A framework for assessing and implementing the co-benefits of nature-based solutions in urban areas

To address challenges associated with climate resilience, health and well-being in urban areas, current policy platforms are shifting their focus from ecosystem-based to nature-based solutions (NBS), broadly defined as solutions to societal challenges that are inspired and supported by nature. NBS result in the provision of co-benefits, such as the improvement of place attractiveness, of health and quality of life, and creation of green jobs. Few frameworks exist for acknowledging and assessing the value of such co-benefits of NBS and to guide cross-sectoral project and policy design and implementation. In this paper, we firstly developed a holistic framework for assessing co-benefits (and costs) of NBS across elements of socio-cultural and socio-economic systems, biodiversity, ecosystems and climate. The framework was guided by a review of over 1700 documents from science and practice within and across 10 societal challenges relevant to cities globally. We found that NBS can have environmental, social and economic co-benefits and/or costs both within and across these 10 societal challenges. On that base, we develop and propose a seven-stage process for situating co-benefit assessment within policy and project implementation. The seven stages include: 1) identify problem or opportunity; 2) select and assess NBS and related actions; 3) design NBS implementation processes; 4) implement NBS; 5) frequently engage stakeholders and communicate co-benefits; 6) transfer and upscale NBS; and 7) monitor and evaluate co-benefits across all stages. We conclude that the developed framework together with the seven-stage co-benefit assessment process represent a valuable tool for guiding thinking and identifying the multiple values of NBS implementation.     

黔江区城市饮用水源水质现状及保护建议研究

小南海水库、洞塘水库作为黔江区城区两大主要集中式饮用水源点.根据水质评价标准采用《地表水环境质量标准》(GB 3838-2002)评价要求,"十二五"期间两大水源点的水质富营养化趋势有所上升,其中小南海水库的水质由Ⅱ类降为Ⅲ类,主要污染物是总磷.水源地水质主要受到库区养鱼、农业生产的化肥农药污染、库区乡村游以及环境管理上的缺失等因素影响.为了黔江区实现"生态"绿色"发展目标,保障城区20多万人口的饮水安全,促进区域经济社会可持续发展,确保黔江区生活饮用水保持良好,提出合理保护措施供管理借鉴.     

三亚城市景观生态设计初探

为保护三亚热带自然风情,运用景观生态学原理为该市进行了城市景观生态设计。其中控制性组分的设计分为种群源(Speciessource)、廊道(Coridor)和节点(Node)等内容。用来满足生物种群保存的“持久性"和物种流动的“可达性"要求,使城市中的“自然"组分成为环境质量的控制性组分。此外,还进行了非控制性组分中自然组分的设计和景观的美学规划,并进行了景观的生态构架设计,使城市生态系统与外围自然组分进行有效的物质和能量的交流。      

Advancing urban ecosystem governance in Rotterdam: From experimenting and evidence gathering to new ways for integrated planning

To improve quality of life as well as the adaptive capacity in the city of Rotterdam over the past 15 years there has been a lot of focus on improving green infrastructure and finding new ways for integrated planning. As many cities face similar challenges they are looking for novel approaches in urban ecosystem governance. The Rotterdam case can be an interesting example but can also reveal new questions to be researched.Before local policies and projects where developed a regional and urban green blue vision of how to improve overall quality of life using green infrastructure were developed. This provided policy frameworks for politicians, policymakers and other actors. Later on the same was done with Urban Waterplan 2, using the Rotterdam Watercity 2030 vision document as a basis. This vision was the result of a stakeholder based planning process which was made for the International Architecture Biennale 2005. Within these frameworks many interesting projects have been built and tested in the city and city region; ranging from a) a roof park over a railway yard to connect neighbourhoods to the waterfront, to b) water squares and c) digging new waterways with connected walking and biking routes. To go from projects to an overall implementation at city level required tools and approaches for better decision making. For the ‘Dakpark’ project as well as for the Zomerhofkwartier, the first climate proof neighbourhood in the city, stakeholder sessions were held and plans were drawn together with urban planners and landscape architects. To feed these processes even better and to know what would be an optimal solution for certain challenges, city data were studied and linked to scalable GIS mapping in the ‘smart city planner’. This tool gives the decision maker the possibility to quickly have an overview of an area and can be used in a stakeholder process to provide relevant additional information and to define joint projects. The tool makes it possible to do this for all 90 neighbourhoods in the city.Overall the urban ecosystem governance in the city of Rotterdam has – with trial and error- lead to a series of innovative projects. The next steps are acceleration and scaling up to city and regional level. Valuing the crucial role of green blue infrastructure for several aspects of the quality of life in cities are paramount.     

