Component Of Urban Landscapes Research Articles

Evaluating the impact of urban landscape elements on the sense of security and local belonging-case study: Tongdejie, China

Introduction: The urban landscape is a pivotal element shaping the urban space and significantly influences its desirability or undesirability. It has a profound connection with people and their living environment, playing a crucial role in providing identity and a sense of peace to citizens. As urbanization expands and population density increases, the importance of security as a basic need within the urban structure becomes even more significant. A confusing, unattractive, or monotonous urban space can adversely affect citizens’ feelings and reduce their sense of security.Methods: In this research, we investigated the relationship between urban landscape components and the sense of local belonging, as well as the relationship between the sense of security and the urban landscape. We sought to understand how the design and planning of the urban landscape can have a positive impact on urban life and increase citizens’ sense of belonging to the city and its surroundings.Results: Our findings revealed a positive and significant correlation between the sense of local belonging and the sense of security. Living in a safe, attractive, and desirable environment fosters and strengthens feelings of belonging to the environment. This strengthening of the sense of belonging increases residents’ satisfaction and enhances the quality of life in cities.Discussion: The urban landscape serves as a powerful tool that, when optimally designed, can positively influence urban life and enhance citizens’ sense of belonging to their city and its surrounding environment. By prioritizing security and creating aesthetically pleasing and engaging urban spaces, cities can significantly improve the well-being and quality of life of their residents.

Evaluating the Enablers of Effective Sustainable Management Practices for Public Ultra-Modern Market Infrastructure in Niger-Delta Region

This research investigates the pivotal factors facilitating the successful implementation of sustainable management practices in public ultra-modern markets, essential components of urban landscapes facing numerous challenges. Despite the growing acknowledgment of sustainability in urban development, a significant gap exists in comprehending the specific drivers behind effective management within these bustling market infrastructures. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, combining cross-sectional surveys and personal interviews, 239 administered questionnaires with a 76.7% response rate, reveals this study employs a pragmatic case study design focused on the Niger-Delta Region, Nigeria. Questionnaires were distributed, and interviews and observations conducted in New Town Market (Port Harcourt, Rivers State), Swali Market (Yenegoa, Bayelsa State), and Uvwie Market (Warri, Delta State). The study, based on key enablers of sustainable management, including organizational structure design, teamwork ethos, knowledge sharing, commitment levels, good governance, regular sustainable management meetings, and motivation for the management practice team. Quantitative data were analyzed through frequency tabulation, percentages, mean, and Relative Importance Index (RII), while qualitative data underwent transcription and analysis employing data reduction, content analysis, and thematic analysis. The findings underscore the significance of these enablers in enhancing infrastructure management effectiveness within public ultra-modern markets in Nigeria.

Assessing and transferring social value of ecosystem services in wetland parks based on SolVES model

Wetland parks have become important components of urban landscapes. Assessing and transferring the social value of wetland ecosystem services is important for enhancing human well-being. In this study, we selected Caiyunhu National Wetland Park (CNWP) in Chongqing, China, Huanhuaxi Wetland Park (HWP) in Chengdu, Sichuan, China and Wusongpaotaiwan National Wetland Park (WNWP) in Shanghai, China for study. The Social Value for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) model is constructed from a survey to quantitatively evaluate the social value of CNWP. Then, the social value transfer model is used to predict the social values at WNWP and HWP. This study discovered the followings: (1) when there are abundant environmental factors, aesthetic value and recreation value have higher performance, and policy sites with greater socioeconomic matching benefit more from the transfer model. (2) Water bodies and bridges have a high impact on social value in Chinese-style wetland parks, often generating higher social value near the water. (3) In the future construction of wetland parks, more attention should be given to the combination of water, bridges and roads, which can improve the cultural services of wetland parks. The value transfer model has a positive impact on the evaluation of the social value of wetland parks, and improving its utilization can play a guiding role in future wetland park planning and renovation.

