sustainable community development in diverse ways. Using Bolgatanga, Ghana, as a case study, this study explores the socioecological and economic benefits of home gardening and their associations with socioeconomic characteristics. In total, 370 residents were interviewed, and the data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that home gardening provides environmental benefits, such as reducing temperature and erosion; social benefits, including enhanced well-being and cohesion; and economic benefits, such as reduced food costs and increased profits. The findings indicated statistically significant associations between environmental benefits, such as soil fertility enrichment (p < 0.01) and natural cooling (p < 0.01); social benefits, including stress reduction (p < 0.01); and economic benefits, such as sustainable living through composting (p < 0.01), and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents. The Relative Importance Index (RII) analysis identified biodiversity enhancement as the most significant environmental benefit, cost savings from homegrown food as the most important economic benefit, and stress reduction as the most significant social benefit. The study concludes that home gardening significantly contributes to sustainable community development through its environmental, social, and economic benefits, therefore it is essential for the Municipal Agriculture Department, non-profit organisations to collaborate with communities in terms of training programmes and resources for home gardening practices to maximize these benefits.
... El primer paso hacia un análisis exhaustivo sobre la calidad de la vida urbana a partir de los servicios ecosistémicos es cuantificar y representar espacialmente su provisión, así como averiguar la importancia de las zonas verdes urbanas para el bienestar humano (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016). Conocer las preferencias de los ciudadanos, basadas en las características geográficas y culturales locales, facilita la implementación de las políticas específicas para un espacio en concreto. ...
... Finalmente, se ha realizado una preparación y depuración de la información previa al análisis. Para la realización de la encuesta, se ha tenido en cuenta trabajos previos donde la percepción de la ciudadanía se ha tenido en cuenta para evaluar los SEC (Langemeyer et al., 2015;Camps-Calvet et al., 2016;Beckmann-Wübbelt et al., 2021). Dentro de la información obtenida mediante la encuesta, se han seleccionado únicamente las opiniones de la población joven (<30 años) y de mayor edad (>60 años) para observar las diferentes percepciones según diferentes generaciones (Tabla 1). ...
Resumen. La degradación del entorno por la acción antrópica pone de manifiesto la necesidad de mostrar los beneficios que las áreas naturales aportan a la sociedad. Para ello, entender las preferencias de la población en cuanto a los diferentes servicios ecosistémicos culturales provistos por las áreas verdes urbanas puede resultar sumamente útil para su gestión. En este sentido, es importante conocer la opinión de la ciudadanía en relación a los servicios ecosistémicos culturales proporcionados por estos espacios. Por este motivo, se ha elaborado una encuesta para analizar la percepción de la población, según grupos de edad, sobre los servicios ecosistémicos culturales de las áreas verdes urbanas de la ciudad de Murcia (España). Esta información, junto con los datos de áreas verdes urbanas da como resultado dos mapas de percepción según el grupo de edad, con diferentes resultados de provisión. Se observan mayores provisiones según la percepción de personas mayores de 60 años, fruto de la discrepancia en las valoraciones de ambos grupos: mientras que los jóvenes se centran en servicios como el valor psicológico, las personas de mayor edad otorgan mayor importancia a la interacción social generada en estos espacios. Palabras clave: servicios ecosistémicos culturales, verde urbano, sostenibilidad, bienestar humano. Abstract. The degradation of the environment by anthropogenic action highlights the need to show the benefits that natural areas bring to society. Understanding the preferences of the population regarding the different cultural ecosystem services provided by urban green areas can be extremely useful for their management. In this sense, it is important to know the opinion of citizens regarding the cultural ecosystem services provided by urban green areas. For this reason, a survey has been carried out to analyse the perception of the population, according to age groups, on the cultural ecosystem services of urban green areas in the city of Murcia (Spain). This information, together with the geolocation of the urban green infrastructure results in two perception maps according to age group, presenting different results. Higher provisions are observed according to the standards of people over 60 years old, as a result of the discrepancy in their perceptions: while young people focus on services such as psychological value, older people give more relevance to the social interaction.
... Our findings substantiate the potential of UA in soil preservation or recovery, as well as the provision of habitat for pollinators and other wild species. Prior studies have prominently documented support for faunal species in urban allotments [45][46][47]. Another noteworthy aspect, although not statistically examined in our study, pertains to the support for floral biodiversity. ...
... In the study by Camps-Calvet et al. [45], which assessed the ES of UA in Barcelona (Spain), the most commonly recognised service was "learning and education." In contrast to our findings, Barcelona gardeners also emphasised the significance of "entertainment and leisure" opportunities in UA places. ...
Inefficient urban transformations pose multifaceted challenges. In this context, urban agriculture (UA) can address environmental and socio-economic issues. Despite recent UA policies in São Paulo, the lack of data hampers comprehensive evaluations, highlighting the need for robust indicators to enhance environmental sustainability. This article assesses São Paulo’s UA potential using an Ecosystem Services (ES)-based approach, combining ES spatial mapping and a producer survey at 49 UA sites. Results show natural habitats and anthropic areas within urbanised land, especially in the south, with high habitat quality scores. Nine ES were identified: food supply, commercialisation, income generation, waste mediation, lifecycle maintenance, soil formation, leisure/social, well-being, and education. Utilising mixed methods, this study provides innovative insights into ES related to UA in São Paulo, offering valuable input for urban policies and planning.
... The final aspect is that of the environmental, where the outcomes of UA are generally highly valued and recognized by scientists for their great potential to improve the quality of urban life and the environment [23]. In fact, the creation of UA spaces in cities helps to retain stormwater, purify the air, and conserve biodiversity [24], thus helping to mitigate the pollutants responsible for global warming [25]. Moreover, as food is grown and produced locally, it reduces transport costs and ensures environmental protection [26]. ...
... Matrix coding query that summarizes all information obtained in this systematic review and which showed individual authors against the different benefits. Binary system where 1 shows the presence of the benefit and 0 reflects its absence (Source: the authors) [1][2][3][4]6,[8][9][10]13,14,17,23,25,27,28,. Figures 9 and 10 show that only one article mentions that there are no significant social benefits. ...
Urban agriculture refers to any type of activity located within or around a city designed to provide ecosystem services. Given the rapid population growth and urbanization, urban agriculture is seen as a potential alternative route to a more sustainable urban food system. This review answers the main question: What are the benefits of non-commercial of Urban Agriculture (NCUA) forms and its contribution towards food production? using a systematic literature review approach. The methodology involved capturing 1355 recent articles from qualified search engines, using key terms according to the defined question, then screened for relevance and the defined scope of this review, resulting in a final selection of 40 articles for analysis. The results show that implementing NCUA practices has multifaced social, economic, and environmental benefits, such as improving people’s health, reducing expenditure on food and creating sustainable cities, highlighting the need to recognize the multifaceted role of NCUA in promoting a more sustainable lifestyle and strengthening local communities and engagement. Moreover, awareness of urban agriculture differs between developed and developing countries, as does the recognition and valorization of its benefits. Further research is needed to examine the enabling factors and barriers to NCUA adoption in different urban context, the resource implications, and the long-term sustainability of these practices.
... Urban climate research and the influence of urban green spaces on temperature mitigation is a topic of interest [1][2][3], especially as cities face the challenge of increasing populations and threats of climate change. Currently, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and this is expected to rise to 60% by 2030 [4]. Consequently, pursuing more sustainable, habitable, smart, and resilient cities are the most significant challenges for urban policy and planning in the 21st century [4,5]. ...
... Currently, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and this is expected to rise to 60% by 2030 [4]. Consequently, pursuing more sustainable, habitable, smart, and resilient cities are the most significant challenges for urban policy and planning in the 21st century [4,5]. ...
Urban green spaces improve quality of life by mitigating urban temperatures. However, there are challenges in obtaining urban data to analyze and understand their influence. With the aim of developing innovative methodologies for this type of research, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) were developed to predict daily and hourly temperatures in urban green spaces from sensors placed in situ for 41 days. The study areas were four urban allotment gardens (with dynamic and productive vegetation) and a forested urban park in the city of Valladolid, Spain. ANNs were built and evaluated from various combinations of inputs (X), hidden neurons (Y), and outputs (Z) under the practical rule of "making networks simple, to obtain better results". Seven ANNs architectures were tested: 7-Y-5 (Y = 6, 7,. .. ., 8). The best-performing model was the 6-Y-1 ANN architecture with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.42 • C for the urban garden called Valle de Arán. The results demonstrated that from shorter data points obtained in situ, ANNs predictions achieve acceptable results and reflect the usefulness of the methodology. These predictions were more accurate in urban gardens than in urban parks, where the type of existing vegetation can be a decisive factor. This study can contribute to the development of a sustainable and smart city, and has the potential to be replicated in cities where the influence of urban green spaces on urban temperatures is studied with traditional methodologies.
... Urban climate research and the influence of urban green spaces on temperature mitigation is a topic of interest [1][2][3], especially as cities face the challenge of increasing populations and threats of climate change. Currently, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and this is expected to rise to 60% by 2030 [4]. Consequently, pursuing more sustainable, habitable, smart, and resilient cities are the most significant challenges for urban policy and planning in the 21st century [4,5]. ...
... Currently, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and this is expected to rise to 60% by 2030 [4]. Consequently, pursuing more sustainable, habitable, smart, and resilient cities are the most significant challenges for urban policy and planning in the 21st century [4,5]. ...
Urban green spaces improve quality of life by mitigating urban temperatures. However, there are challenges in obtaining urban data to analyze and understand their influence. With the aim of developing innovative methodologies for this type of research, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) were developed to predict daily and hourly temperatures in urban green spaces from sensors placed in situ for 41 days. The study areas were four urban allotment gardens (with dynamic and productive vegetation) and a forested urban park in the city of Valladolid, Spain. ANNs were built and evaluated from various combinations of inputs (X), hidden neurons (Y), and outputs (Z) under the practical rule of "making networks simple, to obtain better results". Seven ANNs architectures were tested: 7-Y-5 (Y = 6, 7,. .. ., 8). The best-performing model was the 6-Y-1 ANN architecture with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.42 • C for the urban garden called Valle de Arán. The results demonstrated that from shorter data points obtained in situ, ANNs predictions achieve acceptable results and reflect the usefulness of the methodology. These predictions were more accurate in urban gardens than in urban parks, where the type of existing vegetation can be a decisive factor. This study can contribute to the development of a sustainable and smart city, and has the potential to be replicated in cities where the influence of urban green spaces on urban temperatures is studied with traditional methodologies.
... Urban agriculture can be defined as the practice of agricultural activities in urban areas (Tornaghi, 2014). However, it encompasses a wide range of typologies, including community gardens, backyards, school gardens, rooftop gardens, and animal-related activities such as beehives or chicken farms (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016). In recent decades, urban agriculture has garnered attention in academic and urban planning spheres for various reasons (Yan et al., 2022). ...
