Abstract
Urban green infrastructure has the potential to offer multiple ecosystem services to society. However, there is little information about the role of these tree dominated, public streetscapes on the local-scale provision of ecosystem services in European mid-sized cities. In the present study, we explored the local-scale effects of different tree dominated streetscape types on mitigating temperatures and air pollution in the city of Bolzano, Italy by integrating the ENVI-met and UFORE models as well as local field, pollution and climate data. We found that total estimated air pollution removal by trees in Bolzano was 2.42 metric tons per year (t/yr); with ozone (1.2 t/yr) being the pollutant most removed and carbon monoxide (0.03 t/yr) the least. Total air pollution removal (901.4 kg/yr) was greatest in parks. Total biogenic volatile organic compound emissions, an ecosystem disservice, were also estimated. The ENVI-met simulations found that urban trees can reduce streetscape temperatures by up to 2 °C during the summer and improve human thermal comfort. Results can be used to better understand the dynamics of local-scale ecosystem services of mid-size European cities and to better assess the role of urban streetscapes and green infrastructure in improving human well-being and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Highlights
Increased urbanisation is altering natural and semi-natural ecosystems, causing the loss of vegetation, biodiversity, open spaces, and changing both hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles [1]
Following Baró et al.’s approach for another southern European city [78], we focused on two measurable ecosystem services (‘‘air purification’’ and ‘‘microclimate regulation’’) and one ecosystem disservices (Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions)
These results show that the ENVI-met model can be used to assess the outdoor thermal comfort of urban green infrastructure at the local-scale
Summary
Increased urbanisation is altering natural and semi-natural ecosystems, causing the loss of vegetation, biodiversity, open spaces, and changing both hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles [1]. Average temperatures in large metropolitan areas of 100,000 to 1 million people can be 5–10 °C warmer than surrounding rural areas and results in urban heat island (UHI) effects [2,3,4]. Incidences of longer and warmer summer temperatures are increasing and this is likely due to climate change [5]. These increased temperatures are resulting in increased mortalities during summer heat waves [6,7,8,9]. A number of health and environmental issues are arising from these altered ecosystems. Effective planning strategies for the urban environment are needed to improve the local-scale climates and to provide other multiple benefits, such as energy savings and the reduction of health risks [10]
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