Economic valuation of urban forest using contingent valuation method: The case of Hawassa city, Ethiopia

Urban forests are a significant and essential, but frequently ignored, component of urban landscapes. In many cases, only the resource's commercial value is taken into account when developing policies. To this end, the contingent valuation method (CVM) was applied to evaluate the economic value of urban forest parks (UFPs) in Hawassa City. This paper is estimating households’ maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for urban forest parks (UFPs) and identifying factors affecting households’ (HH's) WTP for conservation and development UFPs using double bounded (DD) CVM. The data was analyzed using a bivariate probit and probit model. Using the double bounded and open ended (OE) strategy choices, it was found that the communities' joint WTP was worth 23,209,329.6 Ethiopia Birr (ETB) and 14,761,008 ETB, respectively. The cost of conservation and development of UFP was found to be 1,696,000 ETB. According to the research, age, sex, marital status, family size, income, ownership status, education level, and bid amount have significant impact on the project's WTP. In general, the study showed that residents might gain approximately (23,209,329.6 - 1,696,000ETB) 21,513,329.6 ETB as a welfare enhancement by comparing the cost of conservation and development of UFPs with their benefits; consequently, such projects would benefit them more. As a result, the government should place greater emphasis on its UFP policies and projects. Besides, specific socioeconomic aspects should be considered when developing a project or policy for the conservation and development of UFPs in urban areas.

Exploring the Relationships between Land Surface Temperature and Its Influencing Factors Using Multisource Spatial Big Data: A Case Study in Beijing, China

A better understanding of the relationship between land surface temperature (LST) and its influencing factors is important to the livable, healthy, and sustainable development of cities. In this study, we focused on the potential effect of human daily activities on LST from a short-term perspective. Beijing was selected as a case city, and Weibo check-in data were employed to measure the intensity of human daily activities. MODIS data were analyzed and used for urban LST measurement. We adopted spatial autocorrelation analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, and spatial autoregressive model to explore the influence mechanism of LST, and the study was performed at both the pixel scale and subdistrict scale. The results show that there is a significant and positive spatial autocorrelation between LSTs, and urban landscape components are strong explainers of LST. A significant and positive effect of human daily activities on LST is captured at night, and this effect can last and accumulate over a few hours. The variables of land use functions and building forms show varying impacts on LST from daytime to nighttime. Moreover, the comparison between results at different scales indicates that the relationships between LST and some explainers are sensitive to the study scale. The current study enriches the literature on LST and offers meaningful and practical suggestions for the monitoring, early warning, and management of urban thermal environment with remote sensing technology and spatial big data sources.

Symbolic functions of the urban Belgrade landscape components – children’s perspective

This anthropological paper views the urban landscape of Belgrade as a system of signs, consequently discussing the functional aspects of those urban landscape components, which children attributed the status of symbols. In a methodological sense, the work is based on the results of two field surveys ? the first one, conducted in March 2021 in the Primary School ?Kneginja Milica? in New Belgrade, and the second one, from November 2022, which increased the representativeness of the sample, raised the age limit of the respondents, and expanded the territorial coverage of the home city of the children who participated in the research ? providing collectively a sample of 70 children aged 7?14. The aim of the work is to provide an input to the (so far rare) contributions at the intersection of two subdisciplines ? urban anthropology and anthropology of children/ childhood, as well as to encourage further research in this area.

Green areas state assessment within the urban territories

The urbanized environment is a complex heterogeneous system that is constantly changing. In large cities, there is a complex stress effect on living organisms. Different areas of the city may be permanently or temporarily dominated by a certain stress factor. Vegetation is a component of urban landscapes, which are natural and artificial objects of various functional purposes. The ecological functions of green spaces include: environmental protection, environmental regulation and aesthetic functions. All these functions play an important role within residential buildings, especially in children's playgrounds. Various types of damage to green spaces negatively affect their main functions. The susceptibility to damage of woody plants by insects depends on anthropogenic factors of the environment, which lead to the weakening of plants and to the loss of resistance to these types of negative influences. The resistance of plants to diseases often decreases under the influence of transport and industrial pollution in the external environment. The purpose of the study is phytopathological analysis of the green areas state on children's playgrounds in Kharkiv. Green plantations state assessment methods of urban areas using various technical means are analyzed. green plantings condition and morbidity analysis using one of the offered methods is carried out. According to the results of phytopathological analysis, it was determined that 100 % of the species Aesculus hippocastanum L., which grow on playgrounds in Kharkiv, are affected by Cameraria ohridella. Among the bushes, Syringa vulgaris L. and Spiraea L. are the most affected by diseases and pests

