Abstract
Urban futures that are more resilient and sustainable require an integrated social–ecological system approach to urban policymaking, planning, management, and governance. In this article, we introduce the Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (URBES) and the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook (CBO) Projects as new social–ecological contributions to research and practice on emerging urban resilience and ecosystem services. We provide an overview of the projects and present global urbanization trends and their effects on ecosystems and biodiversity, as a context for new knowledge generated in the URBES case-study cities, including Berlin, New York, Rotterdam, Barcelona, and Stockholm. The cities represent contrasting urbanization trends and examples of emerging science–policy linkages for improving urban landscapes for human health and well-being. In addition, we highlight 10 key messages of the global CBO assessment as a knowledge platform for urban leaders to incorporate state-of-the-art science on URBES into decision-making for sustainable and resilient urban development.
Highlights
Urbanization is an important driver of land-use and landcover change (Eigenbrod et al 2011; Elmqvist et al 2013), which in turn alters biodiversity and the delivery of critical ecosystem services of importance for urban resident health and well-being (Seto et al 2013)
Underpinned by the global framework provided in the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook (CBO), this article focuses on the development trends of five of the case-study cities of the Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (URBES) project: Barcelona, Berlin, New York, Rotterdam, and Stockholm
We discuss key findings in the URBES and CBO projects, and how they can be used to increase the capacity of urban planning and management to utilize urban ecosystems for human health and wellbeing
Summary
Urbanization is an important driver of land-use and landcover change (Eigenbrod et al 2011; Elmqvist et al 2013), which in turn alters biodiversity and the delivery of critical ecosystem services of importance for urban resident health and well-being (Seto et al 2013). Between 1970 and 2000, urban land area in North America expanded at a rate of 3.31 % (Seto et al 2011), creating unique challenges for conserving biodiversity and maintaining regional and local ecosystem services (McPhearson et al 2013a). Both Europe and North America have historical urbanization patterns of growth and sprawl (Marcotullio and Solecki 2013), more recent urbanization differs between the different regions, between cities within these regions, and within cities and their hinterlands. The world’s first assessment of its kind, the Foundation provides a new basis for future understanding of the relationship between urbanization patterns, land-use change processes, governance mechanisms, and urban policy, planning, and management with the goal of achieving livable cities with healthy ecosystems and residents.
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