... In many cases, the evidence presented is qualitative and difficult to replicate or generalize (Tong et al., 2020). Moreover, it often relies on stakeholders' perceptions and beliefs (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016). Nevertheless, certain studies have made efforts to quantify the benefits of urban agriculture beyond food production (Artmann & Sartison, 2018). ...
In the first decades of the 21st century, urban agriculture has gained attention for its role in enhancing food security, particularly in developing nations. Additionally, it is commonly assumed that urban agriculture also has positive implications for other aspects of urban sustainability, such as mitigating runoff and creating job opportunities. However, the extent of these contributions has not been extensively quantified. This study aims to address this gap by presenting a stochastic model that quantifies the contributions of urban agriculture to urban sustainability, using Sant Feliu de Llobregat, a Mediterranean city, as a case study. We assessed eight indicators, including accessibility to green areas, food self-reliance, green surface area per capita, job creation, NO 2 sequestration, runoff mitigation, urban heat island effect, and volunteer participation. These indicators were estimated across twelve different simulated scenarios using 1000 Monte Carlo simulations for each scenario, to account for uncertainties. The findings revealed that the contributions of urban agriculture are not straightforward , as they are influenced by factors such as garden typology and location. Although urban agriculture typically originates as a grassroots movement, it often receives administrative support. Therefore, strategic planning can be employed to maximize the contributions of urban agriculture to urban sustainability and minimize trade-offs between social and environmental benefits.
... These ecosystem services contribute to urban resilience in a variety of ways . For example, urban agriculture increases social cohesion and learning (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016), and represents a local source of food, reducing dependence on external supply sources and increasing the resilience of the city in the face of possible economic or energy crises . Urban vegetation provides multiple regulating ecosystem services, such as water flow, runoff, or urban temperature regulation (Gómez-Baggethun & Barton, 2013), these, in turn, increase resilience to climate change. ...
... In general, their impact in the resilience factors is low (equal or lower than + 1), and some factors are more favoured than others. For example, Urban Community Gardens Municipal Program (resilience value of 4.9) was found to have a strong influence on social cohesion (see also Camps-Calvet et al., 2016) but weak on diversity (Fig. 5, policies UCG_info and PT_econ), whereas Madrid + Natural program (resilience value of 4.4) was found to have a strong influence on diversity and weak on social cohesion and polycentric governance (Fig. 5, policy MN_plan). ...
Urban resilience and how to assess it have become main policy objectives in the face of accelerated climate and other global environmental change. We develop a conceptual framework and an assessment tool to analyse how green infrastructure policies contribute to urban resilience and discuss barriers and opportunities for implementation. The conceptual framework is designed to analyse how resilience is fostered through six resilience factors: diversity, self-sufficiency and autonomy, polycentric governance, social cohesion, learning and innovation , and social-ecological justice. The assessment tool consists of a resilience index composed of 30 indicators. We use the capital city of Madrid, Spain, as a case study. Our results suggest that planning policies that focus on vulnerable neighbourhoods and include mechanisms for citizen engagement are the policies that most effectively foster urban resilience. We also identified that financing and political will are major barriers for the implementation of resilience policies. We assume that the proposed framework is suitable to assess to what extent local policies foster urban resilience and suggest further testing in other cities.
... Currently, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, a number projected to reach 60% by 2030 [1]. Consequently, the pursuit of more sustainable, habitable and resilient cities stands as one of the most significant challenges for urban policy and planning in the 21st century [1,2]. ...
... Currently, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, a number projected to reach 60% by 2030 [1]. Consequently, the pursuit of more sustainable, habitable and resilient cities stands as one of the most significant challenges for urban policy and planning in the 21st century [1,2]. ...
Cities exemplify the evolving world with changing demographics and climates. Urban green spaces play a crucial role in improving the quality of life of people through their potential to mitigate temperatures. Therefore, comprehending their impact is of para-mount interest. Given the challenges in obtaining temperature data from urban locations, this study develops Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to predict daily and hourly temperatures in Valladolid, Spain, with a particular focus on urban allotment gardens and a forested urban park. ANNs were built and evaluated from various combinations of inputs (X), hidden neurons (Y) and outputs (Z) under the practical rule of "making net-works simple, to obtain better results". The best performing model was 6-Y-1 ANN archi-tecture with an impressive result of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) = 0.42°C in the urban garden called Valle de Arán. However, other five ANN architectures were also tested (7-Y-5; 6-Y-5; 7-Y-1; 3-Y-Z and 2-Y-1). ANNs dedicated to urban temperature analysis hold immense potential for urban planning and research, aiding in under-standing the urban climate, forecasting future temperatures, identifying temperature mitigation strategies and even for managing urban crops
... In this sense, it is most likely that the way the natural areas are planned, designed as well as their quality have an impact and need to be taken into account when assessing its relationship with PA patterns (McCormack et al., 2010). Finally, open natural spaces provide an opportunity to dwellers to interact with each other, increase engagement, affecting positively social cohesion and inclusiveness (Sullivan et al., 2004;Cohen et al., 2008), decreasing loneliness, and enhancing quality of life and life satisfaction (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016;Dzhambov et al., 2018, Maury-Mora et al., 2022Sia et al., 2022). ...
... The enterprises and the local government are both committed to making industrial production areas vibrant beyond work by increasing green spaces and thus fostering social interaction (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016) and other leisure functions, creating a higher mix of land uses. Moreover, introducing incentives to redesign building facades to create more active fronts with the entrances and windows facing the streets would lead to more informal surveillance of public spaces. ...
... Los servicios culturales que brindan los ecosistemas como los jardines y los espacios verdes urbanos son los beneficios no materiales que las personas pueden obtener de esos ecosistemas (Camps-Calvet et al. 2016). Los jardines urbanos brindan a la gente espacios para practicar la espiritualidad, fomentar un sentimiento de identidad y experimentar sentido de pertenencia a sus comunidades, así como también oportunidades de recreación, relax y ecoturismo (Okvat and Zauta, 2011). ...
Esta publicación destaca los potenciales beneficios de los huertos urbanos tanto para los vecindarios cercanos como para la comunidad urbana en general, así como para las comunidades periféricas y visitantes de una ciudad. Los planificadores urbanos, residentes y miembros de la comunidad encontrarán muy útil esta información tanto para planificar nuevos huertos como para mantener los ya establecidos.
... This underscores how the fragmented and relatively uniform land use patterns in the area constrain the overall potential of ecosystem services. Previous studies have shown that protecting agricultural areas surrounding urban regions is crucial for ensuring food security and promoting urban sustainability [40]. As such, these areas should also be considered in strategic landscape planning. ...
Amid the rapid socio-economic development of urban fringe areas, promoting the multi-functional supply of ecosystems and sustainable development is essential. Taking Jiangning District in Nanjing as a case study, this study explores the relationships and spatial clustering characteristics among various ecosystem service values in urban fringe areas, focusing on the trade-offs between ecological and social values. Ecological functional zones were delineated based on the ecosystem service clustering results and regional conjugation principles, followed by an analysis of the trade-offs and synergies among the values within each zone. The findings reveal the following: (1) trade-offs between ecological and social ecosystem service values are prevalent across the entire region, as well as within sub-regions in urban fringe areas; (2) Jiangning District can be divided into five key ecological functional zones—the Vibrant Industry-Urbanization Integration Zone, Important Habitat Conservation Zone, Livable Organic Renewal Zone, Characteristic Rural Landscape Development Zone, and Riparian Recreation and Ecological Conservation Zone. Each zone exhibits significant differences in the types and features of the services provided; and (3) understanding the relationships among ecological and social values within each zone may help to resolve trade-offs between them. This progressive trade-off analysis, from the regional to sub-regional level, enables more precise identification of ecosystem functions, providing reference for decision-making to enhance the overall regional value and guide sustainable planning and management practices in urban fringe areas.
... Finally, participants' difficulty in verbalizing all benefits (from mussels and fish) without any prior guidance may have influenced the results. For example, regulating ES are less obvious as they may depend on existing individual knowledge (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016), which could explain the lower frequency of mentioned regulating ES. ...
Freshwater mussels and fish support many important ecosystem processes and functions in river systems that can be framed as ecosystem services. The ecosystem services provided by mussels and fish have been widely described; however, they are often not in the public forefront. Studies that link these invisible processes with perceived social benefits and values are crucial to the conservation of freshwater wildlife. Using data from 237 face-to-face questionnaires, we evaluated social perceptions and preferences regarding ecosystem services provided by mussels and fish in the Kiamichi River in the south-central United States. Results indicated that the public perceived more benefits provided by fish than by freshwater mussels, suggesting differences in their importance to maintain human wellbeing. We call for integrating the human dimension in the conservation of aquatic species to establish river management policies that satisfy the needs of both the public and freshwater biodiversity.
... Studies have shown that GS brings about greater benefit to those of lower socioeconomic position than those who belong to the more privileged groups, particularly in mental health and social integration. [24][25][26] This suggests that GS distribution mirrors the 'inverse care law', 27 in that it is least available to the communities who need it most, and for whom it might have greatest impact. Knowledge of where the greatest need for investment in GS exists can, therefore, help increase the return on investment, and cost-effectiveness, of such interventions. ...
Background
This study investigated inequalities in the distribution of green space (GS) and the association between inequalities in amounts of GS and preventable deaths across urban neighbourhoods with different Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) scores in the UK.
Methods
Data on preventable deaths, IMD, percentage of grassland and woodland, urban/rural, population size, and density were sourced for each of 6791 middle-layer super output areas (MSOAs) in England, 410 MSOAs in Wales, 1279 intermediate zones (IZs) in Scotland, and 890 super output areas (SOAs) in Northern Ireland (NI). While appreciating the potential for ecological fallacy we related area-based measures of deprivation to deaths. Concentration curves, Lorenz dominance tests, and negative binomial regression models were used to analyse the data.
Results
In urban areas of England, Scotland, and NI, the percentage of grassland was significantly lower among the more deprived neighbourhoods (Lorenz test, p<0.0001). In England, a 1% increase in grassland area was associated with a 37% reduction in annual preventable deaths among the most deprived urban MSOAs (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.63, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.76). In NI and Scotland, a 1% increase in grassland area was associated with a 37% (IRR 0.63, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.91) and 41% (IRR 0.59, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.81) reduction in 5-year accumulated preventable deaths in the most deprived urban SOAs/IZs, respectively.
Conclusions
Results suggest that investment in GS in urban areas may be an important public health prevention strategy. There is evidence that investments in the most deprived urban neighbourhoods where the highest inequality currently exists would see the largest effect on preventable deaths.