High soil carbon sequestration rates persist several decades in turfgrass systems: A meta-analysis

Managed turfgrass is a common component of urban landscapes that is expanding under current land use trends. Previous studies have reported high rates of soil carbon sequestration in turfgrass, but no systematic review has summarized these rates nor evaluated how they change as turfgrass ages. Here we conducted a meta-analysis of soil carbon sequestration rates from 63 studies globally, comprised mostly of C3 grass species in the U.S., including 24 chronosequence studies that evaluated carbon changes over 75 years or longer. We showed that turfgrass established within the last ten years had a positive mean soil C sequestration rate of 5.3 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1 (95% CI = 3.7–6.2), which is higher than rates reported for several soil conservation practices. Areas converted to turfgrass from forests were an exception, sometimes lost soil carbon, and had a cross-study mean sequestration rate that did not differ from 0. In some locations, soil C accumulated linearly with turfgrass age over several decades, but the major trend was for soil C accumulation rates to decline through time, reaching a cross-study mean sequestration rate that was not different from 0 at 50 years. We show that fitting soil C timeseries with a mechanistically derived function rather than purely empirical functions did not alter these conclusions, nor did employing equivalent soil mass versus fixed-depth carbon stock accounting. We conducted a partial greenhouse gas budget that estimated emissions from mowing, N-fertilizer production, and soil N2O emissions. When N fertilizer was applied, average maintenance emissions offset 32% of C sequestration in recently established turfgrass. Potential emission removals by turfgrass can be maximized with reduced-input management. Management decisions that avoid losing accrued soil C—both when turfgrass is first established and when it is eventually replaced with other land-uses—will also help maximize turfgrass C sequestration potential.

Google Earth Engine for Informal Settlement Mapping: A Random Forest Classification Using Spectral and Textural Information

Accurate and reliable informal settlement maps are fundamental decision-making tools for planning, and for expediting informed management of cities. However, extraction of spatial information for informal settlements has remained a mammoth task due to the spatial heterogeneity of urban landscape components, requiring complex analytical processes. To date, the use of Google Earth Engine platform (GEE), with cloud computing prowess, provides unique opportunities to map informal settlements with precision and enhanced accuracy. This paper leverages cloud-based computing techniques within GEE to integrate spectral and textural features for accurate extraction of the location and spatial extent of informal settlements in Durban, South Africa. The paper aims to investigate the potential and advantages of GEE’s innovative image processing techniques to precisely depict morphologically varied informal settlements. Seven data input models derived from Sentinel 2A bands, band-derived texture metrics, and spectral indices were investigated through a random forest supervised protocol. The main objective was to explore the value of different data input combinations in accurately mapping informal settlements. The results revealed that the classification based on spectral bands + textural information yielded the highest informal settlement identification accuracy (94% F-score). The addition of spectral indices decreased mapping accuracy. Our results confirm that the highest spatial accuracy is achieved with the ‘textural features’ model, which yielded the lowest root-mean-square log error (0.51) and mean absolute percent error (0.36). Our approach highlights the capability of GEE’s complex integrative data processing capabilities in extracting morphological variations of informal settlements in rugged and heterogeneous urban landscapes, with reliable accuracy.

