Foster sustainable urban planning and management through the integration of ecosystem services in existing decision-support tools, focussing on both the provision and the demand of the ecosystem services.
Demonstrating the benefits of incorporating a network of green spaces in the urban planning. This multifunctional "green infrastructure" network supplies ecosystem services and benefits to the city.
Testing the feasibility of a green infrastructure, instead of a traditional grey infrastructure, to treat sewage overflows, and investigating the multiple benefits that the green infrastructure provides and its relevance for water management.
Exploring how ecosystem services can be integrated in a land-use planning process using a real-life planning case. A special focus is on multifunctional green infrastructure and applying new tools to operationalise ecosystem services in the plans in a participatory way.
Incorporating social learning in collaborative decision making processes within which the development of multifunctional, multi-services delivering Green Infrastructure is included in local level planning.
Analysing the expression of socio-cultural values in a coastal setting, considering the contribution that ecosystem service approaches can make within the land use or spatial planning arena. People attach socio-cultural values to the natural environment just as they do to other aspects of life. Cultural ecosystem services are strongly influenced by these values and provide tangible and intangible benefits to people when they interact with nature. Often in decision making the less tangible cultural ecosystem services benefits are overlooked and unaccounted when considering the overall value...
Enabling more rational farm management and planning space for green corridors in the agricultural land, together with all relevant stakeholders at landscape level. The context of this case study is explained by a short YouTube clip: http://youtu.be/sD0gVUmmwnE
Constructing and maintaining semi-fixed dunes on heavily used urban beaches to optimize the flows of ecosystem services, through collaboration with administrations and stakeholders. Dunes play a central role in coastal defence and protection against sea level rise linked to climatic change. Stakeholder mapping and social research will be used to learn how to shape social attitudes to make the year-round intensive recreational use of beaches compatible with the protection of the dunes.
Informing Barking Riverside's green space design by incorporating regional biodiversity.
Innovative multifunctional green urban space on heavily sealed surfaces of an inner city location.
Boosting ecosystem service performance through green roof design in Barking Riverside.
Over the last few decades, Lisbon has lost a third of its residents (Green Surge: Lisbon case study) as a result of uncontrolled urban development (urban sprawl in the suburbs coupled with depopulation and decaying neighbourhoods in the historical centre). This has led to a deterioration of the quality of life in the city. It is currently facing challenges...
Rapid urbanisation in the Philippines has given rise to many challenges as increasing infrastructure developments contribute to reduced open spaces and increased energy consumption.
Both the public and private construction sectors are responding by reshaping the cityscape and designing building structures that are as environmentally responsive as they are beautiful and compact. Now, buildings should not only be sturdy and spacious, they should also be efficient in energy consumption and adaptive to the changing environment.
LafargeHolcim Philippines (LafargeHolcim) has...
The objective of the LIFE-EnviFriendly project was to demonstrate low cost, nature based solutions that if used by all farmers within a watershed it will improve the water quality of the waters significantly. The NbS used in this case was a riparian forest restoration coupled with a river bank erosion protection.
By 2100, under a high greenhouse emissions scenario, the temperature is projected to increase by about 4.5 ºC in comparison to the 1990s. This means that every second summer will be as hot or even hotter than the temperatures reached during the 2003 heat wave which caused severe loss of life across Europe. Extreme precipitation events are likely to increase in frequency and severity. Green roofs were found to offer opportunities to combine energy saving, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity objectives. In densely built-up areas where providing extensive parks and...
The URBES project focusses on functional diversity, urban ecosystem services and NbS, institutions, economics and resilience science and worked to translate research insights into principles, landscape designs and applications. It explores the drivers behind loss/enhancement of urban ecosystem services delivered by nature based solutions such as urban green space, monetary and non-monetary valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the urban landscape and what are the most effective mechanisms for the governance of non-marketed ecosystem services.
In the Berlin case study,...
The aim is (i) to provide an assessment of the EcM community and functional group composition of urban trees, and of its environmental drivers, using next generation sequencing techniques; (ii) to relate specific EcM, or functional groups of EcM, to tree health, and tree ecosystem service delivery and resilience, using advanced noninvasive spectral and physiological sensing technology, diameter growth measurements, and urban biophysical modeling; and (iii) to develop and test (in situ & ex situ) a dedicated EcM-inoculum to improve urban tree health, and ecosystem service delivery and...
