Urban biodiversity in an era of climate change: Towards an optimised landscape pattern in support of indigenous wildlife species in urban New Zealand

The need to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban landscapes is widely recognised, yet specific planning and design strategies that promote conservation in urban areas are limited. Little is known about the ability of different types of urban green spaces to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. In this study, we compared the abundance of beneficial arthropods (predators and bees) and measured predation services in two different types of green space, areas of turf and prairies. Beneficial arthropods and predation services were measured three times during the 2011 field season in six Chicago (IL, USA) parks that contained both turf and prairie. Using a repeated measures analysis, we found bee abundance was significantly higher in the prairie compared to turf by August, and predator abundance was higher in the prairie throughout the summer. While predation services were not significantly different between the turf and prairie in June, predation steadily increased in the prairie over the course of the summer with significantly higher rates of predation by August. Of the predators measured, spiders were positively correlated with prairie habitat and negatively correlated with the survival of pest insects. We found turf and prairie differentially supported beneficial arthropod abundance and ecosystem services, suggesting the type of green space incorporated into urban areas may be an integral component to expanding the conservation potential of urban landscapes.

Previous studies have shown that contact with urban green spaces can produce positive effects on people's stress, health and well-being levels. However, much of this research has been conducted in the temperate regions of Europe or North America. Additionally, most studies have only compared the effects of urban and natural areas on health and well-being, but not made a finer distinction between different types of urban green spaces. We tested the relationship between well-being and the access or use of different types of green spaces among young adults in Singapore, a tropical city-state. The results showed that extraversion and emotional stability increased subjective well-being, positive affect and life satisfaction and decreased stress and negative affect. In addition, we found that level of physical activity increased positive affect and health problems increased negative affect. Neither access to green spaces nor the use of green spaces in Singapore significantly affected the well-being metrics considered, contradicting findings in the temperate regions of the world. We hypothesize that the differences in temperature and humidity and the higher greenery and biodiversity levels outside parks in Singapore could explain this phenomenon. Our results thus question the universality of the relationship between well-being and park usage and highlight the need for more research into the multifaceted effects of green spaces on well-being in the tropics.

Increasing urbanization leads to greater loss of interaction with nature over time in a process described as the extinction of experience. Urban green spaces are some of the most prominent sites where individuals can access and interact with nature in urban areas. There is currently a gap in research around how different types of urban green spaces influence nature interactions, their relationships with human well‐being, and what influences these relationships. Greater knowledge of these connections can aid in the design of green spaces that can increase human well‐being and mitigate the extinction of experience. We conducted a visitor survey in an urban nature site in Israel, which consists of both a garden and protected nature area dominated by natural Mediterranean vegetation. We aimed to understand how visitors interacted with nature at the site and how the interactions differed between the protected nature area and the garden. Both frequency of interactions and number of total interactions were measured. We also investigated the extent to which these interactions associated with nature relatedness (using the NRS scale), well‐being (using overall happiness and psychological well‐being) and the variables that influence nature interactions and well‐being outcomes. Visitors who visited the protected nature area were more likely to interact with nature than those who only visited the garden. Nature interactions were significantly associated with an individual's nature relatedness and their perception of whether the site functioned more similarly to an urban park or a protected nature area. Living nearby was associated with greater attachment to and identity with the site, but also lower frequency of nature interactions. Nature interactions were associated with measures of well‐being, including overall happiness, attachment, identity and reflection, but varied depending on well‐being measures. Interactions with nature, and their benefits, are not equal based on both actual opportunity for interaction and perceptions of green spaces. Incorporating user preferences of urban green spaces for more wild nature that individuals also perceive as wilder may allow for greater interaction. Developing urban nature sites that allow for greater interaction can promote human well‐being associated with interactions and combat extinction of experience. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Different types of urban green spaces provide diverse benefits for human health and environmental sustainability, but most studies on access to green space focus on neighborhood parks, with less work on smaller or larger green spaces. In this study, we examined sociodemographic differences in access to green spaces of different sizes for 14,385 census block groups in 12 U.S. cities using a ‘just sustainabilities’ framework. We classified green spaces into street-level greenery (XS), neighborhood parks (S–L; walking and cycling access), and large parks (XL; walking, cycling, and driving access). We ran spatial filtering models at the census block group level using different thresholds based on transportation modes. We uncovered a complex picture of inequality, with consistent injustices for XS green space, and fewer injustices for S–L and XL green space based on socioeconomic status and age, and some instances of just distributions for S–L and XL green space based on race/ethnicity. Our findings present a concerning picture for ‘just sustainabilities’: the green space type that is most often part of sustainability and climate adaptation strategies—street greenery—is unjustly distributed, likely as a result of structural racism in U.S. institutions. By examining multimodal access to green spaces of different sizes, this study helps urban greening professionals develop more just and sustainable strategies.