Exploring the Impact of Built Environment Attributes on Social Followings Using Social Media Data and Deep Learning

Streets are an important component of urban landscapes and reflect the image, quality of life, and vitality of public spaces. With the help of the Google Cityscapes urban dataset and the DeepLab-v3 deep learning model, we segmented panoramic images to obtain visual statistics, and analyzed the impact of built environment attributes on a restaurant’s popularity. The results show that restaurant reviews are affected by the density of traffic signs, flow of pedestrians, the bicycle slow-moving index, and variations in the terrain, among which the density of traffic signs has a significant negative correlation with the number of reviews. The most critical factor that affects ratings on restaurants’ food, indoor environment and service is pedestrian flow, followed by road walkability and bicycle slow-moving index, and then natural elements (sky openness, greening rate, and terrain), traffic-related factors (road network density and motor vehicle interference index), and artificial environment (such as the building rate), while people’s willingness to stay has a significant negative effect on ratings. The qualities of the built environment that affect per capita consumption include density of traffic signs, pedestrian flow, and degree of non-motorized design, where the density of traffic signs has the most significant effect.

Investigation of The Sufficiency of Antalya Parks

Urban green spaces are areas established to meet the recreational needs of urban people. Although green spaces vary from country to country and region in terms of plan and design features, they were basically created to allow people to meet with nature. Parks are the basic components of urban landscapes that provide environmental and social functional value. Urban parks, in particular, provide spaces for outdoor physical activities. In order to take advantage of the opportunities of activities in the parks, users must have convenient access to these resources. One of the most important aspects for researching the use and potential benefits of urban green spaces is the assessment of their geographic accessibility. The widespread use of smart city systems and the gradual expansion of their usage areas increase the importance of spatial analysis. Spatial analyses are used in today’s urban management in the processes of determining social needs, identifying current problems, and putting forward solutions. When spatial analyses are used together with GIS, the field of application develops even more, and it supports local governments in responding to the changing demands of the society for a better life. In the study, the adequacy and accessibility of 160 city parks in Konyaaltı District of Antalya Province were examined. In terms of the adequacy of the parks, the area value of 10 m2 per person determined with the Construction Plan numbered 3194 was taken as basis. In terms of accessibility, distance values of 200, 400, 800, 1,200 meters were examined. Neighborhood boundaries and population information were obtained from the relevant units, and Arc-GIS software was used in the analysis. It was determined that the parks in Konyaaltı district were insufficient in terms of adequacy and accessibility. Finally, suggestions were made in terms of increasing the adequacy of the parks and ensuring accessibility.

Impacts of Spatial Configuration of Land Surface Features on Land Surface Temperature across Urban Agglomerations, China

Booming urbanization triggers a significant modification of surface landscape configuration and hence complex urban climates. Considerable concerns exist regarding impacts of impervious surface area (ISA) and/or urban green space (UGS) on land surface temperature (LST). However, a knowledge gap still exists concerning the influence of urban landscape components and related spatial configuration on LST. To date, case studies have usually focused on individual cities, while few reports have addressed the impacts of urban surface components and relevant spatial configurations on LST within cities of different sizes, at different latitudes, and with different climatic backgrounds. Considering case studies from different latitudes and various climatic backgrounds can assist in obtaining comprehensive viewpoints about impacts of urban surface features on LST in both space and time. In this paper we analyzed data from three urban agglomerations, Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the Pearl River Delta (PRD), over the period 2000–2015. These three regions are densely populated with the most developed socio-economy across China, and are also dominated by booming urbanization. Based on Landsat remotely sensed data, we included the spatial pattern of surface components and related configuration into our analysis, quantifying impacts of spatial configuration of surface components on LST in both space and time. We found generally rising LST over all cities, which can be attributed to continuous urban expansion-induced decreased UGS. Generally, LST over ISA was 0.96–7.96 °C higher than that over UGS. We investigated the impacts of spatial pattern of land surface components on LST and found that the joint effect of the composition and spatial configuration of land surface components had the most significant impact on LST. Specifically, ISA and UGS had higher impact on LST than the impact of geometry of the ISA and UGS on LST. In the future, continuous expansion of ISA and continuous shrinking of UGS will drive the rising tendency of LST. Moreover, a larger rising tendency of LST will be observed in larger sized cities than smaller sized cities.

