Abstract
With the uncertainties that our societies are living with (the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change), it becomes essential to provide urban planners and decision-makers with state-of-the-art and user-friendly methodologies to incorporate ecosystem service considerations into their designs for resilient cities. In this regard, urban forests play a crucial role. The quantification of the ecosystem services is geo-specific and needs studies in different urban contexts. At this scope, we evaluated the urban forest of a neighborhood of a densely built-up Italian city (Perugia) with a low level of urban greenery management and with a tree inventory still in progress. Furthermore, we defined a tool helpful in tree-planting decisions and management. This paper involves citizens in field research for trees inventory. Then, it uses i-Tree Eco to evaluate four ecosystem services (carbon storage and sequestration, pollution removal, and runoff avoided) provided by 373 inventoried urban trees belonging to 57 species. Our results show that Italian Municipal tree inventories do not adequately represent their urban forest and that citizens’ participation provides a cost-effective method for integrating field data. Finally, the paper develops an easy tool helping local administrations enhance the ecosystem services provisions in urban green design.
Highlights
In 2050, around 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, up from the current estimate of 55% [1], and cities need to increase their resilience to respond to numerous uncertainties
Public and political advocacy for urban forest conservation and maintenance could be improved by quantifying the ecosystem services provided by urban trees [12]
The goals of the research are (i) evaluating the effectiveness of citizens involvement in field research to realize tree inventories, (ii) evaluating the ecosystem services provided by urban trees in Mediterranean urban private and public areas of central Italy that are densely built-up, and (iii) developing an easy tool usable in decision support for urban green system planning and management able to strengthen the regulating ecosystem services
Summary
In 2050, around 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, up from the current estimate of 55% [1], and cities need to increase their resilience to respond to numerous uncertainties (increment of inhabitants, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, etc.). To achieve this aim, many scholars evaluated that nature inside cities provides multiple ecosystem services. Urban tree cover has been declining recently, driven by competition for land in densely built-up cities [11] In this context, public and political advocacy for urban forest conservation and maintenance could be improved by quantifying the ecosystem services provided by urban trees [12]. Many scholars have researched this issue [6,13,14,15], improving the understanding and appreciation of the numerous benefits that urban forests
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