... The spatial patterns of CESs provision arise from the intricate interconnections between physical and socioeconomic characteristics of the urban environment (Krsnik et al. 2023). Hence, the quantification of urban ecosystem services in spatial terms marks the initial stage in conducting a thorough analysis geared towards strategic and sustainable urban planning, consequently, aimed to improve human wellbeing (Camps-Calvet et al. 2016). However, this process faces various limitations, primarily caused by complex geographical reality in urban environments and a strong subjective component. ...
Context
The degradation of the environment due to anthropogenic action underscores the need to demonstrate the benefits that natural areas provide to society. Continuously growing urbanisation trends and high demand on urban green infrastructure requires the inclusion of cultural ecosystem services (CESs) in strategic urban planning. To achieve this, understanding the population's preferences regarding the various CESs provided by urban green spaces is extremely useful for their management and long-term planning strategies. Nevertheless, the complexity of urban environment and urban CESs and inclusion of participatory-oriented and demand-based planning poses challenges in conducting solution-oriented assessments.
Objectives
To address this issue, we aim to define and validate spatial indicators that are applicable in any urban area. We employ them to quantify the provision of CESs considering that such approach can contribute to better urban planning strategies.
Methods
A survey, aiming to validate five proposed CESs indicators and evaluate the population’s perception regarding the importance of CESs in urban green areas in the city of Murcia (Spain) was conducted. In total, 733 answers were collected. The survey results underwent through statistical and geospatial analysis at the neighbourhood level, which facilitated the creation of CESs maps, considering socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents.
Results
All five proposed CESs indicators were highly accepted by the respondents across all demographic groups. Conversely, differences in the perception of importance of CESs are noted based on the age of the respondents. Disparities in CESs provision are observed between different city neighbourhoods and socio-demographic groups.
Conclusions
We identified significant differences in CESs perception by age group. We also detected the areas where action is needed to improve the CESs provision. Through this study, we emphasize the significance of participatory-based, demand-oriented, and territorially tailored planning approaches to ensure the high provision of CESs and enhance urban well-being.
... The cultural services ecosystems like gardens and urban green spaces provide are the non-material benefits that people can get from those ecosystems (Camps-Calvet et al. 2016). Urban gardens provide people with spaces to practice spirituality, foster a sense of identity, and experience belonging within their communities, as well as many recreation, relaxation, and ecotourism opportunities (Okvat and Zauta, 2011). ...
Over 90 percent of Floridians live in urban areas. Many city dwellers are disconnected from or have limited exposure to the natural world. Urban green spaces, among them urban gardens, can provide various benefits to people and wildlife. These urban gardens provide important avenues for people to maintain their mental and physical health, reduce stress, and improve their general well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of urban green spaces. Community efforts to grapple with the evolving pandemic present an opportunity to reconsider the benefits of urban gardens This publication is intended to assist Extension agents, gardeners, garden managers, and urban planners interested in adding new gardens and supporting and promoting existing gardens in Florida’s urban communities. To that end, it lists and explains 10 major benefits urban gardens provide to ecosystems and people.
... Experiencias en la ciudades como Madrid por ejemplo han demostrado que la participación ciudadana mejora la cohesión social y fomenta un sentido de pertenencia y responsabilidad hacia los espacios verdes [25]. Para Machala, la promoción de programas de participación comunitaria puede incluir la creación de huertos urbanos comunitarios y la organización de talleres de educación ambiental, involucrando a los residentes en el diseño y cuidado de sus espacios verdes [25] [26]. ...
Este estudio analiza los cambios en las áreas verdes urbanas de Machala entre 1991 y 2023. A pesar de un aumento significativo en la superficie de áreas verdes, alcanzando 802,145.41 m² en 2023, el Índice Verde Urbano (IVU) de la ciudad sigue siendo bajo, con 2.60 m² por habitante, lejos de los 9 m² recomendados por la OMS. La distribución de las áreas verdes es desigual, con mayor concentración en las parroquias céntricas y deficiencia en otras zonas como Jubones. Se concluye que es necesario un plan de manejo sostenible para mejorar la distribución y accesibilidad de estos espacios.
... Plants also provide bioenergy, plant-based medicines (CEMIG, 2011), and a habitat for wildlife (Barth et al., 2015). They have the potential to reduce stress, and promote a happier, healthier living environment (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016). ...
This study aimed to identify edible fruit plants in Uíge, Angola, highlightingtheir nutritional and therapeutic potential. Urban vegetation, particularly fruitplants, is crucial for human well-being, offering supplementary food and incomeopportunities. Conducted from November 2022 to October 2023, the botanicalsurvey documented 51 fruit plant species from 37 genera and 25 families.Prominent families included Anacardiaceae, Annonaceae, and Rutaceae, with72.5% of species being exotic. Commonly found plants were Mangifera indica(13.08%), Persea americana (11.99%), Pachylobus edulis (9.50%), Carica papaya(8.41%), and Psidium guajava (7.63%). The majority of the flora comprisedphanerophytes (90.20%). Most fruits (52.9%) are consumed directly, with decoction(51.2%) being the main preparation method and oral consumption (78.9%) thepredominant administration route. The primary plant parts used in herbalmedicine were leaves (29.9%) and fruits (22.9%), targeting ailments such asdiarrhea (15.2%) and diabetes (13.1%). This study provides a valuable databasefor plants with nutritional and therapeutic benefits, emphasizing the need forfurther research into their fruiting seasonality, species richness, market value,and nutritional content. Domesticating these species could ensure a sustainablefood supply and advance phytochemical and pharmacological research
... Gardens have high potential to provide ecologically beneficial services, particularly in (typically nature-depleted) urban contexts (Cameron et al., 2012;Camps-Calvet et al., 2016;Goddard et al., 2010). Active garden management interventions can produce complex ecological structures rich in edge effects, which consequently support high levels of biodiversity (Owen, 2010;Seitz et al., 2022). ...
Gardens are unique ecosystems with the potential to deliver an array of important environmental and health benefits, particularly for urban populations. A large body of research has established that contact with nature and activities within green spaces (including gardening) are beneficial for our physical, mental and social health.
An adjacent body of research has explored whether and how pro-environmental behaviours are also linked to positive outcomes for human health and wellbeing. But published research has not yet established whether proenvironmental behaviour in the context of gardening (“sustainable horticulture”) further increases the health and wellbeing benefits that gardeners derive. This paper uses evidence from a nationally representative UK survey (n=2086) conducted in August 2021 to explore this question.
We used multiple regression analysis to quantitatively demonstrate that a positive association between gardening more sustainably and perceived health benefits from gardening exists at the population level amongst UK adults. This finding implies the possibility that promoting environmentally-minded gardening techniques may lead to an increase in the health and wellbeing
benefits that gardeners can derive from their actions. The paper puts forth a range of potential mechanisms that could explain the identified positive association between sustainable gardening and perceived health benefits and identifies related policy implications.
... Gardens are important in contributing to human health and wellbeing, as well as in providing multiple ecosystem services (e.g. food, pollination and water retention) (Camps-Calvet et al. 2016;Chalmin-Pui et al. 2021;Goddard et al. 2010;Masser et al. 2015). Less intensely managed or even neglected areas in gardens serve as habitat for a wide variety of vertebrates and invertebrates and, thereby, contribute substantially to urban biodiversity (Richter et al. 2023). ...
Background and aim
A large proportion of tick bites is being contracted in gardens. However, studies investigating the use of protective practices against ticks do not focus on the use of these practices in garden environments. The main aim of this study is to compare the use of protective practices against tick bites between activities in public nature areas and private gardens, and to determine which factors influence the use of protective practices in these environments.
Methods
We investigated awareness and knowledge of ticks and tick-borne diseases as well as the use of protective practices against tick bites in gardens and public nature areas, using an online questionnaire in the summer of 2020 in Flanders, Belgium. Binomial generalized linear mixed-effects models were constructed to identify which factors influence the use of these protective practices.
Results
A total of 1471 respondents completed the online questionnaire. Performing a tick check is the most frequently used protective practice. Having searched for information on ticks was correlated with the use of all protective practices. Respondents were significantly less likely to use protective practices in their garden compared to public nature areas, but this was heterogeneous across the set of respondents. Respondents that do use protective practices in their gardens are more often over 50 years old and living in high tick-risk areas.
Conclusion
Our findings highlight a lower awareness of tick risks and reduced use of protective practices in private gardens compared to natural settings, emphasizing the need for targeted educational campaigns.
... In some developed countries, the number of urban green areas is increasing (Kabisch & Haase, 2013) and their potential in multi-purpose sustainability development is increasingly recognised. Although 16-27% of urban green spaces in Europe belong to private owners (Goddard et al., 2010), the importance of private or shared gardens in influencing the quality of urban green ecosystem is often underestimated (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016). ...
The expansion of urban areas threatens biodiversity and disrupts ecological relationships, thereby impeding key ecosystem services. To avert irreversible consequences, there is a focus on improving the biodiversity value of domestic gardens. We employ machine learning and network analysis and examine gardening practices and garden owners’ environmental consciousness in Hungary through a questionnaire-based study to untangle the interplay among socio-demographic factors, garden management and -characteristics. We found that the activities determined as biodiversity-positive were widespread among respondents, but ubiquitous pesticide use (62.14%), lack of undisturbed areas (49.52%), and frequent mowing (32.06%) were also present. Middle-aged respondents demonstrated more biodiversity-supporting activities than those over 55, who had long-term gardening experience and were predominantly conventional gardeners. Respondents of towns showed the least biodiversity-positive activities, whereas those living in cities and the countryside fared better. Additionally, multiple interconnected garden characteristics revealed various types of gardens distinguished by care practices and use, such as gardens for food self-provisioning, ornamental gardens, or those prioritizing biodiversity support. Our results show that garden owners use pesticides independently of socio-demographic parameters, gardening practices, or garden characteristics, suggesting widespread pesticide use in Hungary. Our findings suggest that strategies to promote biodiversity-friendly gardening may not be equally suitable for all gardener owners with different cultural backgrounds, environmental consciousness and gardening habits. Factors like differences between societal groups underscore the preference for in-person programs over online information transfer in several cases, for instance, among the elderly and those living in the countryside. We offer fresh perspectives on the intricate connections between garden diversity, characteristics, and practices, and it lays the groundwork for future research into the sociological drivers of gardening practices in Eastern Europe. Our work emphasises that optimizing gardens for multiple ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation and enhancing human well-being, requires a nuanced understanding of both ecological and socio-demographic factors.
... For this reason, it represents only a hypothetical scenario to offer a value of maximum potentiality. Indeed, many trees and shrubs that do not perform well in this sense provide numerous other ecosystem services and increase the biodiversity of territories [20, 48,49]. ...