Evaluation of Clover Lawns as a Substitute of Common Grass Lawns in Landscape to Reduce the Moving Costs

Introduction Turfgrasses, as one of the important components of urban landscapes, have played a vital role in this regard. Turfgrasses have provided functional, recreational, and aesthetic benefits to urban landscapes. Multiple benefits of turf are well documented such as recreational health, enhanced water infiltration, erosion control, mediation in heat-island effects and reduction in nutrient leaching. But the main problems of turfgrass development are the cost of turfgrass seeds, maintenance costs such as moving, as well as the high water requirement in arid and semi-arid regions. Thus, the reduction of lawn culture in the landscape is one of the decision has taken in parks and green spaces organization of Tehran, Isfahan and even Mashhad. Materials and Methods So the aim of this experiment was to compare three common turfgrasses with two clover varieties as turf replacement to reduce landscape maintenance cost specially moving cost. So, some growth factors of clover lawn: Trifolium repens var. Calway and Trifolium repens var. Pipolina (micro clover) and three turfgrasses of Festuca arundinacea L. and Lolium perenneL. and commercial sport turf mixture (from NAk-Nederland Ltd.) were compared together. This research project was conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications in the research field of the Department of Horticultural Science and Landscape Engineering‚ Agricultural Faculty‚ Ferdowsi University of Mashhad‚ Mashhad‚ Iran, during 2016 and 2017. The site (59o 38′ E and 36o 16 ′ N; elevation 989 m) is located in an arid and semi- arid region with mean annual rainfall 233.8 mm and long term averages of maximum and minimum temperature are 22.5 oC and 9.3 oC‚ respectively. Turfgrass plots were established by directly sowing the seeds in April, 2016. The planting rate of the seedling considering their pure live seeds (PLS) were 45 g.m-2 for Lolium perenne, 34 g.m-2 for Festuca arundinacea, 6.5 g.m-2 for Trifolium repens, 5.5 g.m-2 for micro clover and 39 g.m-2 for commercial mixture of sport turf. The plots were 1 m2 (1m×1m) in size and were prepared after plowing and leveling the soil. The seeds were hand sown and covered with a thin layer of leaf compost and sand. Results and Discussion According to the results in the first evaluation of emergence percentage, Lolium perenne had the highest emergence percentage. But, after 36 days from culture, all plants had 92-98 % coverage which did not have any significant difference among grasses with clover lawns. In terms of density, uniformity and weed density, there was no significant difference between the studied plants. In the other hands, white clover showed the best quality after clipping in both years. At the point of growth index, which have done in this experiment by measuring height and dry weight of clipping, grass lawns had the higher growth index in compered to clover lawn in both years. Festuca arundinacea and Lolium perenne had the highest growth index and white and micro clover had the lowest growth. Also, with air warming, Festuca arundinacea became dominated plant in height and clipping dry weight. In July, Festuca arundinacea produced the highest clipping dry weight by 40 gr.m-2, Lolium perenne (19.52), commercial sport turf (15.68), white clover (6.24) and micro clover (0.36) gr.m-2. Conclusions One of the problems of landscape is reduction of maintenance costs such as moving. So, the low growth of white and micro clover is a positive factor in reduction of the moving costs than turfgrasses. Also, the coverage and proper density of clover lawns are similar to grass lawns and did not have a significant difference with them. The character of low growth can be effective in reduction of irrigation costs in white and micro clover, which requires more research and examination in future. This is a positive point in the white clover and micro clover that do not need to move or cut every months. Almost, clover moving is recommended for removing their flower. Therefore, it is recommended to use white and micro clover as a replacement with less maintenance costs in landscape. Finally, the results of cultivation of grass and clover as monoculture in this study can be used to produce clover-grass mixtures suitable for the climate of our country (arid and semi-arid regions), instead of importing turf mixtures from European countries.

