Incorporating soil ecosystem services into urban planning: status, challenges and opportunities

Ricardo Teixeira Da Silva,Martine Van Der Ploeg,Luuk Fleskens,Hedwig Van Delden

doi:10.1007/s10980-018-0652-x

Ricardo Teixeira Da Silva, Martine Van Der Ploeg + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0652-x

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Abstract

ContextTraditionally soils have not received much attention in urban planning. For this, tools are needed that can both be understood both by soil scientists and urban planners.PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to enhance the role of soil knowledge in urban planning practice, through the following objectives: (1) identifying the role soil plays in recent urban plans; (2) analysing the ecosystem services and indicators used in soil science in an urban context; and (3) inferring the main challenges and opportunities to integrate soil into urban planning.MethodsSeven urban plans and reports of world cities that include sustainability goals were analysed using text-mining and qualitative analysis, with a critical view on the inclusion of soil-related concepts. Secondly, the contribution of soil science to urban planning was assessed with an overview of case studies in the past decade that focus on soil-related ecosystem services in urban context.ResultsThe results show an overall weak attention to soil and soil-related ecosystem services in the implementation and monitoring phases of urban plans. The majority of soil science case studies uses a haphazard approach to measure ecosystem service indicators which may not capture the ecosystem services appropriately and hence lack relevance for urban planning.ConclusionsEven though the most urban plans assessed recognize soil as a key resource, most of them fail to integrate indicators to measure or monitor soil-related functions. There is a need to develop soil-related ecosystem services that can be easily integrated and understood by other fields.

Highlights

Social and cultural hubs characterised by continuous population dynamics that lead to a multitude of pressures and impacts that need to be managed by the local governments
These dynamics impact on land use change and, keep presenting challenges to urban planners and policy makers, in particular, the integration of environmental aspects with the new urban areas (Hurlimann and March 2012)
The main goal of this paper is to address where and how urban planning and soil science communities can be complementary and learn from each other

Summary

Methods

Seven urban plans and reports of world cities that include sustainability goals were analysed using text-mining and qualitative analysis, with a critical view on the inclusion of soil-related concepts. The contribution of soil science to urban planning was assessed with an overview of case studies in the past decade that focus on soil-related ecosystem services in urban context

Results

Conclusions

Introduction

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