Abstract
Urbanisation is a key driver of land use change and urban growth is set to continue. The provision of ecosystem services depends on the existence of greenspace. Urban morphology is potentially an important influence on ecosystem services. Therefore, it may be possible to promote service provision through an urban structure that supplies the processes and functions that underpin them. However, an understanding of the ability of urban areas to produce multiple ecosystem services, and the spatial pattern of their production, is required. We demonstrate an approach using easily accessible data, to generate maps of key urban ecosystem services for a case study city of Sheffield, UK. Urban greenspace with a mixture of land covers allowed areas of high production of multiple services in the city centre and edges. But crucially the detection of such ‘hotspots’ depended on the spatial resolution of the mapping unit. This shows there is potential to design cities to promote hotspots of production. We discuss how land cover type, its spatial location and how this relates to different suites of services, is key to promoting urban multifunctionality. Detecting trade-offs and synergies associated with particular urban designs will enable more informed decisions for achieving urban sustainability.
Highlights
Urbanisation causes profound changes to natural systems (Grimm et al, 2008), and may result in a decline in ecosystem services – the benefits that humans derive from ecosystems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; Niemelä et al, 2010; Tratalos et al, 2007)
To adopt urban planning that can enhance ecosystem services requires an understanding of the spatial pattern of multiple ecosystem service production in and around cities
The single ecosystem service maps (Fig. 2(a)–(f)) for services mapped at the Historic Environment Character Area (HECA) unit, and see Fig. SM3.1-12 for maps at 500 m grid square and Output Areas (OA) units) show a general trend for ecosystem service production to increase with distance from the city centre
Summary
Urbanisation causes profound changes to natural systems (Grimm et al, 2008), and may result in a decline in ecosystem services – the benefits that humans derive from ecosystems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; Niemelä et al, 2010; Tratalos et al, 2007). To adopt urban planning that can enhance ecosystem services requires an understanding of the spatial pattern of multiple ecosystem service production in and around cities. Urban ecosystems can provide a wide range of ecosystem services such as food supply, air purification, climate regulation (cooling), carbon sequestration, runoff mitigation and noise reduction, as well as recreational services and those that provide psycho-physical and social health benefits (Bolund and Hunhammar, 1999; Gómez-Baggethun and Barton, 2013; Niemelä et al, 2010). The diversity and level of service provision depends largely on the green spaces that exist in and around urban areas, for instance road verges, cemeteries, allotments, gardens, parks and adjacent rural areas (Bastian et al, 2012). The need to manage urban green spaces for services has become of policy importance at the UK and the EU level.
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