Reducing GHG emissions is a crucial challenge in urban areas, characterized by high energy consumption and reduced exposure to nature. In this context, the urban green system could play a pivotal role. In the literature, scholars analyzed both the ability of species-specific and layout-specific green infrastructures to increase carbon sequestration and the best location sites of new green infrastructures, to increase the provision of overall ecosystem services. There is a lack of studies helping green urban planners and designers choose where and which green infrastructure to implement, based on vegetation species-specific performance and local carbon emissions of city components. This paper uses tree inventory data from a medium-sized city in central Italy (Perugia) to develop a spatial analysis of the urban parks' performance in carbon sequestration. Then, the method evaluates the carbon emission of a public city building to generate a spatialized balance between buildings’ demand and trees’ supply, to support local decisions about the best locations for new green infrastructures and the choice between species. The paper contributes to GIS-based tools that vary the recommended location sites and species for new green infrastructures based on the demanded ecosystem service.
... For this reason, it represents only a hypothetical scenario to offer a value of maximum potentiality. Indeed, many trees and shrubs that do not perform well in this sense provide numerous other ecosystem services and increase the biodiversity of territories [20,48,49]. ...
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a crucial challenge in urban areas characterized by high energy consumption and reduced exposure to nature. In this context, the urban green system could play a pivotal role. In the literature, scholars have analyzed both the ability of species-specific and layout-specific green infrastructure to increase carbon sequestration and the best location sites for new green infrastructure to increase the provision of overall ecosystem services. There is a lack of studies helping green urban planners and designers choose where and which green infrastructure to implement based on vegetation species-specific performance and the local carbon emissions of city components. This paper uses tree inventory data from a medium-sized city in central Italy (Perugia) to develop a spatial analysis of urban park performance in carbon sequestration. Then, the method evaluates the carbon emission of a public city building to generate a spatialized balance between building demand and tree supply to support local decisions about the best locations for new green infrastructure and the choice between species. The paper contributes to GIS-based tools that vary the recommended location sites and species for new green infrastructure based on the demanded ecosystem service.
... Pocket parks, community gardens, and green corridors enhance the esthetic appeal of urban areas and serve as focal points for gatherings, events, community-driven activities, and even urban farming. Multiple past analyses have shown that urban agriculture fosters community bonds, nurtures trust among residents, promotes civic participation, enhances well-being, and potentially mitigates socio-economic disparities [26][27][28][29]. The involvement of residents in the planning, maintenance, and use of these green spaces instills a sense of pride and responsibility, nurturing a shared commitment to the well-being and sustainability of their neighborhood and promoting their social cohesion, sense of belonging, social capital, and critical health behaviors that might enhance psychological health and wellbeing [7,30,31]. ...
In the face of challenges like heatwaves, flooding, other extreme events, as well as increasing pollution and declining quality of life in cities, there is a growing demand for the preservation and expansion of urban green spaces, often driven by citizen-led transformations. This paper examines 100 urban greening projects initiated or supported by citizens globally, categorizing them according to the type of greenery, the stakeholders involved, the mode of implementation, and the use of smart technologies incorporated. We notice variations in green endeavors based on the stakeholders orchestrating them; most of the entirely citizen-led initiatives being aimed at the creation of urban farms and food growing, demonstrating the pressing need to secure food and self-determination in communities. More than half of the assessed initiatives that managed to scale up and multiply had public authorities providing a framework or a type of support for their development or an NGO or other organization providing expertise and mobilizing citizens at various stages. In terms of technological use, we mostly found that websites and social media platforms ease participatory endeavors and knowledge sharing of best practices, accelerating scaling efforts, while there is low integration of more advanced digital technologies, which, if used, could enable real-time monitoring of green spaces, inform evidence-based decision-making, and streamline processes in scaling up green initiatives.
... It is also reported [39] how NBSs can create space for new relations and a sense of place among people in their communities, especially people who are vulnerable. This advantage is described mainly in relation to urban gardens and small-scale experiments where citizens directly participate in the management, maintenance, and monitoring of NBSs [40][41][42]. Furthermore, we can find various studies [43][44][45], where NBSs play a role in improving mental health and well-being. [38]). ...
Simple Summary
Animals have always lived with humans, but their presence in cities is growing. This phenomenon warrants a specific reflection on the advantages of human–animal interactions as a potential nature-based solution (solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which provide environmental, social, and economic benefits). This article aims to provide an overview of the current situation of animals in cities and to explore the roles of animals and their interactions with humans in such a context. Through the lens of the European project IN-HABIT in Lucca (Italy) (which aims to codify an integrated policy on the relationship between people and animals that will then be transferred and replicated in other cities), we investigated all these aspects. In addition, our work suggests the need for the involvement of different stakeholders in the implementation of actions that aim to valorize human–animal relationships and their positive effects.
Abstract
In recent decades, nature-based solutions (NBSs) have spread in scientific research, and they are increasingly deployed in cities’ strategic planning. While the number of nonhuman animals in cities is growing, a specific reflection on the advantages of human–animal interactions as potential NBSs is still lacking. This article aims to provide an overview of the current situation of animals in cities and to explore the roles of animals and their interactions with humans in such a context. These topics are crucial to the European project IN-HABIT in Lucca (Italy), which aims to codify an integrated policy on the relationship between people and animals; its outputs will then be transferred and replicated in other cities. This article concludes by highlighting the need for the involvement of different stakeholders in public–private–people partnerships to implement actions that aim to valorize human–animal relationships and their positive effects. This study presents a perspective on the relevance of animal NBSs to increase the quality of life in cities, both for citizens and for animals living in cities, and to also introduce the opportunity to develop an integrated animal urban policy able to valorize human–animal interactions in cities.
... cereal harvesting, esparto plaiting, pilgrimages) while regulating NCP rely on less obvious biophysical factors related to biodiversity and ecosystem functions (e.g. functional traits of biodiversity, nutrient cycling) (Camps-Calvet et al. 2016). For example, the NCP category of pollination and dispersal of seeds was overlooked, despite the fact that dry river vegetation supports pollinators (Martínez-Yoshino et al. 2021) and family beekeeping has been traditionally practised (DGMN 2006). ...
Dry rivers are non-perennial rivers with no surface water in their channels except after heavy rainfall or snowmelt. The lack of water flow is often associated with a low provision of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) and a poor quality of life. However, recent review studies have found evidence of human communities thriving in dry rivers through the co-production of multiple NCP, although no case studies have yet confirmed this evidence. We assessed the capacity of dry rivers and their associated social systems to provide NCP. We selected three dry rivers with high natural, cultural and landscape values in the most arid part of Murcia (Spain). We interviewed 37 representatives of the most influential social groups in the study area to explore the NCP of dry rivers, their synergies and trade-offs. Four material, three non-material and eight regulating NCP were identified, as well as one unique NCP: access to villages and fields through dry riverbeds. Fifty-two synergies were identified, especially between material and non-material NCP, and eight trade-offs. This wide range of NCP and synergies is a consequence of the co-production processes between dry rivers and the social system. NCP co-production seems to be underpinned by the indigenous and local knowledge acquired by the social system over generations about the management of floodwaters, biodiversity and geodiversity. Incorporating this knowledge into research and governance can help raise awareness of the NCP provided by dry rivers and help develop strategies for mitigating and adapting to global change.
... NbS approaches are particularly relevant to tourism when natural, cultural, and heritage resources have been affected [32]. Various studies have explored NbS approaches for tourism in protected areas, including the provision of ecotourism services, management of heritage sites, and mitigation of tourism impacts [33][34][35]. NbS involves innovative use of natural systems, such as forests, wetlands, and coastal ecosystems, to provide services that simultaneously benefit people and the environment. A range of NbS has been proposed, including green roofs, green infrastructure, the creation of green spaces, and urban agriculture, which can bring benefits to human society. ...
Tourism expansion has led to increased municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, which can exacerbate environmental and societal problems if proper waste management systems are not implemented. The study develops a framework for implementing bio-based solutions (BbS) for MSW management in a cultural tourism destination, using the walking street in Nan, Thailand, as a case study. Four low-carbon waste management scenarios were assessed, including increasing recycling rates (RE), using food waste as animal feed (BbS1), using bagasse containers as a soil conditioner (BbS2), and substituting single-use plastics with bamboo products (BbS3). Results showed that the BbS1 scenario had the highest performance in greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, reducing 66.3 t CO2e/year, followed by BbS2, RE, and BbS3 scenarios, which reduce GHG by about 12.3, 11, and 1 t CO2e/year, respectively. However, the BbS2 scenario has an additional benefit in returning around 84 kg N/year to the soil. Implementing the combination of RE, BbS1, BbS2, and BbS3 reduced waste to landfills by about 25.5 t MSW/year and reduced GHG emissions by 90.3 t CO2e/year. Enhancing residual waste management is recommended, which can lead to mitigation of about 164.3 t CO2e/year, or 83 % GHG emissions reduction compared to the base case.
... Unfortunately, ESs were identified using a free listing technique [61]. This interview-based identification of indicators is very much limited by the selection bias of the samples, and it is highly likely that the results of the indicator selection will have a large error due to the insufficient coverage of the interviewed population [62]. Secondly, due to the unique features of CGs, this approach to data collection suffers a potential methodological bias towards the appreciation of CES [63,64]. ...
The intrinsic attributes and service functions of community gardens (CGs) are closely related to the stage of national development and social needs. With the gradual implementation of China’s urban micro-renewal policy, many CGs have been gradually developed, but they still face problems such as poor operation and low participation, which urgently require us to carry out site-based research under China’s actual national conditions. Constructing a human’s perception value-oriented evaluation system and summarizing the optimization strategies according to the evaluation results can provide more systematic and targeted practical guidance for the construction of CGs in China. We developed a set of evaluation metrics for CGs based network text analysis, literature analysis, and expert opinions and collected 245 questionnaires from 20 existing CGs in Wuhan as a study sample. Using the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) method, we conducted statistical analysis of data for each type of CG. The results show that “Mosquito impact”, “Facility maintenance”, and “Social experience” are essential parts of residential-type community gardens (Resi-CGs) that are easily overlooked; that the users of commercial-type community gardens (Comm-CGs) consider that “Mosquito impact” is a serious deficiency; that campus-type community gardens (Camp-CGs) need to be optimized with regard to the aspects of “Crop stewardship” and “Leisure facilities”; and finally that there is no significant trend in the key improvement indicators of company-type community gardens (Comp-CGs) and the indicators like “Fitness and recreation experience”, “Crop diversity”, and “Aesthetics” need to be improved. According to the above results, we put forward specific optimization strategies to provide development guidelines and practical guidance for the future construction of CGs.