<p>Urban green spaces are valuable infrastructure in the urban environment because they facilitate natural stormwater management through rainwater retention, decelerated runoff and enhanced evapotranspiration which can also mitigate heat stress. Investigating the complex interactions of water flux partitioning of incoming precipitation into “green” (i.e. evaporation and transpiration) and “blue” (surface runoff and groundwater recharge) water fluxes through urban vegetation is crucial to understand what types of landcover might best balance water re-distribution for a particular geographical setting and provide a cooling effect whilst not compromising groundwater recharge.</p><p>Stable water isotopes are very useful tools to investigate these complex processes. So far, studies investigating high-resolution ecohydrological process dynamics at the urban soil-plant-atmosphere interface, e.g. canopy evaporation, with stable isotopes are rare. Here, we conducted novel field experiments using direct <em>in-situ</em> monitoring of the isotope composition of evaporated atmospheric moisture at different heights above the soil surface, plant xylem and soil water in different types of urban greenspaces in Berlin, Germany. Results show a more homogenous spatio-temporal distribution of water vapour signals within the elevation profile of urban trees compared to grasslands, reflecting continuous interplay of interception evaporation, transpiration and soil evaporation. Additionally, grasslands showed a lower impact on the isotopic composition of atmospheric water vapor, mainly reflecting higher evaporative losses close to the ground surface. Complex patterns of precipitation fractionation under contrasting urban vegetation canopies were also revealed. Topsoil moisture rates strongly depended on the soil type and less on the above vegetation type.</p><p>The collected data on the redistribution of urban water in different types of green spaces is very helpful for the development of isotope aided ecohydrological models. This knowledge can further support valuable decision-making for sustainable urban development across scales.</p>

Tree growth is sensitive to soil pH in urban areas and is often higher than in rural forest. However, there are knowledge gaps on how soil pH and alkalization are affected by urban environments and seasonal climate as well as the cascading effects on tree species. In order to fulfill these gaps, we analyzed the soil pHCaCl of four common native deciduous tree species: Acer platanoides, Tilia cordata, Quercus robur and Betula pendula in five different types of urban green spaces in Kaunas city municipality (Lithuania). The results show that soil pH in urban environments with Betula pendula sites were most alkaline (pH 7.04), whereas the soil pH of urban environments with Acer platanoides (pH 6.7) and Tilia cordata (pH 6.8) were most acidic. The soil pH of street tree greeneries was alkaline, while soils of peri-urban forests and large urban parks were acidic. Differently to natural conditions in peri urban forests the soil pH level drop down by 0.5 is observed during spring-autumn period in broad street greeneries with largest urban pressure. The variation in soil pH of the different types of green space and tree species shows that city planner should consider the unique conditions of all green space to maximize their potential for human well-being.

Assessing how green space types affect ecosystem services delivery in Porto, Portugal

Urbanization is one of the most intensive forms of landscape and habitat transformation, resulting in species loss, and taxonomic and functional homogenization of different communities. Whilst green infrastructure (the network of natural and semi-natural areas in cities) has been studied extensively in terms of specific features that promote biodiversity, there have been no studies that have assessed how species richness in different types of green space (GS) varies with increasing levels of urbanization in the surrounding matrix. We studied the effects of different types of GS and urbanization in the surrounding matrix on bird communities in the mid-sized city of Göttingen, Germany. We used the point-count method for bird observations in allotments and parks. To determine the level of urbanization, we calculated percentage of impervious surfaces around GSs. Increasing levels of urbanization around GSs had no effect on the species richness, functional traits or the community composition of birds. Nevertheless, we found that species richness and functional traits varied according to GS type. Parks had a greater species richness and were found to have more ground nesting and tropical migrant birds compared to allotments. We found more cavity nesting and resident birds in allotments. As different types of GS can contribute to the presence of different species and functional trait variations, their positive effect on bird species richness can be enhanced when they are present together in urban landscapes. Our findings suggest that green spaces with a high variety of local characteristics should be incorporated into urban planning designs in order to ensure diverse bird communities in cities.

Access to green spaces in urban regions is vital for the well-being of citizens. In this article, we present data on green space quality and path distances to different types of green spaces. The path distances represent green space accessibility using active travel modes (walking, cycling). The path distances were calculated using the pedestrian street network across the seven largest urban regions in Finland. We derived the green space typology from the Urban Atlas Data that is available across functional urban areas in Europe and enhanced it with national data on water bodies, conservation areas and recreational facilities and routes from Finland. We extracted the walkable street network from OpenStreetMap and calculated shortest paths to different types of green spaces using open-source Python programming tools. Network distances were calculated up to ten kilometers from each green space edge and the distances were aggregated into a 250 m × 250 m statistical grid that is interoperable with various statistical data from Finland. The geospatial data files representing the different types of green spaces, network distances across the seven urban regions, as well as the processing and analysis scripts are shared in an open repository. These data offer actionable information about green space accessibility in Finnish urban regions and support the integration of green space quality and active travel modes into further research and planning activities.