The aim is (i) to provide an assessment of the EcM community and functional group composition of urban trees, and of its environmental drivers, using next generation sequencing techniques; (ii) to relate specific EcM, or functional groups of EcM, to tree health, and tree ecosystem service delivery and resilience, using advanced noninvasive spectral and physiological sensing technology, diameter growth measurements, and urban biophysical modeling; and (iii) to develop and test (in situ & ex situ) a dedicated EcM-inoculum to improve urban tree health, and ecosystem service delivery and...
The aim of the project is to develop realistic indicators to evaluate, manage and develop performant Green and Blue infrastructure (GBIs) in cities and intensively managed landscapes. UrbanGaia explicitly focusses on analysis of ecological and socio-economic features of the many existing GBIs within a place-based and socio-ecological research framework. The project consists of three main approaches which converge in a transdisciplinary analysis of GBI performance: ecological science, political economic analysis and stakeholder co-creation.
The aim is to develop a realistic framework of indicators to evaluate, manage and develop performant Urban Green-Blue Infrastructure (U-GBI) in cities and intensively managed landscapes. UrbanGaia explicitly focusses on analysis of ecological and socio-economic features of the many existing GBIs. The evaluation of one the green axis of the ecological network in Ghent will serve as a case study for the framework of indicators. Furthermore, policy, governance and management practices of U-GBI are analyzed to identify innovative approaches to GBI implementation and usage.
The aim is to develop realistic indicators to evaluate, manage and develop performant GBIs in cities and intensively managed landscapes. UrbanGaia explicitly focusses on analysis of ecological and socio-economic features of the many existing GBIs within a place-based and socio-ecological research framework. The project consists of three main approaches which converge in a transdisciplinary analysis of GBI performance: ecological science, political economic analysis and stakeholder co-creation.
To improve public space functionality and use, to increase access to green spaces for district residents (Eixample), to contribute to higher biodiversity in the city, and to promote more and different retail activity at the ground floor of buildings, so to rejuvenate/boost the local economy.
The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.
This main objective will be accomplished by...
The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.
This main objective will be accomplished by...
The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.
This main objective will be accomplished by...
The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.
This main objective will be accomplished by...
The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.
This main objective will be accomplished by...
The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.
This main objective will be accomplished by...
The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.
This main objective will be accomplished by...
Mapping green and grey structures of Leipzig to understand in which urban structure types land-use pressures on urban green are higher / lower and analysing how political and governance strategies and instruments support the protection of green infrastructure and its ecosystem services.
The objective is to make the Montpellier agricultural systems more resilient to the effects of climate change, such as increasing temperatures or droughts, water and biotic stresses and more extreme events.
Main benefits can be summarized as follow:
INRA (Institut Nantional de la Recherche Agronomique) researchers showed that the production from one hectare of a walnut/wheat mix is the same as for 1.4 hectares with trees and crops separated. This was a 40% increase in productivity, far better than any other innovation introduced by agronomists in the recent past.
...
Objective of these prototype moss installations was to find out the possible challenges of using moss in different locations and structures. We need to know what type of moss can be used and what are the actual costs of building moss green roofs and walls.
The objective of the project is to investigate the future possibilities of green area development, by exploring the functionality of green areas on the roofs of apartment buildings and to gain insight into the impacts green roofs may have on housing and the sense of community.
Challenges
The described situation was an opportunity for the nature based solutions (green wall creation) implementation. Particularly, based on the scientific data available from more than 160 Yerevan kindergartens specific one was identified and selected ensuring the maximum benefits for the kindergarten territory, its sounding and children’s health.
Objective
The testing site - kindergarten was built in former Soviet Union period and did not underwent any reconstruction action. Due to its spatial location the kindergarten is...
The main purpose of the roof is to offer an unique green environment to the residents in the house. In the project every surface, also on the ground below, is maximized with greenery. The greenery offers a range of ecosystem services which also benefits the neighbors and the city. The main purpose of the roof is to offer an unique green environment to the residents in the house. In the project every surface, also on the ground below, is maximized with greenery. The greenery offers a range of ecosystem services which also benefits the neighbors and the city.