Ecosystem services provided by urban gardens in Barcelona,Spain: Insights for policy and planning

In many European cities, urban gardens are seen as increasingly important components of urban green space networks. We adopt an ecosystem services framework to assess contributions of urban gardens to the quality of of their users. First, we identify and characterize ecosystem services provided by urban gardens. Secondly, we assess the demographic and socioeconomic profile of its beneficiaries and the relative importance they attribute to different ecosystem services. Next we discuss the relevance of our results in relation to critical policy challenges, such as the promotion of societal cohesion and healthy lifestyles. Data were collected through 44 semi-structured interviews and a survey among 201 users of 27 urban gardens in Barcelona, Spain, as well as from consultation meetings with local planners. We identified 20 ecosystem services, ranging from food production over pollination to social cohesion and environmental learning. Among them, cultural ecosystem services (non-material benefits people derive from their interaction with nature) ​ stand out as the most widely perceived and as the most highly valued. The main beneficiaries of ecosystem services from urban gardens are elder, low-middle income, and migrant people. Our results about the societal importance of urban gardens ​were deemed highly relevant by the interviewed green space planners in Barcelona, who noted that our data can provide basis to support or expand existing gardening programs in the city. Our research further suggests that ecosystem services from urban gardens can play an important role in addressing several urban policy challenges in cities, such as promoting stewardship of urban ecosystems, providing opportunities for recreation and healthy lifestyles, and promoting social cohesion. We conclude that urban gardens and associated ecosystem services can play an important ​ in urban policies aimed at enhancing quality of life in cities, particularly if access to their benefits is expanded to larger segments of the population.     

东北黑土水土流失区生态环境遥感动态监测

为及时快速地监测水土流失地区的生态环境变化状况,以拜泉县为例,选取1985年、1996年、2006年和2015年Landsat影像,反演得到能反映生态环境的绿度、湿度、热度和干度指标,利用主成分分析方法,依据RSEI（遥感生态指数）对拜泉县1985—2015年的生态环境进行评价.结果表明:1985—2015年拜泉县RSEI从0.645增至0.851,增幅为31.94%,生态环境质量改善地区面积高于退化区域面积,总体上生态质量向好的方向发展;拜泉县整体生态环境质量综合指数由3.78升至4.87,各乡镇的生态环境质量综合指数均呈现不同程度的增加,从空间分布来看,西南部和南部乡镇的变幅大于北部,中部基本保持不变,水土流失重点区域生态环境质量显著提高;逐步回归分析结果表明,所选的指标均为生态环境质量的关键指标;绿度逐渐成为研究区生态环境质量正向作用的重要指标,说明植树造林等生态治理措施对环境质量的改善起到主导作用.研究显示,RSEI能够综合刻画水土流失区生态环境质量,同时拜泉县生态环境质量整体不断改善,水土流失治理成效明显.      

The high climatic quality city of the future

In the future most of the world's population will live in urban areas and there also most economic activities will be concentrated. This will lead to enormous environmental and climatological problems, unless urban planners and architects develop a new urban planning strategy and building design methods, which will enable the continuation of the growth of urban areas and also enable its population to live and work in a good climatic environment. To achieve this goal this article presents a new comprehensive climatological and environmental urban planning concept. This concept includes the new term of “climate quality”, which is no less important in the urban space than is air quality. The combination of using alternative energy sources together with integrating climatological factors in all urban planning levels will lead to an expected improved climatic and environmental quality of the urban area.     