... In their study on the potential of forestry and agricultural measures for climate change mitigation, De la Sota et al. (2018) have demonstrated that the degree of final carbon uptake depends on the type of urban green infrastructure elements and their management. Despite the potential of urban gardens to contribute to delivering ecosystem services and climate change mitigation in cities, they are largely neglected in urban planning policy (Camps-Calvet et al., 2016;Deelstra & Girardet, 2000;Taylor Lovell, 2010). Urban planners are inclined to think that urban agriculture is an inappropriate activity in the urban setting and have little understanding of people's need to grow food in cities (Deelstra & Girardet, 2000). ...
Population growth and urban sprawl are expected to continue increasing pressures on agricultural land, green infrastructure and climate change's impact on the urban environment. Accordingly, the challenge of securing sustainable land use and climate change mitigation needs to be confronted in cities globe wide. Urban green areas represent an asset of public interest with multiple roles – they are recreational zones, noise and pollution protection belts, areas with aesthetic, social and curative values as well as an infrastructure for combating climate change. All these functions accentuate the relevance of urban gardens in urban development, for which their preservation and development play an irreplaceable role in cities. This paper analyses a specific form of urban gardens in Belgrade (“baštenske kolonije” or “garden colonies”) with a focus on urban land use planning. The research methodology consists of a literature and document review and systematic analysis. The study includes legislative in Serbia and urban planning documents in Belgrade, with the goal being to identify governmental and planning attitude towards urban gardening and their recognition of ecosystem services and climate change combat. The preliminary results indicate that this form of sustainable land in Belgrade is left to the spontaneous actions of individuals with no legally defined status in the previous period Keywords: sustainable land use, urban gardens, climate change, urban planning, Belgrade.
... Several studies suggest that these interventions can trigger or exacerbate gentrification processes and eventually displace poor and vulnerable people, especially if framed within for-profit urban redevelopment or renewal schemes (Anguelovski et al., 2018). On the other hand, NBS with a certain degree of informal-ity, such as the case of community gardens or derelict areas, are often considered by municipal authorities as secondary or temporary use spaces, despite evidence about their socio-cultural benefits (e.g., Camps-Calvet et al., 2016). Often, these spaces are the first to be "sacrificed" in the face of urbanization and real estate pressure in many cities (Kotsila et al., 2020). ...
Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) have become a core element of environmental and climate policies, especially in the European context. This entry describes the emergence of the NBS concept and how it was adopted and mainstreamed by influential international organizations to address a variety of societal challenges, ranging from climate change adaptation to enhancing human health and wellbeing. NBS is used as an umbrella concept characterized by its broad application scope, extending from natural reserve conservation plans to bioengineering interventions such as green roofs and walls. The entry reviews the notion of NBS, including the most commonly used definitions, classifications, and assessment frameworks, as well as discussions about the strengths and limitations of the concept.
As food security becomes a growing concern in urban areas worldwide, municipal authorities are actively seeking ways to enhance and complement the food systems of their respective cities. Integrating a food system’s productive components within city limits has emerged as a promising strategy to achieve these goals. However, it is impractical to undertake urban agriculture to the extent of rural agriculture, such as livestock rearing and large-scale field crop production, due to insufficient and inadequate space within cities. Producing high-value crops, however, is feasible and already practiced in many urban areas around the world within community gardens. This study investigates the agronomic practices and organizational aspects of community gardens within Barcelona’s municipal boundaries. It does so through surveys of community garden members and visual inspections of the gardens. The results show that 10 of the 22 most consumed vegetables in Barcelona are harvested within the city’s community gardens, highlighting their agrobiodiversity. Based on observed crop yields, if monoculture for each crop produced in the community gardens were practiced across all available urban areas in Barcelona, the city could achieve significant self-sufficiency in those crops. However, to realize this potential, urban horticulture would need to be professionalized, and the city’s municipal authorities would have to play a coordinating role.
Today, with the concentration of the world population, migration from rural to urban areas has increased and the population is concentrated in cities. The unpredictable growth of cities has led to disproportionate use of resources and degradation of the natural environment. Forests and agricultural areas have been destroyed by urbanization and urban pressure has been created on existing agricultural areas. This pressure on agricultural areas has caused many socio-cultural, ecological, and economic problems, especially food problems. Urban agriculture is an important land use that offers solutions to these problems by combining the concepts of city and agriculture. Urban agriculture plays an important role in achieving sustainable development goals with many benefits, such as increasing food security in cities, reducing carbon footprint, protecting biodiversity, and strengthening social solidarity. This study aims to identify and evaluate the urban agriculture potential in Edirne, based on the hypothesis of transforming passive areas into urban agricultural areas in Edirne province, where 93.9% of the population is engaged in agricultural activities and 68% of the central district lands are agricultural areas. By developing strategic recommendations on how urban agriculture projects can be implemented in the city, it shows that the sustainable development goals of the city can be achieved. Within the scope of the study, a literature review was conducted on the general conceptual framework and importance of urban agriculture; the climate, topography, vegetation cover and land use conditions of Edirne city center were reported. In addition to these data, urban agriculture potential in the context of technological, economic, demographic, sociological and ecological structure was evaluated by SWOT analysis, and potential urban agriculture areas were suggested in the city center. It has been determined that urban agriculture practices in the city, where the existing structure is quite favorable for urban agriculture, can be evaluated as a strategic development tool with proper planning and management.
The conventional approach to environmental governance, based on institutions, regulations, and interventions, has failed to stop the current ecological catastrophe. I suggest a radical alternative: Ritual as the core mode of ‘nature-based governance’ (NBG) that enacts deep and comprehensive reciprocity between people and nature. NBG grounds governance mechanisms in embodied more-than-human practices with normative force. I build on theories of embodiment to suggest a general concept of ritual that is inspired by but generalizes over Indigenous thought and is informed by East Asian ideas about ritual as the pivot of social order. Further, the embodiment framework recognises ritual as a kind of action humans and non-humans share as living beings. Therefore, rituals can be harnessed in workable governance mechanisms to create and sustain communities of multi-species cohabitation. I distinguish between two basic types of reciprocity corresponding to two types of governance: Disembodied reciprocity enacted by conventional human-only governance schemes and embodied reciprocity enacted by NBG. Embodied reciprocity creates relationality of people and nature. Equipped with these theoretical insights, I suggest practical applications in the context of NBG of Nature-based solutions, discussing three stylized models. These are the formation of urban multi-species communities in urban gardening and urban forests, the commoning of ecosystem services of animal populations in wildfire protection, and reconceptualizing eco-compensation as a reciprocal ritual of gift-giving
Urban agriculture has garnered increasing attention as a nature-based solution to achieve urban sustainability. Besides producing quality food for urban residents, urban agriculture could provide diverse and non-tangible ecosystem services that still need to be explored. While prior research has investigated direct stakeholders’ (e.g., urban farmers and growers) perspectives on ecosystem services from urban agriculture, the general public’s perception and underlying factors remain less understood. Such understanding is crucial as the broader community, beyond direct stakeholders, will benefit from urban agriculture and influence the policy and planning that determines its development trajectory. This study investigated the general public’s perception of ecosystem services associated with urban agriculture in the Miami Metropolitan Area, a region experiencing rapid urbanization and emerging urban agriculture development. Among 23 services surveyed, community-level cultural and regulating/supporting services were the most recognized. Conversely, individual-level cultural and provisioning services were the least recognized, underscoring the recognized contribution of urban agriculture to a much larger community and society. Respondents’ demographics, personal experience with farming/gardening, and awareness of urban agriculture in their surroundings were the significant factors, whereas geographic factors (e.g., land-use cluster) exerted less impact. Our findings highlight the perceived multifunctionality of urban agriculture from a public perspective and suggest a nuanced understanding of how urban agriculture contributes to social well-being. Our research provides empirical evidence of public support for urban agriculture development and has critical implications for urban regions interested in integrating urban agriculture to achieve urban sustainability.
Tarım dışı üretimin, sera gazı emisyonlarının, atık üretiminin ve küresel kaynak kullanımının yoğunlaştığı yerler olan kentler günümüzde çevresel, ekonomik, sosyal birçok sorunla karşı karşıyadır. Bu sorunların üstesinden gelmek ve daha “sürdürülebilir kentler” yaratmak için kent yöneticileri çeşitli stratejilere başvurmaktadır. Son yıllarda “kent bahçeciliği uygulamaları” bu stratejilerden biri olarak görülmektedir. sürdürülebilir gıda tedariki sağlamak, kent estetiğine katkı sunmak, yeşil altyapıyı dirençli hale getirmek, sosyal bağları güçlendirmek, karbon ayakizini azaltmak, yaşam kalitesini yükseltmek ve vatandaş katılımını teşvik etmek gibi katkılarından dolayı kent bahçeleri çeşitli ölçekler ve türlerde uygulanmaktadır. Bu uygulamalara, kent yöneticilerinin yanında vatandaşlarda bazen bireysel veya bazen de kolektif olarak uygulamalarla katılım sağlayacak katkılar sunmaktadır. Çalışmanın amacı, kent bahçeciliği uygulamalarını kapsamlı olarak irdeleyerek sürdürülebilir kent politikalarını ekseninde değerlendirmeler yapmaktır. Çalışmada nitel araştırma desenlerinden olan biri olan açıklayıcı vaka çalışması kullanılmıştır. Kent bahçeciliği uygulamaları, Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Hedeflerinden olan Açlığa Son; Sürdürülebilir Şehirler ve Topluluklar; Sorumlu Üretim ve Tüketim ve Karasal Yaşam maddeleri ile doğrudan uyumludur ve sürdürülebilir kent politikalarını desteklemektedir.
Over the past three decades, the city of Medellin has sustained dramatic transformations, transitioning from being one of the most violent cities in the 1990s to emerging as one of Colombia’s most resilient, innovative, and greenest urban centers. A key component driving these changes has been the revitalization of lower-income neighbourhoods through participatory strategies aimed at reducing violence, enhancing social resilience, and promoting inclusivity via urban green projects. A remarkable initiative was the Green Belt project included in the Plan Maestro Area Centroriental, designed to connect the most relevant nodes through walking and cycling paths, recreational facilities, and diverse urban green infrastruc-ture such as urban farming, community gardens, parks. Government-led participa-tory strategies have not only beautified the neighbourhoods but have also garnered both local and international attention. Nevertheless, the shortcoming of these strate-gies in Medellin is the fragile relationship between stakeholders and spatial owner-ship, particularly concerning green spaces. Conflicts occur when green areas previ-ously managed by communities, are transferred to the local governments, fracturing both activism and spatial equality. Amidst these deliberations, the significance of an overlooked green infrastructure that has survived for decades is the small-scale community-led green interventions often located at the fringes of residual green areas (i.e., nearby roads or areas next to water streams). The random appropria-tion of residual green spaces depicts vital signs of pro-environmental behaviours, reflecting commitments to nature preservation and environmental agency. This green network, acknowledging the involvement of both human and non-human living agents (e.g., plants, trees, and wildlife), is often overlooked in traditional urban design and planning approaches. This chapter discusses the potential of these often disregarded small-scale community-led green networks as complementary avenues to government-led participatory strategies in urban green revitalisation projects. Through an exploration of the diverse living agents involved in this processes, the levels of interventions, and modes of autonomous participation, the chapter unravels and analyses these aspects to formulate an ecology of participation model. This model introduces a paradigm emphasising equitable interactions in urban green projects, grounded in a living ecology framework that recognises the social and political agency of all spatial actors.
The impact of the climate crisis on urban environments and life within them is evident. In the face of challenges like heatwaves, pollution, and declining quality of life in cities, there is a growing demand for the preservation and expansion of urban green spaces, often driven by citizen-led initiatives. Citizens, either independently or in cooperation with other urban stakeholders, preserve and enhance green areas. This paper explores the intersection of green and digital transformations within public policy, focusing on the examination of smart technologies for promoting and monitoring urban greening efforts. The study specifically evaluates 100 urban greening initiatives initiated or supported by citizens globally, categorizing them according to the type of greenery, the stakeholders involved in the initiatives, the mode of implementation and the use of digital tools incorporated towards 1. community engagement 2. data collection, analysis and monitoring 3. expanding and scaling up those efforts. We notice variations in green endeavors based on the stakeholders spearheading them, and classify the methods of cooperation among government bodies, citizens, NGOs, and the private sector. In terms of technological use, we primarily find websites and social media platforms easing participatory endeavors and the formation of partnerships. As cities continue to grow, integration of more advanced digital technologies in the future could enable accurate and real-time assessment of green spaces, inform evidence-based decision-making, and streamline processes in scaling up green initiatives.
Spain has a rich and textured history whose changes have shaped different water policies over the centuries—not always for the best. Situated in close proximity to freshwater resources, Barcelona’s water infrastructure has evolved over diverse eras of technological capability and political control. This study discusses the climatological variability between floods and droughts, and the related generation of hydrologic adaptations to growing population and worsening climate hazards. It examines the water policies of the Francoist regime, including extensive water transfers for vast irrigation projects, along with the spread of water-vulnerable shantytowns, and also examines the way water issues fostered the social movements that ultimately brought down the Franco regime. In addition to municipalization, Barcelonans contribute to the participatory creation of blue-green infrastructure such as sustainable drainage systems throughout the city. While these projects help increase shade cover, improve soil condition, add wildlife, and control pests, they also bring up difficult issues of spatial inequality of income distribution and green spaces. The concern over what activists call “green gentrification” feeds into suspicions that reforms under the aegis of climate adaptation will only increasingly entrench the spatial inequalities of rich and poor in the city.
Understanding preferences and challenges of home gardeners is valuable to the consumer-horticulture industry. Citizen scientists in Florida were recruited to grow compact tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) plants started from seed, as transplants, or as flowering plants in a 16-week experiment. Participants, who had various gardening experience levels, were provided with a kit containing all materials needed to grow plants to maturity. Project engagement was encouraged with monthly online meetings and a social media page. A survey was delivered at the end of the project and completed by 117 participants. The survey aimed to evaluate participants’ preferences, challenges, and experiences with each plant product. Plants started as seed or as flowering plants were equally preferred among participants and were rated higher than transplants. However, participants were least satisfied with the yield, rate of plant growth, fruit taste, and care required to grow plants started from seed. Ninety-one percent of participants said they would be willing to pay more for flowering plants than for transplants. Across plant products, pests and flower/fruit drop were reported as challenges by up to 85% and 18% of participants, respectively. Results from this study highlight the potential of using citizen science to assess gardening experiences and preferences, which can support stakeholders who cater to the consumer-horticulture industry.
An EU R&I agenda on nature-based solutions is an essential component to greening the economy and achieving sustainable development. To contribute to the development of this R&I agenda, the Expert Group on 'Nature-Based Solutions and Re-Naturing Cities' was commissioned. The expert group engaged in forward-looking reflection on future orientations for EU Research and Innovation for Nature-Based Solutions and Re-Naturing Cities.This report presents their main findings.
The concept of green infrastructure and its integration into policies using monitoring systems
Urban gardens have been observed to multiply in response to crises. However, the meaning and motivations behind the emergence of gardening movements varies greatly over space and time. In this paper we argue that bottom up urban gardening initiatives taking place in Southern European countries in form of land occupation and communalization represent forms of resistance that enhance social cohesion and collective action in times of need. Specifically, this research examines the role of urban gardens in (i) building community resilience and (ii) articulating forms of resistance and contestation to development pressure and commodified urban lifestyles. Our research is based on data collected among 27 urban gardening initiatives in Barcelona, Spain, including 13 self-governed community gardens and 14 public gardens. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with gardeners and with staff from the Barcelona City Council. Our results show mechanisms through which urban gardens can contribute to build resilience by nurturing social and ecological diversity, generating and transmitting local ecological knowledge, and by creating opportunities for collective action and self-organization. We further examine collectively managed gardens as urban commons that emerge as a form of resistance to the privatization of public urban space, and that offer opportunities to experiment with new models of urban lifestyles. We show how gardening initiatives can be seen to represent an emerging form of urban green commons that provides a suitable ground to ‘sow’ resilience and contestation in times of crises and socio-ecological deterioration.
Nature-based solutions harness the power and sophistication of nature to turn environmental, social and economic challenges into innovation opportunities. They can address a variety of societal challenges in sustainable ways, with the potential to contribute to green growth, 'future-proofing' society, fostering citizen well-being, providing business opportunities and positioning Europe as a leader in world markets.
Nature-based solutions are actions which are inspired by, supported by or copied from nature. They have tremendous potential to be energy and resource-efficient and resilient to change, but to be successful they must be adapted to local conditions.
Urban green spaces are quite significant in reducing negative effects of urbanization. They are viewed as the green lung of the city, and typically perform important functions, including absorbing rainwater and pollutants, and mitigating urban heat. Urban green spaces can also provide considerable socioeconomic benefits, such reducing work-related stress, and increasing property values. Green space is becoming an important measure in judging the ecological sustainability of urban areas. Planners and designers need efficient tools to quantitatively evaluate and compare the impact of alternative plans and designs so that more informed development choices could be made. This study presents an evaluation of spatial equity in distribution of green spaces in Jeddah city using Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS analysis is used to study the spatial distribution of needs and accessibility. The results of this study show that the average green space per capita is 0.9 m 2 and more that 70% of population have to walk distance exceed 500 m to reach green space. In order to reach green space equal to 30 m 2 per capita which is the standard of united nation it's needed to meet lack of urban green space about 93,808,406 m 2 in Jeddah city.
A framework is constructed for how to relate ecosystem services to environmental justice. The benefits humans and society can derive from biophysical processes cannot be viewed as objectively existing "out there", but as entangled in social and political processes. This is unpacked through the analytical moments of generation, distribution and articulation of ecosystem services. Social practice moderates the generation of benefits from biophysical processes (through urban development patterns and day-to-day management of urban ecosystems), but also who in society that benefits from them, i.e. the distribution of ecosystem services (viewed here as the temporal and spatial scales at which it is possible for humans to benefit from biophysical processes). Moreover, for biophysical processes to attain value in decision-making, a social practice of value articulation is needed. The framework then moves between two levels of analysis. At the city-wide level, an ecological network translates how urban 'green' areas, viewed as nodes, are interconnected by ecological flows (water, species movement, etc.) where nodes have different protective and management capacities. The network captures spatial complexity-what happens in one location, can have effects elsewhere. At the local level, urban struggles over land-use are studied to trace how actors utilize artifacts and social arenas to articulate how certain biophysical processes are of value. Competing networks of value articulation strive to influence land-use, and multiple local studies bring understanding of how power operates locally, informing city-wide analyses. Empirical studies from Stockholm, Cape Town and other cities inform the framework.
Mounting research highlights the contribution of ecosystem services provided by urban forests to quality of life in cities, yet these services are rarely explicitly considered in environmental policy targets. We quantify regulating services provided by urban forests and evaluate their contribution to comply with policy targets of air quality and climate change mitigation in the municipality of Barcelona, Spain. We apply the i-Tree Eco model to quantify in biophysical and monetary terms the ecosystem services "air purification," "global climate regulation," and the ecosystem disservice "air pollution" associated with biogenic emissions. Our results show that the contribution of urban forests regulating services to abate pollution is substantial in absolute terms, yet modest when compared to overall city levels of air pollution and GHG emissions. We conclude that in order to be effective, green infrastructure-based efforts to offset urban pollution at the municipal level have to be coordinated with territorial policies at broader spatial scales.
This article examines the role played by urban gardens during historical collapses in urban food supply lines and identifies the social processes required to protect two critical elements of urban food production during times of crisis—open green spaces and the collective memory of how to grow food. Advanced communication and transport technologies allow food sequestration from the farthest reaches of the planet, but have markedly increasing urban dependence on global food systems over the past 50 years. Simultaneously, such advances have eroded collective memory of food production, while suitable spaces for urban gardening have been lost. These factors combine to heighten the potential for food shortages when—as occurred in the 20th century—major economic, political or environmental crises sever supply lines to urban areas. This paper considers how to govern urban areas sustainably in order to ensure food security in times of crisis by: evincing the effectiveness of urban gardening during crises; showing how allotment gardens serve as conduits for transmitting collective social-ecological memories of food production; and, discussing roles and strategies of urban environmental movements for protecting urban green space. Urban gardening and urban social movements can build local ecological and social response capacity against major collapses in urban food supplies. Hence, they should be incorporated as central elements of sustainable urban development. Urban governance for resilience should be historically informed about major food crises and allow for redundant food production solutions as a response to uncertain futures.
The scientific community is working on ways to identify different ecosystem services and to bring them on par to allow tradeoff analysis and inform targeting of policies. However, those ultimately governing ecosystem services continue to base their decisions on traditional knowledge production segregated to specific habitats, ecosystems, geographical areas and sectors. The aim of our paper is to tackle the challenges of the transition from sector governance to a more integrated model of ecosystem service governance by building on existing governance arrangements geared towards sustainability. To examine the uptake of ecosystem service approaches, we review published material and conduct secondary analysis of how ecosystem services are identified, measured, mapped and valued in three Finnish real-world governance settings. The governance settings of voluntary biodiversity conservation, urban planning and natural resource strategies show that, at a qualitative level, identifying a broad range of ecosystem services is easy and appealing but cross-comparison and tradeoff analysis face challenges. The analysis demonstrates that measuring all services is impossible and faces difficulties where the services fall between traditional sectoral boundaries. Measuring and valuing services does not directly lead to increased use of this knowledge. We conclude that the mismatch between the governance needs and the ecosystem service paradigm can be closed only if the tools are developed so that they build on existing knowledge systems and governance arrangements but aim at communicating across ecosystem and sector boundaries.