To create a development on a brownfield site where Green Infrastructure (GI) is integral to the layout of dwellings and create a sense of place whilst delivering a rich mix of housing tenures with a focus on affordability for local people.
To create a riverside park, reconnecting the city centre to the riverside and to mitigate flooding for more than 100 existing properties.
To provide 187 new homes for private and affordable housing and refurbish a Grade II* listed Hall, whilst retaining the views of Hanham Hills and achieving the 'Zero' carbon standard.
To regenerate a brownfield site into a vibrant public space and reconnect the city with its waterfront, integrating art and ecology.
To reduce the flood risk, calm traffic and increase community involvement and awareness of sustainable urban drainage systems. To improve water quality in the River Trym.
To improve an over wide and heavily silted reach of the river Somer running through Midsomer Norton high street, providing a diverse habitat for native fish, particularly wild brown trout, plants and invertebrates.
To convert an energy intensive system of heating, cooling and ventilation, which was poorly maintained and controlled into a modern, green, sustainable development while adhering to stringent rail standards.
Ecological enhancement of hard coastal structures. Project aimed to mitigate expected habitat losses associated with improving coastal defences for both the natural substrate & pre-existing defences within Natural 2000 site, & minimise future habitat losses due to sea level rise & coastal squeeze.
To regenerate a brown site to develop 150 new homes, an improved park area and a BREEAM outstanding green business park. To deliver high quality jobs, family housing and a better green space.
To mitigate the development of a 3.2km bypass by building a green land bridge to enable the historic West drive to be reinstated on its original line and provide landscape and habitat connectivity.
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area consists of the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen and it is located in the south coast of Finland. The Metropolitan Area covers 772 square kilometres and contains a total population of approximately 1.1 million. With about 19 per cent of the country’s population in just 0.2 per cent of its surface area, the housing density of the area is high by Finnish standards. Despite the intensity of land use, the area also has large recreational areas and green spaces.
Our EnRoute city lab covers the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. The tiny...More
In Manchester, the EnRoute CityLab has been built on the three main ‘policy pillars’ relating to the environment in the city (Our Manchester: A vision for the Future; Manchester’s Great Outdoors: A Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy for Manchester, and the Manchester Climate Change Strategy 2017-2050) and their core ethos of ‘biodiversity innovation and citizen action for nature’.
Manchester’s green infrastructure (GI) has been part of the city’s success for a number of years, but in 2015 the City Council recognised that, as the city continues to grow over the coming decades,...More
The Municipality of Lisbon covers an area of 8 km2 and has a population of 506,892 residents (and about 300,000 commuters). The metropolitan area is larger and has a total population of 2,821,697 inhabitants (data from 2011).
As strategy for sustainable land use the main policy issue in the Lisbon Municipality is to establish a coherent and interlinked urban green infrastructure (UGI) not only within the municipality but with the UGIs of the surrounding municipalities
The strong urban character of Lisbon a large forest park of Monsanto with 1000 ha and numerous others parks,...More
The Hague is a relatively green city in which green spaces make up to 17 % of the city's surface area. At the same time the city faces serious challenges with respect to public health and quality of life. Therefore The Hague aims to better understand the relation between green infrastructure and public health by combining socio-economic data with data on the greenery gathered through remote sensing. The two key questions are:
Using the widely used Policy Support System tools at www.policysupport.org as a basis, we built an insurance industry-relevant policy support system called Eco:Actuary. The objective of this project is to to co-develop and test the Eco:Actuary with NAIAD project partners & stakeholders in the fluvial non-tidal Thames as a DEMO catchment in the NAIAD project.
EcoActuary is an open-access catastrophe model capable of assessing the impact of NbS on local and downstream assets at risk of flood. It simulates a minimum of 1200 spatial...
Identification of the Green Infrastructure at high resolution, i.e. not using land use cover, with GIS and assessment of the Ecosystem Services through the MAES (Mapping Ecosystem Services) methodology in urban area.
The study analysed also human-environment interactions, according to the resident population and with particular attention to the weaker groups, infants (0-5 years) and elderly (> 65 years). Ecosystem Services (ES) were selected in consideration of the population accordingly the CICES (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services) classification. Among...