What can global positioning systems tell us about the contribution of different types of urban greenspace to children's physical activity?

Evaluation of urban green space landscape planning scheme based on PSO-BP neural network model

The distinct ecological and social roles that wild spaces play in urban ecosystems

With the development of society and the improvement of urban economic level, people are no longer satisfied with the simple material and functional requirements of the city; thus, the spiritual requirements of city beauty, environmental quality, place atmosphere, and so on need to be improved. Based on the above background, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the landscape planning of Guangzhou’s digital city based on spatial information from the perspective of smart cities. Based on the relevant theoretical research, this paper combs the ideas of intelligent urban road landscape design. This paper analyzes the concept of urban road and smart road and puts forward the definition and characteristics of intelligent urban road landscape; according to the research on the development status of urban road and the connotation of smart city, combined with the concept and principle of urban road landscape design, it summarizes the design method of smart city road landscape. This paper, taking the innovative design of urban landscape as the research object and using the research methods of literature analysis and field investigation, innovatively combines the urban landscape design with digital information technology, changes the traditional landscape design ideas, constructs the urban landscape innovative design model, realizes the personalization of the urban landscape design, as well as the intelligent, digital, diversified, and humanized service and function. The experimental results show that nearly 60% of people are satisfied with the Guangzhou digital urban landscape planning based on spatial information in the smart city perspective.

Big-data mining approaches based on Artificial Intelligence models can help forecast biodiversity changes before they happen. These approaches can predict macroscopic species distribution patterns and trends that can inform preventive measures to avoid the loss of ecosystem functions and services. They can, therefore, help study and mitigate climate change implications on biodiversity conservation in fragile ecosystems. Wetlands are particularly fragile ecosystems where climate change poses severe risks and has dramatically reduced their size over the past century, with profound consequences on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Through big-data mining approaches, we can predict future wetland biodiversity trends in the context of climate change. This paper proposes such predictive analysis for a specific wetland: The Massaciuccoli Lake basin in Tuscany, Italy. This basin is a critical tourist attraction due to its rich biodiversity, making it an area of interest for citizens, tourists, and scientists. However, the region's suitability for native and non-native species is at risk due to climate and land-use change. Using machine-learning models, we predict the potential effects of climate change on animal spatial distribution in the basin under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios. The results suggest that habitat suitability has generally improved from 1950 to today, presumably owing to the targeted conservation strategies adopted in the area, but climate change will severely reduce bird biodiversity by 2050 while favouring several insect species' proliferation and other species' habitat change, even under a medium-emission scenario. This will lead to significant changes in the basin's biodiversity. Our methodology is adaptable to other wetland basins, being fully based on open data and models. The spatially explicit modelling used in this research provides valuable information for policymakers and spatial planners, complementing traditional biodiversity trend analyses.

Urban green space plays a key role in urban ecosystems, and the quality of the landscape directly affects its ecological, aesthetic, and social functions. On the basis of field survey data from 349 sample sites in Zhengzhou City, this study constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system for plantscape and systematically evaluated 40 representative plantscape units using the hierarchical analysis method (AHP) and the scenic beauty estimation method (SBE). The results indicated that: (1) In the analysis of plant diversity, the diversity indices for trees, shrubs, and herbs in park green spaces were higher than those observed in other types of green spaces, with overall species richness reaching its highest level. (2) The results of the AHP comprehensive evaluation revealed that 10% of the samples were classified as high-quality (CEI ≥ 8 points), 57.5% as medium-to-high quality (6 ≤ CEI < 8 points), and 32.5% as medium or below (CEI < 6 points). The mean comprehensive scores across different green space types were ranked as follows: park green space> ancillary green space> protective green space> regional green space> plaza land. (3) The SBE evaluation results showed that only 40% of the samples achieved standardized scores above zero, while 60% scored below zero, indicating that the overall aesthetic quality of the planted landscapes was low and required optimization and improvement. (4) Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed that the AHP and SBE methods were highly consistent in terms of the ranking of the plant landscape units, and there was a significant positive correlation. This study combines quantitative evaluation and perceptual analysis methods to systematically reveal the characteristics and differences of plant escape among different types of green space in Zhengzhou City, which provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for the optimal design of plant escape in urban green spaces and the high-quality development of these spaces.