Social–ecological mapping of urban landscapes: Challenges and perspectives on ecosystem services in Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

The need for a sustainable approach to landscape management is increasingly felt in urban planning necessitating the need for new tools and techniques for spatially decision making. The spatial dimensions of sustainability engage processes and interconnections between different land uses and ecosystems at different scales. Therefore, planning for sustainability requires ecological knowledge and approaches. One of the newest and most important urban ecological planning principles is supporting ecosystem processes and services in urban green areas. Green and natural spaces provide ecological services that play a key role in the sustainability of cities. Different urban spaces have diverse needs for ecological services based on their land uses and demographic conditions. In mapping ecosystem services, the first step is reviewing the needs and comparing them with the ecosystem services supply in making integrated plans. This method would be very useful especially in a context with limited data (like the case study of this research). In this paper, an ecosystem services assessment of existing green spaces is done, and socio-ecological needs of these spaces are analyzed. Classification of ecosystem services needs and supply provide comparable data to find where we need more ecosystem services; in addition, it helps planners determine the supply of current ecosystem services in specific neighborhoods. The combination of these maps solves one of the main issues of planning, such as prioritizing neighborhoods in providing green areas according to the social needs to ecosystem services. Moreover, such maps will help to develop the best planting plan to satisfy the specific needs of different neighborhood.