社会—生态系统适应性治理视角下绿地空间恢复力的演化——广州旧城区更新案例

旧城区绿地作为关键的社会—生态系统载体,是城市高质量发展与转型治理亟需关注的问题。构建广州旧城区绿地服务基本单元,引入适应性循环理论的潜力—连通度—恢复力三维框架,构建表征生态、社会与经济服务的绿地景观指标体系,综合评估2000—2018年广州旧城区绿地的空间恢复力水平及适应性转化特征。研究结果显示：旧城区绿地的恢复力演化具有明显的核心区与外围区的时空分异,在拆除重建阶段呈现快速开发—快速释放—重组的转化,在微更新阶段主要呈现开发—保护的提升,并具有提升型、稳定型和更替型的社会—生态系统服务适应性。由此说明,城市更新具有调节社会—生态系统服务治理的效果。其中,绿地形状指数、5 min可达绿地率以及土地利用混合度对核心区绿地恢复力具有显著的促进作用,为外围区治理提供参考。同时,进一步探讨了更新政策与城市绿地空间恢复力演化的关系,为促进旧城区绿地空间更新治理提供社会—生态系统适应性的理论与实证案例研究。     

Advancing urban ecosystem governance in New York City: Shifting towards a unified perspective for conservation management

New York City’s extensive municipal park system is home to forests, wetlands, and grasslands that provide important ecological and social benefits to the city’s population. While efforts and programs exist to restore and protect these spaces, management recommendations are complex due to variable conditions in urban natural areas. To advance the management of urban natural areas, the first comprehensive ecological assessment was conducted through a collaborative effort across 4000 ha of natural areas within New York City parkland. Field and spatial data were collected and analyzed to identify the extent of forests, the types of forests, and their conditions. This approach will help guide decision-making and prioritization of natural area management at the regional level by developing unique quantitative targets for urban forests. This project serves as an example of collaboration between private and public institutions advancing the governance of urban natural areas to achieve citywide conservation and policy goals.     

厦门市绿色植被降温服务功能核算及其时空动态特征

为了准确核算厦门市绿色植被降温服务功能,收集厦门市2010年和2015年18个气象站点数据,采用30 m空间分辨率Landsat卫星数据和250 m空间分辨率、16 d合成的MODIS植被指数产品,在已有基于能量平衡估算模型的基础上,通过考虑植被覆盖及降温服务时长,构建了绿色植被降温服务功能核算的改进模型,并对厦门市2010—2015年绿色植被降温服务功能时空动态特征进行分析.结果表明:①改进模型能够较为准确且合理地描述绿色植被降温服务功能的时空变化特征.②厦门市北部山区由于高植被覆盖度降温服务功能高于南部城市建成区,而城市建成区中的城市绿地也具有明显的降温作用.③2010—2015年各区降温服务功能实物量整体呈增加趋势.其中,同安区降温服务功能实物量变化量最多,为166.12×106 kW·h;湖里区变化量最少,为9.72×106 kW·h;其余各区变化量都在40×106~75×106 kW·h范围内.④森林在降温服务中贡献最大,达60%以上.相比2010年,2015年降温服务功能实物量除了灌木林地变化率为-4.29%外,其余绿色植被类型均呈增长趋势,如森林和农田的增长率为11.97%、14.23%,草地和城市绿地的增长率为87.45%、92.11%.研究显示,厦门市2010—2015年的绿色植被降温服务功能总体呈明显增强趋势,其中城市绿地的降温服务功能增强尤为明显.      

城镇居民食物消费的生态足迹及生态文明程度评价

城镇居民食品账户生态足迹核算一直面临着消费项目不完善与消费-土地利用矩阵信息匮乏的问题。研究通过改进自下而上生态足迹模型,较好地解决了上述问题;并构建了食物消费的生态文明度概念与分类层次体系,在生态影响“数量”评估的基础上开展了“质量”评估。论文对2005—2012年中国及各省城镇居民食物消费的生态影响及生态文明度进行了实证研究,结果表明：1）城镇居民部门食物账户的生态影响变动主要驱动力为在外就餐;2）全国及大陆省份中除山西、江西和青海外的28个省份城镇居民食物消费的生态文明度发生了不同程度的下降。中国如果忽略城镇市场倒逼机制对生态文明的巨大作用,规模扩大与食谱增富的城镇化可能将整个中国带入生态环境脆弱性增强的境地。     