Urban ecological novelty assessment: Implications for urban green infrastructure planning and management

Urban areas are continuously subjected to anthropogenic transformations that result in the emergence of novel urban ecosystems. To prepare for and respond to contemporary negative environmental impacts (e.g., climate change, land-use change, biological invasions), it is increasingly urgent to plan and adapt cities' green infrastructure. Accordingly, the inclusion of the novel ecosystems concept in urban planning and management is pertinent and necessary. Nevertheless, identification or measurement of ecological novelty has been challenging and can be problematic without the appropriate methods. The objectives of this study are to 1) develop and test a methodology to assess novelty in urban ecosystems grounded on the combination of both human and biotic dimensions of the novel ecosystems concept, and 2) discuss the implications that urban ecological novelty assessment can have for future urban green infrastructure planning and management. In contrast to other proposed methods, this assessment considers the human dimension of the concept as equally important as the biotic dimension, once the human presence is pervasive and a fundamental component of urban landscapes. The proposed working methodology was tested in Porto, Portugal, in study sites with contrasting human-induced transformation pathways and plant species assemblages, thus theoretically representing different degrees of urban ecological novelty. The methodology developed in this work is straightforward and can be adjusted and replicated to other cities according to available data and tools. Above all, the assessment of urban ecological novelty can inform future urban planning and management and assist in investigating novel urban ecosystems.

The influence of greenspace characteristics and building configuration on depression in the elderly

The positive effects of natural landscapes, including green and blue spaces, have been widely documented on the psychological well-being of urban citizens; however, there is limited information on the effect of artificial landscapes, despite being significant components of urban landscapes. This study aimed to explore how the characteristics of green and blue spaces and building configuration are correlated with the mental health status of residents in Beijing, China. The mental health status of 757 citizens aged over 60 was obtained through questionnaires using GDS-15 (a shortened Geriatric Depression Scale). Nine urban landscape indices (including four indices on green and blue spaces and five on building configurations) were applied as independent variables at the neighborhood level. Five circular landscapes with different radii (from 50 to 250 m) that took each neighborhood of interviewees as the center were created to calculated the indices. Hierarchical linear models were estimated to identify the links between urban landscape characteristics and mental health status, controlling for other confounding effects. The results showed that the characteristics of natural landscapes were negatively associated with the psychological disorders of participants within certain distances (100 m and 150 m), while building configurations were positively correlated with the depression in the elderly. The floor area ratio and average building height showed statistically significant and positive correlations with the GDS-15 score. In conclusion, the characteristics of the urban landscape could be used to explore the hidden mechanisms of the pathogenesis of mental disorders in urban citizens.

Vegetation management and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in urban stormwater ponds: implications for regional biodiversity

Designed ecosystems (e.g., gardens or engineered ponds) are increasingly common components of urban landscapes and contribute valuable ecosystem services. However, management of designed ecosystems is typically vegetation-centric and often does not consider associated fauna. Urban ponds typify this relationship as their vegetation is managed to improve ecosystem services, such as aesthetics and stormwater runoff mitigation, but it is unclear how pond management affects associated organisms. Here, we used urban stormwater ponds as a study system to determine how vegetation management related to benthic macroinvertebrate communities in these systems. We compared macroinvertebrates across a range of actively managed to unmanaged stormwater ponds and differentiated direct relationships with vegetation structure from indirect relationships of vegetation modulating pond chemistry. Pond vegetation and chemistry had little influence on macroinvertebrate abundance or diversity but did explain substantial variability in community composition (34%). Actively managed stormwater ponds with simpler vegetation structure were dominated by Amphipoda (scuds) and Diptera (primarily midges), unmanaged ponds with more complex structure were dominated by Oligochaeta (worms), and ponds with intermediate structure were dominated by a variety of macroinvertebrates. These community associations with vegetation management primarily occurred indirectly via changes in pond chemistry, such as unmanaged ponds with higher tree and shrub cover harboring macroinvertebrates characteristic of low oxygen environments. Additionally, variation in management maximized community differences because different macroinvertebrate orders dominated at different management intensities. Variability in the management intensity of plant communities in stormwater ponds may therefore be a feasible strategy to enhance regional benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity in urban landscapes.