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between social support, loneliness and well-being from a multidimensional perspective for which two structural models are proposed. The study included 2042 participants from Malaga City (Spain) who were aged between 18 and 95 years. For the dimensions frequency of support and satisfaction with support, the results show that partner support, family support, and support from friends, respectively, significantly decrease romantic loneliness, family loneliness, and social loneliness. On the other hand, community support has little effect on reducing social loneliness. Of the three types of support analyzed (emotional, informational and instrumental), emotional support was significantly more effective in reducing loneliness (family, romantic and social) and increasing well-being. Loneliness partially acts as a mediator variable, although it is affected by social support, but at the same time decreases the effects of social support on subjective well-being. The three types of loneliness have a strong negative impact on subjective well-being. Implications of these results are discussed.
We explore the potential of urban ecosystem services for improving resilience and quality of life in cities. First, we classify and categorize important ecosystem services and disservices in urban areas. Second, we describe a range of valuation approaches (cultural values, health benefits, economic costs, and resilience) for capturing the importance of urban ecosystem service multiple values. Finally, we analyze how ecosystem service assessment may inform urban planning and gov- ernance and provide practical examples from cities in Africa, Europe, and America. From our review, we find that many urban ecosystem services have already been identified, characterized and valued, and have been found to be of great value and importance for human well-being and urban resilience. We conclude that the use of the concept of urban ecosystem services can play a critical role in reconnecting cities to the biosphere, and reducing the ecological footprint and ecological debt of cities while enhancing resilience, health, and quality of life of their inhabitants.
While technological progress has fostered the conception of an urban society that is increasingly decoupled from ecosystems, demands on natural capital and ecosystem services keep increasing steadily in our urbanized planet. Decoupling of cities from ecological systems can only occur locally and partially, thanks to the appropriation of vast areas of ecosystem services provision beyond the city boundaries. Conserving and restoring ecosystem services in urban areas can reduce the ecological footprints and the ecological debts of cities while enhancing resilience, health, and quality of life for their inhabitants. In this paper we synthesize knowledge and methods to classify and value ecosystem services for urban planning. First, we categorize important ecosystem services and disservices in urban areas. Second, we describe valuation languages (economic costs, socio‐cultural values, resilience) that capture distinct value dimensions of urban ecosystem services. Third, we identify analytical challenges for valuation to inform urban planning in the face of high heterogeneity and fragmentation characterizing urban ecosystems. The paper discusses various ways through which urban ecosystems services can enhance resilience and quality of life in cities and identifies a range of economic costs and socio‐cultural impacts that can derive from their loss. We conclude by identifying knowledge gaps and challenges for the research agenda on ecosystem services provided in urban areas.
A focus on ecosystem services (ES) is seen as a means for improving decisionmaking. In the research to date, the valuation
of the material contributions of ecosystems to human well-being has been emphasized, with less attention to important cultural
ES and nonmaterial values. This gap persists because there is no commonly accepted framework for eliciting less tangible values,
characterizing their changes, and including them alongside other services in decisionmaking. Here, we develop such a framework
for ES research and practice, addressing three challenges: (1) Nonmaterial values are ill suited to characterization using
monetary methods; (2) it is difficult to unequivocally link particular changes in socioecological systems to particular changes
in cultural benefits; and (3) cultural benefits are associated with many services, not just cultural ES. There is no magic
bullet, but our framework may facilitate fuller and more socially acceptable integrations of ES information into planning
and management.
Since the 1990s, interest in place (as opposed to space) has surged across a spectrum of social science disciplines including planning. But the empirical focus has been chiefly on cities along the Atlantic Rim even as vast new areas in Asia, Africa, and Latin America were undergoing accelerated urbanization. This essay outlines a planning perspective to global place-making in the face of fierce inter-city competition for footloose capital. The question of how a place can be defined, and what criteria might serve to delineate a place occupies the first part of this essay. The definition proposed encompasses both a physical/built environment at the neighborhood scale and the subjective feelings its inhabitants harbor towards each other as an emplaced community. Specific criteria are discussed, with brief illustrations from Taiwan and China. But the art of place-making has not informed planners of the swaths of the urban in the newly industrializing global regions of Asia and elsewhere. Their principal preoccupation has been with the branding of cities and the advanced infrastructure required by global capital. In the process, millions of ordinary folks have been displaced and their neighborhoods erased, as speed, movement, and power have been valued more than the fragile social infrastructure of place-based communities. The essay concludes with an argument that place-making is everyone's job, local residents as well as official planners, and that old places can be “taken back” neighborhood by neighborhood, through collaborative people-centered planning. Examples from Japan, China, and Canada are used to illustrate these propositions.
In light of globalising trends toward urbanisation and resettlement, we explore how agricultural knowledges may be adapted and applied among relocated people. Although indigenous and related forms of practice‐based knowledge may be temporarily lost as people adopt commercial agricultural practices and switch to non‐agricultural livelihoods, they are capable of resurfacing when contingent opportunities arise. This contribution to the collection draws upon case studies of recollection and application of agricultural knowledge as revealed in narratives from immigrant gardeners in New York, USA, and relocated farmers in Sebakwe, Zimbabwe. In these narratives, the communities draw upon their reserves of knowledge to respond to changes within their local environments. Such knowledge can serve as a source of community resilience through enabling people to sustain their livelihoods and community well‐being, and thus adapt to environmental changes and displacement. We also explore possibilities for applications of such knowledge in environmental education.
Ecosystem service assessments have increasingly been used to support environmental management policies, mainly based on biophysical and economic indicators. However, few studies have coped with the social-cultural dimension of ecosystem services, despite being considered a research priority. We examined how ecosystem service bundles and trade-offs emerge from diverging social preferences toward ecosystem services delivered by various types of ecosystems in Spain. We conducted 3,379 direct face-to-face questionnaires in eight different case study sites from 2007 to 2011. Overall, 90.5% of the sampled population recognized the ecosystem's capacity to deliver services. Formal studies, environmental behavior, and gender variables influenced the probability of people recognizing the ecosystem's capacity to provide services. The ecosystem services most frequently perceived by people were regulating services; of those, air purification held the greatest importance. However, statistical analysis showed that socio-cultural factors and the conservation management strategy of ecosystems (i.e., National Park, Natural Park, or a non-protected area) have an effect on social preferences toward ecosystem services. Ecosystem service trade-offs and bundles were identified by analyzing social preferences through multivariate analysis (redundancy analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis). We found a clear trade-off among provisioning services (and recreational hunting) versus regulating services and almost all cultural services. We identified three ecosystem service bundles associated with the conservation management strategy and the rural-urban gradient. We conclude that socio-cultural preferences toward ecosystem services can serve as a tool to identify relevant services for people, the factors underlying these social preferences, and emerging ecosystem service bundles and trade-offs.
Cuba’s political and economic isolation in today’s globalised world demands constant adaptation by its inhabitants. The Cubans’
capacity to adapt increases their ability to cope with change and to reshape local ecological and social systems, creating
a more resilient system. Worldwide, home gardens are a community’s most adaptable and accessible land resource and are an
important component in reducing vulnerability and ensuring food security. The role of Cuban home gardens in relation to political
change and economic crisis was investigated in Trinidad de Cuba using standard ethnobotanical research methods. Major events,
such as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent economic crisis as well as frequently changing Cuban policies
on agriculture, food security, religious freedom and healthcare, have had an impact on household decision-making, influencing
home garden composition and management. Social networking surrounding home garden produce plays an essential part in the continuous
adaptation to change, aiming to increase a diversity of resources and strategies, hence resilience.
Since the late 1960s, the valuation of ecosystem services has received ample attention in scientific literature. However, to date, there has been relatively little elaboration of the various spatial and temporal scales at which ecosystem services are supplied. This paper analyzes the spatial scales of ecosystem services, and it examines how stakeholders at different spatial scales attach different values to ecosystem services. The paper first establishes an enhanced framework for the valuation of ecosystem services, with specific attention for stakeholders. The framework includes a procedure to assess the value of regulation services that avoids double counting of these services. Subsequently, the paper analyses the spatial scales of ecosystem services: the ecological scales at which ecosystem services are generated, and the institutional scales at which stakeholders benefit from ecosystem services. On the basis of the proposed valuation framework, we value four selected ecosystem services supplied by the De Wieden wetlands in The Netherlands, and we analyze how these services accrue to stakeholders at different institutional scales. These services are the provision of reed for cutting, the provision of fish, recreation, and nature conservation. In the De Wieden wetland, reed cutting and fisheries are only important at the municipal scale, recreation is most relevant at the municipal and provincial scale, and nature conservation is important in particular at the national and international level. Our analysis shows that stakeholders at different spatial scales can have very different interests in ecosystem services, and we argue that it is highly important to consider the scales of ecosystem services when valuation of services is applied to support the formulation or implementation of ecosystem management plans.
This chapter aims to address a dearth of sociological literature pertaining to Urban Gardens as place, by exploring UG’s as ‘lived places’, where social relations, experiences, meanings, and a sense of place are developed and visualized within gardens. We argue that UG’s offer people the opportunity to creatively engage in the production of place and the social process of place-making occurs through this active engagement.
The allotment in the UK is a story of land and of its ownership; of involvement and control, of social circumstances and professional attitudes. But it is also about social relationships and a collective cultural landscape. Even today, when it is part of popular leisure, allotments are a product of particular patterns of cultural relations and these are represented in landscape. These representations are themselves varied in the context of particular localities. -Author
This revised edition, first published in 1977, contains a new introductory section by Tibor Scitovsky. It sets out to analyze the inherent defects of the market economy as an instrument of human improvement. Since publication, it is believed to have been very influential in the ecological movement and hence is considered to be relevant today. The book tries to give an economist's answer to three questions: Why has economic development become and remained so compelling a goal even though it gives disappointing results? Why has modern society become so concerned with distributional processes when the great majority of people can raise their living standards through increased production? Why has the 20th century seen a universal predominant trend toward collective provision and state regulation in economic areas at a time when individual freedom of action is widely extolled and is given unprecedented reign in non-economic areas? The book suggests that the current impasse on a number of key issues in the political economy of advanced nations is attributable, in part, to an outmoded perspective on the nature, and therefore, the promise of economic growth. The critique has some important implications for policy and opens up a range of policy issues. -after Author
Allotment gardens are an important feature in the urban landscape. They provide a range of ecosystem services (ES) and hence combine utility, social meaning and beauty. Allotment gardens have been deeply embedded for almost two hundred years in European urban development. In many European countries, there is a great and rising interest in allotment gardening in traditional and new forms. Allotment gardens are often not well recognized as an important part of urban green in planning. Investigations into the ES they provide will help integrate them better in urban planning. This paper examines in which way urban allotment gardens contribute to ES in a case study in Salzburg, Austria. In this study, 156 allotment gardeners in four allotment associations were surveyed on the role allotments gardens play in recreation, food production, nature experience (learning and teaching about nature), ecological gardening and environmental behavior. The results show the importance of allotment gardens in recreation and nature experience and the declining importance of traditional food production. There is an increasing interest in ecological gardening and a general environmental awareness among allotment gardeners.