Operationalizing urban resilience through a framework for adaptive co-management and design: Five experiments in urban planning practice and policy

The emergent discourse on social-ecological resilience can be understood as a response to the rapid pace of change and severe challenges facing urban areas. This paper reports on one strand of research being carried out as part of the EU FP7 TURAS project (Transitioning to Urban Resilience and Sustainability) that aims to gain insight into the implications of social-ecological resilience thinking on urban planning practice and policy by presenting a unique, trans-disciplinary perspective that has been developed collaboratively between academic, local government and SME partners. A framework for adaptive co-management and design is introduced as a basis for the operationalisation of urban resilience, highlighting the need to actively solve problems collaboratively by exercising imagination and creativity, and presenting a new and potentially fertile source for innovation. Five experiments exploring urban planning practices relating to the framework are put forward as examples of urban resilience in practice: an online crowd-sourcing application for mapping underused spaces; an interactive timeline tool for identifying drivers of change over time; a guidance and signposting tool to help community projects overcome resource barriers; an epistemic network of citizens that exchanges knowledge and resources relating to underused spaces; and an online portal that provides visibility for community groups or projects, and facilitates horizontal networking. The paper describes each experiment, sets out the aims and theoretical contexts, records any initial findings, and reflects on the potential and limitations. Initial findings are discussed relating to the challenges of crowd-sourcing spatial or historical data, and the resource commitment required for the emerging practices. It is observed that the experiments attempt to address fundamental issues in urban planning practice and policy, and involve established and familiar activities. The paper concludes that the research provides insight into what urban resilience might mean in practice and that each experiment has the potential to make a tangible contribution to the transition to urban resilience and sustainability.     

The value of urban ecosystem services in New York City: A spatially explicit multicriteria analysis of landscape scale valuation scenarios

Mapping, modeling, and valuing urban ecosystem services are important for integrating the ecosystem services concept in urban planning and decision-making. However, decision-support tools able to consider multiple ecosystem services in the urban setting using complex and heterogeneous data are still in early development. Here, we use New York City (NYC) as a case study to evaluate and analyze how the value of multiple ecosystem services of urban green infrastructure shifts with shifting governance priorities. We first examined the spatial distribution of five ecosystem services – storm water absorption, carbon storage, air pollution removal, local climate regulation, and recreation – to create the first multiple ecosystem services evaluation of all green infrastructure in NYC. Then, combining an urban ecosystem services landscape approach with spatial multicriteria analysis weighting scenarios, we examine the distribution of these ecosystem services in the city. We contrast the current NYC policy preference – which is focused on heavy investment in stormwater absorption – with a valuation approach that also accounts for other ecosystem services. We find substantial differences in the spatial distribution of priority areas for green infrastructure for the valuation scenarios. Among the scenarios we examined for NYC, we find that a scenario in which only stormwater absorption is prioritized leads to the most unevenly distributed ES values. By contrast, we find least variation in ES values where stormwater absorption, local climate regulation, carbon storage, air pollution removal, and recreational potential are all weighted equally.We suggest that green infrastructure planning strategies should include all landscape components that contribute to the production of ecosystem services and consider how planning priority alternatives generate different ecosystem services values.     

A review on political factors influencing public support for urban environmental policy

Environmental quality is important to urban residents’ physical, social and psychological well-being. Governments have been formulating and implementing policies to mitigate environmental deterioration in cities. To effectively implement policies and achieve policy goals, gaining sufficient public support is an essential prerequisite; the policies would be in ruins and the government may also suffer from setbacks in other policy areas in the absence of public support. Therefore, to understand what contributes to public support is a crucial task for policymakers. Though current literature on socio-demographic and attitudinal/psychological factors provides fruitful accounts for policy support, a comprehensive examination of political determinants has yet to be established. In response to this, this review paper explores political factors that influence level of policy support based on existing literature. An integrated framework is proposed to explain policy support for urban environmental policy. This paper also discusses the possible directions of future research.     

The case for consumption-based accounting of greenhouse gas emissions to promote local climate action

One of the challenges faced by local governments in the work with municipal climate action plans concerns accounting for the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—what emissions should be targeted, development of emissions over time, and how to effectively measure the success of local climate action. In this paper, we present challenges in developing a GHG emissions inventory related to the provision of municipal services. We argue that a consumption-based perspective, illustrated through the use of the carbon footprint (CF), rather than more conventional production-based inventory, provides a more useful and less misleading indicator. We present an analysis of the CF of municipal services provided by the city of Trondheim. The use of data directly from the city's accounting system ensures a reliable calculation of indirect emissions, and, with some minor modifications, also accurate data on direct emissions. Our analysis shows that approximately 93 percent of the total CF of municipal services is indirect emissions, located in upstream paths, underlining the need of introducing consumption-based indicators that takes into account upstream GHG emissions.     

努力实现生态优先、绿色发展

习近平总书记指示:推动长江经济带发展必须坚持生态优先、绿色发展,要抓大保护,不搞大开发.本文分别讨论了为什么要抓大保护,绿色发展的重点是什么,以及生态优先、绿色发展应该由谁来完成等三个问题,并提出了生态文明建设的主要目标是节约资源、保护环境、保护生态,生态文明建设应在生产领域、消费领域、城镇化建设领域、自然生态系统保护领域,以及加强法治、制度、政策和文化、教育、宣传等领域同时进行.      

Green project partnership in the supply chain: the case of the package printing industry

By interacting with their suppliers and their customers, manufacturing organizations can potentially develop and implement more effective solutions to environmental challenges they are facing. This paper explores the outcome, in terms of operational performance, of green project partnership in the supply chain. Green project partnership, defined here as the degree of interaction between organizations in the supply chain regarding pollution prevention, can take place upstream with the suppliers and downstream with the customers. Using the data from a survey of the Canadian and United States package printing industry, the linkage between green project partnership and five performance indicators was tested. The results indicate that green project partnership with customers was positively linked to quality, flexibility and environmental performance while partnership with suppliers was associated with better delivery performance.     

Bridging the gap between ecosystem service assessments and land-use planning through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)

Land-use planning is an important determinant for green space policy in cities. It defines land covers and hence the structure and function of urban ecosystems and the benefits these provide to humans, such as air purification, urban cooling, runoff mitigation, and recreation. The ecosystem service approach has helped to attract policy attention to these benefits but the concept remains poorly implemented in urban policy and governance. To address this gap, we advance a framework to bridge ecosystem services into policy processes through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) as decision support tool. The paper is organized in three main parts. First, we conduct a systematic literature review to assess state-of-the-art knowledge on ecosystem service assessments through MCDA. Next, we build on insights from the literature review to develop the ‘ecosystem services policy-cycle’, a conceptual framework that merges the ‘ecosystem service cascade’ and ‘policy cycle’ models to reinforce the link between ecosystem service assessments and practical applications in urban policy and governance. Next, we illustrate the applicability of the proposed framework along an example about conflicting interests on land use and green space planning following the closure of the Airport Tempelhof in Berlin, Germany. Our results highlight the scope of MCDA as a decision support tool for integrating ecosystem service assessments in green space governance. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of different methodological choices in the use of MCDA in ecosystem service assessments and note that a key strength of this tool in informing green space policies lies in its capacity to accommodate conflicting stakeholder perspectives and to address trade-offs between ecological, social and economic values.     

全域推进海绵城市建设,消除城市内涝,打造宜居环境

我国提出的海绵城市建设旨在解决由于城市高速发展和涉水基础设施不完善导致的城市内涝问题.经过4年的创新实践取得卓越成效,现已建设的30个海绵试点建设城市经受住了汛期暴雨考验.针对试点建设过程中发现的我国在治理内涝方面存在的体制、机制、技术和设施等方面存在的不足,本文提出：应全域系统化推进海绵城市建设;完善管理体制,进行系统性规划建设并智慧管控;加强领域内的技术人才培养;完善相关标准规范,开展雨洪控制的多学科交叉科学研究.