Street trees in italian cities: story, biodiversity and integration within the urban environment

Since the nineteenth century, street trees have become a significant component of urban landscapes, with multiple ecological roles and social-economic functions. However, data about their abundance and diversity, and information about the criteria used for the species selection, are still limited. Besides providing a historical overview, we analyze and compare data on abundance, diversity and criteria of species selection of street trees in 15 Italian cities chosen considering their representativeness along a bioclimatic transect across Italy. The biodiversity of urban street trees resulted quite rich with 277 species (about 60% are exotic); among these, Platanus × hispanica Mill. ex Münchh., Celtis australis L. and Quercus ilex L. resulted as the most common species. Besides the general suitability for the local climatic conditions, several factors seem to concur in the species selection, such as their aesthetic appeal and dimension. Other selection criteria based on the species’ ecology or functionality were not evident.

Promotion incentives, infrastructure construction, and industrial landscapes in China

Industrial landscapes are an important component of urban landscapes and have attracted significant attention due to their rapid sprawl. However, few studies have shed light on the impact of institutions on industrial landscapes. This study investigates the forces driving the industrial landscape under China’s unique land use system in the context of political promotion tournaments. Stemming from institutional insights on promotion incentives, this study develops a novel framework to integrate short-term incentives, long-term incentives and infrastructure construction to explain the spatial patterns and to reveal the mechanisms of industrial landscapes in China. Based on land leasing data from 2006 to 2013, this study confirms that short-term promotion incentives affect industrial land development significantly, including competition intensity, age line, and tenure; meanwhile, long-term promotion incentives have indirect effects on industrial landscapes by promoting more infrastructure construction. This study contributes to institutional and structural knowledge to increase the understanding of rapid industrial landscapes, especially industrial land sprawl in China.

Landscape and local site variables differentially influence pollinators and pollination services in urban agricultural sites

Urbanization has detrimental effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, as agricultural and semi-natural habitats are converted into landscapes dominated by built features. Urban agricultural sites are a growing component of urban landscapes and have potential to serve as a source of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provisioning in urban areas. In 19 urban agricultural sites, we investigated how surrounding land cover and local site variables supported bees and pollination services. We found the abundance of bees differentially responded to landscape and local scale variables depending on body size and nesting habit. Large-bodied bees, Bombus and Apis species, were positively associated with increasing amounts of impervious cover, while the abundance of small-bodied soil nesting Halictus species increased as the proportion of flower area, a local variable, increased. Bee richness declined with increasing levels of impervious cover, while bee community composition changed along a gradient of increasing impervious cover. Pollination services, measured at each site using sentinel cucumber plants, declined as hardscape, a local variable, increased. To improve bee conservation and pollination services in urban agricultural sites, our results suggest urban planning strategies should minimize impervious cover at large spatial scales while land managers should focus locally on incorporating floral resources, which increases food and nesting resources especially for smaller bee species. Local site design coupled with regional urban planning can advance the success of urban agriculture, while benefiting biodiversity by creating opportunities for pollinator conservation in urban landscapes.

Quantifying bee assemblages and attractiveness of flowering woody landscape plants for urban pollinator conservation.

Urban and suburban landscapes can be refuges for biodiversity of bees and other pollinators. Public awareness of declining pollinator populations has increased interest in growing plants that provide floral resources for bees. Various publications and websites list “bee-friendly” plants, but such lists are rarely based on empirical data, nor do they emphasize flowering trees and shrubs, which are a major component of urban landscapes. We quantified bee visitation to 72 species of flowering woody landscape plants across 373 urban and suburban sites in Kentucky and southern Ohio, USA, sampling and identifying the bee assemblages associated with 45 of the most bee-attractive species. We found strong plant species effects and variation in seasonal activity of particular bee taxa, but no overall differences in extent of bee visitation or bee genus diversity between native and non–native species, trees and shrubs, or early-, mid-, and late-season blooming plants. Horticulturally-modified varieties of Hydrangea, Prunus, and Rosa with double petals or clusters of showy sterile sepals attracted few bees compared to related plants with more accessible floral rewards. Some of the non-native woody plant species bloomed when floral resources from native plants were scarce and were highly bee-attractive, so their use in landscapes could help extend the flowering season for bees. These data will help city foresters, landscape managers, and the public make informed decisions to create bee–friendly urban and suburban landscapes.