Private gardens occupy a significant proportion of the total surface area of a British city. For many people, the garden represents their only contact with nature and their chance to express themselves creatively. Yet relatively little research has been carried out on the role and value of such gardens to human well-being. We report in this paper on a major survey on the role of private, urban gardens in human well-being, conducted with a wide cross-section of randomly selected garden owners from the city of Sheffield, England, over the summer of 1995. In particular, we discuss the perceived value that gardens have to the well-being of people, both individually through the enjoyment of their own gardens and collectively through the contribution of city gardens to environmental enhancement. We relate these values to age, gender and social demographics.
Urban landscape planners are increasingly becoming aware of the value of ecosystem services to the quality of life of city residents. However, the ecosystem service framework has not yet been integrated in spatial planning in a systematic way. In this paper, we assess how the ecosystem service framework is organized and implemented in the current urban green planning structure of the city of Berlin. Based on an analysis of strategic planning documents and expert interviews with local stakeholders, this work explores to what degree the ecosystem service framework is integrated in the planning system and identifies major challenges in urban green governance. As an output of the analysis of planning documents, it is identified that only very recently developed informal strategies explicitly relate to the ecosystem service framework although stakeholders are aware of the term. Identified main challenges in Berlin's urban green governance include (a) increasing development pressure from population growth and financial constraints on the municipal budget, (b) loss of expertise and (c) low awareness of green benefits among different actors through insufficient communication. The concept of ecosystem services, however, may provide a useful argument to promote the conservation of existing urban green spaces and to communicate the benefits that urban nature provides for citizens to all levels of green space governance.
During the past 15 years, the Casc Antic, a traditionally low-income and immigrant neighborhood in Barcelona, has been the site of community-based mobilization to revitalize abandoned areas and improve local environmental conditions. The organization of residents and their supporters is situated within a broader context of urban political and socioeconomic change — the transformation of the urban economy into a decentralized, global and technology- and service-focused system, accompanied by rising socioeconomic inequality and displacement in inner-city areas. To date, few studies in the urban environmental arena have been placed within processes of urban change and offer specificity on the purposes, intents and goals that poor and minority residents develop as they understand, resist and challenge their marginality. Why do residents of marginalized neighborhoods and their supporters organize to proactively improve livability and environmental quality? To what extent do the environmental struggles of marginalized communities serve as means to advance more complex political agendas in the city? Through the examination of neighborhood organization for livability in the Casc Antic, I analyze how activists use their environmental endeavors as tools to address stigmas attached to their place, control the land and its boundaries, and build a more transgressive form of democracy.
While the city of Barcelona is being held up worldwide as an example of a compact and sustainable urban settlement, its metropolitan region has been suburbanized with low‐density housing that, among other impacts, threatens the water supply system of the area. In this process of urbanization new landscapes of consumption — greening the city with non‐native natures — have been produced, requiring a higher use of water and other inputs. Starting with the drought events of 2008 in Metropolitan Barcelona, this article aims to develop an understanding of the production of the green city in a Mediterranean environment. Using urban political ecology, and extending our scope to cultural theories, we investigate the proliferation of Atlantic gardens in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region. By broadening existing debates on suburban natures from a predominantly North American focus to other contexts, the article aims to offer a different view of the political, economic and cultural constructions of urban natures in order to facilitate the design of more equitable cities.
Résumé
La ville de Barcelone est citée partout comme exemple d'implantation urbaine compacte et durable. En revanche, dans sa région métropolitaine, les banlieues se caractérisent par un habitat peu dense et, entre autres impacts, elles mettent en danger l'approvisionnement local en eau. Au cours de cette urbanisation, de nouveaux paysages de consommation ont été créés (avec des espaces verts composés de natures non locales), nécessitant davantage d'eau et d'autres apports. Partant des épisodes de sécheresse de 2008 dans la métropole de Barcelone, ce travail développe un concept de production de la ‘ville verte’ dans un environnement méditerranéen. En s'appuyant sur l'écologie politique urbaine et en étendant le champ d'investigation aux théories culturelles, il étudie la prolifération des jardins d'inspiration atlantique dans la région métropolitaine de Barcelone. Les débats existants sur les ‘natures suburbaines’ sont élargis pour passer d'un cadre nord‐américain prédominant à d'autres contextes, ce qui permet d'offrir une vision différente des interprétations politiques, économiques et culturelles des ‘natures urbaines’ afin de faciliter la conception de villes plus équitables.
While cultural diversity is increasing in cities at a global level as a result of urbanization, biodiversity is decreasing with a subsequent loss of ecosystem services. It is clear that diversity plays a pivotal role in the resilience building of ecosystems; however, it is less clear what role cultural diversity plays in the resilience building of urban systems. In this paper we provide innovative insights on how common property systems could contribute to urban resilience building. Through a review of recent findings on urban common property systems and the relevant literature, we deal with urban green commons (UGCs) and discuss their potential to manage cultural and biological diversity in cities. We describe three examples of UGCs, i.e. collectively managed parks, community gardens, and allotment areas, with a focus on their institutional characteristics, their role in promoting diverse learning streams, environmental stewardship, and social–ecological memory. We discuss how UGCs can facilitate cultural integration through civic participation in urban land-management, conditions for the emergence of UGCs, the importance of cognitive resilience building, and what role property-rights diversity plays in urban settings. We conclude by elucidating some key insights on how UGCs can promote urban resilience building.
Interest in ecosystem services provided by agroecosystems has grown over the last decades with research focusing on the type of environmental, economic and social benefits delivered by agroecosystems. Researchers suggest that, besides the provisioning of food, fuel, and fiber, agroecosystems provide habitat, cultural, and regulating services. One type of agroecosystem that remains relatively unexplored from an ecosystem service perspective is home gardens. In this paper, we aim at advancing the understanding of the value of home gardens by conducting an assessment of home gardens ecosystem services. For the empirical analysis we use home gardens in Vall Fosca (Catalan Pyrenees). We identify and characterize the most important ecosystem services provided by home gardens, and conduct a valuation of the social importance of home garden ecosystem services. The methodological approach for this work included an in-depth literature review, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, a valuation questionnaire, and a scientific panel consultation. We identified and characterized 19 ecosystem functions and related services. According to our informants, home gardens provide a large set of ecosystem services, being cultural services the category most valued. We found that the most important ecosystem services provided by home gardens differ from those provided by other types of agroecosystems.
The restoration of New Orleans and the rest of the Mississippi delta after Hurricane Katrina can become another disaster waiting to happen, or it can become a model of sustainable development. Sea level is rising, precipitation patterns are changing, hurricane intensity is increasing, energy costs are predicted to soar, and the city is continuing to sink. Most of New Orleans is currently from 0.6 to 5 m (2-15 feet) below sea level. The conventional approach of simply rebuilding the levees and the city behind them will only delay the inevitable. If New Orleans, and the delta in which it is located, can develop and pursue a new paradigm, it could be a truly unique, sustainable, and desirable city, and an inspiration to people around the world. This paper discusses the underlying causes and implications of the Katrina disaster, basic goals for a sustainable redevelopment initiative, and seven principles necessary for a sustainable vision for the future of New Orleans and the Mississippi delta.
This paper examines urban vegetable gardens in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona (MRB) in the context of a political ecological approach. We argue that these gardens provide an interesting example of how the urbanization process creates particular “socionatures” linked in this case to retired members of the working class who occupy (often as squatters) and transform the interstices left by the expanding city in order to produce food at a small scale. We document how these vegetable gardens are the product of a peculiar form of the recent urban history of the area, and also how they are increasingly under pressure due to the rapid process of sprawl now characterizing the expansion of the built environment in the Barcelona region. Vegetable gardens also highlight the contradictions of public policies in managing urban development, since the general attitude towards their elimination from the urban landscape stands in opposition to many of the sustainability initiatives such as the “greening of cities” promoted by city councils in this area.
In the last decade a growing number of environmental scientists have advocated economic valuation of ecosystem services as a pragmatic short-term strategy to communicate the value of biodiversity in a language that reflects dominant political and economic views. This paper revisits the controversy on economic valuation of ecosystem services in the light of two aspects that are often neglected in ongoing debates. First, the role of the particular institutional setup in which environmental policy and governance is currently embedded in shaping valuation outcomes. Second, the broader economic and sociopolitical processes that have governed the expansion of pricing into previously non-marketed areas of the environment. Our analysis suggests that within the institutional setup and broader sociopolitical processes that have become prominent since the late 1980s economic valuation is likely to pave the way for the commodification of ecosystem services with potentially counterproductive effects in the long term for biodiversity conservation and equity of access to ecosystem services benefits.
IntroductionMethodologyResultsConclusion
References
Many ecosystem services are in decline. Local ecological knowledge and associated practice are essential to sustain and enhance ecosystem services on the ground. Here, we focus on social or collective memory in relation to management practice that sustains ecosystem services, and investigate where and how ecological practices, knowledge and experience are retained and transmitted. We analyze such social–ecological memory of allotment gardens in the Stockholm urban area, Sweden. Allotment gardens support ecosystem services such as pollination, seed dispersal and pest regulation in the broader urban landscape. Surveys and interviews were preformed over a four-year period with several hundreds of gardeners. We found that the allotment gardens function as communities-of-practice, where participation and reification interact and social–ecological memory is a shared source of resilience of the community by being both emergent and persistent. Ecological practices and knowledge in allotment gardens are retained and transmitted by imitation of practices, oral communication and collective rituals and habits, as well as by the physical gardens, artifacts, metaphors and rules-in-use (institutions). Finally, a wider social context provides external support through various forms of media, markets, social networks, collaborative organizations, and legal structures. We exemplify the role of urban gardens in generating ecosystem services in times of crisis and change and conclude that stewards of urban green areas and the social memory that they carry may help counteract further decline of critical ecosystem services.