Biotope City is an integral concept of the Biotope City Foundation Amsterdam based on the integrative combination of Flora + Fauna + Humans to realise the dense city as nature.
World's first official climate-resilient district and world's first constructed Biotope City in Vienna with 2/3 affordable social housing and climate adaptation by the support of GREENPASS - the world's first Software-as-a-Service for climate...
Through providing a publicly accessible green space that allows for aesthetic appreciation, recreational activities and social cohesion, the Municipality of Bari aims to improve mental and physical wellbeing among the area’s citizens.
With the aim to renovate derelict land, L. Braille public garden was planned and designed to increase biodiversity, mitigate the urban heat island effect, and reduce noise, air and light pollution in the area.
The park’s green infrastructure aims to helps to achieve an e...
The Programme for Enhancing the Urban Green Infrastructure is an ambitious government measure approved in 2017. It establishes the main strategies for enhancing the quality and quantity of green infrastructure in Barcelona till 2030. Barcelona wants to renature the city and create, in this period, 165 ha of new green spaces, which increases the green spaces/inhabitant ratio by 1m2. As Barcelona is a compact city, there are various strategies to improve, transform or create new green spaces. The actions will take place at various urban scales (street, district or city scale) and...
Sweet City aims to create the conditions required to improve the quality of life of all the inhabitants of the territory, humans and other species alike, e.g. pollinators, by providing better conditions for them to thrive and, as a result, obtaining a more biodiverse, comfortable, clean, colorful and better organised urban environment. The aim is to restore the balance between urban and natural areas, preserve and increase biodiversity in the city and manage climate change.
For several reasons, protecting important ecological areas in Lisbon from urbanisation has become difficult. Remnant areas of natural habitat have gained particular importance in consolidating the green corridors network, benefiting from the fact that much of this land is still within the municipality’s property holdings. The “Lisbon Green Plan” published in 1996 set out the approach used in 2008 to implement safeguarding measures to protect the ecological structure under development threat at that point. It triggered an update to the Lisbon Master Plan at a time when climate issues were...
A Green Infrastructure Plan of Llanquihue, which includes the Baquedano Wetland Park, was developed through the joint working of the Landscape Architecture Master Program Universidad de Chile and the NGO Legado Chile Fundatio. It is a response to several socio-ecological pressures created by urban living that were affecting ecosystems within the city boundaries. In 2016 both institutions called on an open dialogue with 300 members of the community, including residences, local authorities, the school community, regional services, representative of productive industries, scientists and...
In response to the challenges arising from the urban expansion of Medellín and the close association with neighbouring municipalities, the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley (AMVA for its Spanish abbreviation) was established in 1980 as a regional public transportation and urban environmental authority. Within this context, the current city government, in co-ordination with other municipalities of the AMVA, focused its development plan (Plan de Desarrollo) priorities on the implementation of actions to improvethe urban environment, including nature-based interventions from the...
Controlling and mitigating the heat island effect in Arará slum, northern Rio de Janeiro, based on the development and monitoring of green roofs, using epiphytes or lithophytes. Given the common uses of cement or metal, tiles required the development of specific techniques and materials to allow for the growth of vegetation while keeping the overall weight low for safety.
This case study examines in particular the interface between four sets of plans and strategies, providing important context for further examination of meso- and micro-scale interventions covered in subsequent sections. This case also touches on other formally adopted plans and strategies only in relation to the above meso- and micro- scale initiatives, in an attempt to better understand contexts.
This study aimed to use a semi-natural meadow as an ecological restoration tool for the optimisation of ecosystem services and landscape attractiveness of river revetments. River revetments combine bank reinforcement with greening and can resist flood washing and provide waterfront space for human activities; thus, it has become a key functional unit in riparian ecosystems used to foster ecosystem services such as the interception and filtration of polluted surface water, habitat for organisms and aesthetic beauty.
Herbaceous species that naturally occur in habitats with infrequent...
Within the CONEXUS project, Santiago’s Life-Lab, Laboratorio BioUrbano, is an inter-sectoral partnership between academics, public institutions, private actors, and civil society. With the aim of co-producing urban nature-based solutions (NbS) to address the important challenges faced by the city, it proposes a series of interlinked objectives: