Urban Green Infrastructure Research Articles

Earlier Flowering Phenology and Pollinator Visitation on Urban Green Roofs Compared to Ground-Level Gardens

Urban green space, green infrastructure, and horticultural installations are gaining recognition for their potential to foster biodiversity. Green roofs are challenging growing environments for plants, characterized by extreme substrate temperatures, high light intensity, limited moisture availability, and limited substrate depth. Plants have a variety of physiological responses to these unique conditions, but little is known about how green roof growing conditions affect ecological characteristics like plant flowering phenology. Meanwhile, studies are only just uncovering the degree to which green roofs can provide habitat and support urban pollinator biodiversity. We evaluated the flowering phenology and made in situ pollinator observations of 15 plant taxa growing both on green roof systems and at ground level in Denver, Colorado, over two growing seasons. We found that flowering phenology occurs substantially earlier on green roofs compared to ground level among the observed plant taxa and observed a greater number of pollinators on green roofs early in the season, compared to ground level, presumably due to the availability of floral resources among the observed plant taxa. We observed significantly higher substrate temperatures along with wider diurnal temperature amplitude during the growing season that may contribute to the observed phenological patterns. Divergence in flowering phenology between individual plants of the same species on green roofs and plants at ground-level may have implications for organisms that rely on floral resources in urban environments. Earlier flower initiation on green roofs may provide pollinators with unique foraging opportunities and aid targeted conservation where early-season floral resources are limited.

From strategy to implementation: Mainstreaming urban green infrastructure in Austria’s spatial planning instruments for climate change adaptation

Safeguarding existing and establishing additional urban green infrastructure (UGI) and, thus, utilising its climate regulatory services is an essential field of action for climate change adaptation (CCA) in urban areas. In particular, safeguarding and improving UGI on private land in mostly residential areas is a central lever for adaptation as a focus solely on public land – typically roads, squares and parks – would address only a small share of urban areas. For many years, CCA has had a strategic focus on the provision of ecosystem services (ESS) through UGI, and spatial planning has been assigned a pivotal role in its implementation. Both, establishing and safeguarding UGI, however, encounters obstacles in planning practice. In fact, a degradation and loss of UGI can be observed in many Austrian cities. The research therefore aims to elaborate to what degree Austrian spatial planning policies integrate UGI for effective CCA and which implementation obstacles exist. Based on a climate proofing framework, the study utilises a policy analysis, a dogmatic legal analysis as well as expert interviews to better understand the implementation constraints.The results show that four barriers prevent safeguarding and establishing UGI for CCA on private land in Austria: (i) lack of an explicit political target setting for spatial planning on all policy levels; (ii) lack of legal obligation for spatial planning authorities to take action; (iii) lack of reliable indicators for analysing, controlling and monitoring UGI; (iv) lack of legally binding instruments which govern UGI on private land. Adapting regulatory framework conditions for spatial planning by imposing a general legal obligation on municipalities to integrate UGI planning in spatial planning and foster implementation, can improve UGI implementation on private plots in residential areas. The establishment of a link between the ESS approaches with the statutory spatial planning instruments especially at the level of development plans is necessary and a prerequisite to effectively enhance CCA through the use of ESS of UGI. Potential improvements would need to address all four barriers and establish a consistent implementation pathway. In doing so, green area indicators can help to inform individual development decisions and to monitor and control UGI in general.

LCA for territorial metabolism analysis: An application to organic waste management planning

The management of biodegradable waste in landfills is associated to a range environmental impacts and refers to a linear model regarded as unsustainable. At the same time, many agricultural and urban soils present low organic matter content. Composting is emerging as a good practice for converting organic waste into a new resource able to improve soil properties, thus providing regulation Ecosystem Services. Considering a territorial metabolism perspective, this work discusses the potential contribution to regional planning of a transferable methodology for quantifying environmental impacts and benefits associated to waste management, based on a combined use of Life Cycle Assessment and Geographic Information Systems, and considering Ecosystem Services deriving from the application of compost in agricultural soils. The approach was tested through a site-dependent analysis based on primary data, referring to year 2019 and focusing on the Veneto Region, Italy. Results indicate that direct benefits associated to the use of compost and the thermal energy to district heating are compensating from 29 % to 51 % of the impacts associated to compost production, while waste transports represent the largest share of the impacts, covering between 52 % and 78 % of the total flows considered. The proposed methodology is applied for comparing the reference condition to alternative scenarios, in the perspective of providing support in Strategic Environmental Assessment procedures. In this context, results shown markedly lower impacts associated to compost production, with respect to organic waste treatment, for 5 out of 6 of the considered categories (freshwater eutrophication 100:1, climate change 5:1), with the notable exception of water resource depletion. Scenarios produced are discussed with respect to the choice between centralized and non-centralized plants, and the characterization of potential benefits at the territorial scale associated to compost use for urban green infrastructures. With respect to this latter point, results showed an underdeveloped use of compost-related ES flow, compared to its capacity, suggesting an interest for further research aimed at estimating compost requirements by urban and peri-urban soils.

Modeling the Normalized Urban Heat Island for the City of Karlsruhe by Linking Urban Morphology and Green Infrastructure

Citizens in urban areas are affected by the urban heat island (UHI) effect, resulting in increased thermal heat compared to rural areas. This threat is exacerbated by global climate change. Therefore, it is necessary to assess human thermal comfort and risk for decision making. This is important for planners (climate resilience), the health sector (information for vulnerable people), tourism, urban designers (aesthetics), and building architects. Urban structures modify local meteorological parameters and thus human thermal comfort at the microscale. Knowledge of the pattern of a city’s UHI is typically limited. Based on previous research, generalized additive models (GAMs) were built to predict the spatial pattern of the UHI in the city of Karlsruhe. The models were trained with administrative, remotely sensed, and land use and land cover geodata, and validated with measurements in Freiburg. This identified the hot and cold spots and the need for further urban planning in the city. The model had some limitations regarding water bodies and anthropogenic heat production, but it was well suited for applications in mid-latitude cities which are not topographically characterized. The model can potentially be used for other cities (e.g., in heat health action plans) as the training data are freely available.

Comparing perceptions of barriers to tree planting in domestic and public spaces of low-income neighbourhoods in small to medium-sized South African towns

Neighbourhood greenness is one of the indicators for residential satisfaction in urban areas. However, residents in low-income urban communities often express dissatisfaction with their neighbourhoods because of limited urban green infrastructure (UGI) and trees in comparison to relatively affluent neighbourhoods. Low-income neighbourhoods in South Africa, known as low-cost housing areas (LCHAs) face a myriad of systemic and institutional dynamics that may exacerbate the limitations to successful greening. In this context, this study investigated household perceptions on barriers to new and continued urban tree planting in domestic and public spaces such as parks and streets in low-income neighbourhoods in eight South African towns. Questionnaires were administered to 800 households across 16 old (n = 400) and newer (n = 400) LCHAs. Inadequate space (58 %), insufficient funds (37 %), lack of equipment (35 %), tree damage (34 %), limited knowledge (25 %), and municipal restrictions (12 %) were the most frequently mentioned limitations to tree planting in domestic spaces. By contrast, residents identified municipal incompetence (55 %), inadequate space (40 %); insufficient funds (28 %), tree damage (27 %), risk of crime (21 %), and politics (20 %) as some of the factors hindering institutions from planting trees in public parks and along streets. Understanding these barriers is an important step towards the design of sustainable urban greening initiatives for low-income communities in Global South contexts.

Urban Heat Island and Reduced Habitat Complexity Explain Spider Community Composition by Excluding Large and Heat-Sensitive Species

Along with worldwide urbanization, upheavals in habitat and temperature are major threats for biodiversity. However, due to their interdependence, their relative roles as drivers of animal community composition remain entangled. Here, we investigated how taxonomic and functional compositions of arthropod communities were related to uncorrelated habitat and temperature gradients, and compared landscape (i.e., urbanization, Urban Heat Island (UHI)) to local variables (i.e., vegetation height and cover, near-ground temperature). We sampled 20,499 spiders (137 species) on 36 grasslands in Rennes (northwestern France). Unlike rural areas, urban sites were characterized by short vegetation and intense UHI, hosted species-poor communities, and were composed of small thermophilic species. UHI intensification and local loss of habitat complexity (short and dense vegetation) were associated with declining large and heat-sensitive species. These results highlight the prevalent role of urban warming, rather than land cover change, as an urban filter. Further, we show that landscape-scale UHI, not local temperature, filters species according to their functional attributes. UHI can therefore be considered as a thermal barrier, filtering species according to their physiological capacity to cope with urban thermal conditions. Finally, to counterbalance biotic homogenization, we argue for the importance of implementing complex habitat structures at the local scale within urban green infrastructure.

Public Perception on the Role of Urban Green Infrastructure Development and Land Use Management in Rapidly Urbanized Countries: The Case of Hawassa City, Ethiopia

Public Perception on the Role of Urban Green Infrastructure Development and Land Use Management in Rapidly Urbanized Countries: The Case of Hawassa City, Ethiopia

A drought and heat risk assessment framework for urban green infrastructure

AbstractUrban green infrastructure (UGI) is a prominent concept toward climate adaptation and urban resilience, but it is also affected by droughts and heat. Hence, this study aims to advance the multi‐assessment of drought and heat risks (DHRs) for UGI through the DHR assessment framework with conceptual and methodological features, paving the way toward knowledge creation and decision support. The framework was systematically developed, starting with defining the situation, analyzing concepts, and finally, constructing the framework. The situation is interpreted as a coupled human and natural system to represent the biophysical and immaterial elements, processes, and interrelations. Further, the concepts of risk, UGI, and ecosystem services lead to a risk system showing the compound hazards, the exposure, and the cascading vulnerabilities of the UGI. The DHR assessment framework distinguishes two stages, multi‐risk analysis and multi‐criteria risk evaluation. The analysis includes the definition and interpretation of the UGI situation under drought and heat conditions, analyzing the hazards, exposures, and vulnerabilities of the system, and translating the risk system into an indicator‐based information system. Hereby, the vulnerability analysis of the biophysical UGI aspects comprises the susceptibility and resilience of UGI entities, as well as the degree to which providing ecosystem functions and services can be affected. The multi‐criteria risk evaluation covers the assignment of thresholds and weights for indicators, in addition to the aggregation methods. The resulting framework intends to support local actors in the risk assessment of current and future conditions, fostering evidence‐based decisions and interventions to deal with compound DHRs.

Adsorption of particulate matter and uptake of metal and non-metal elements from PM in leaves of Pinus densiflora and Quercus acutissima: a comparative study

Trees can serve as effective biofilters of Particulate matter (PM) pollution, making them valuable for managing air pollution and promoting public health. Leaves of trees can reduce PM through absorption, adsorption, and fallout mechanisms, which are influenced by species-specific characteristics and environmental factors. Although several studies have explored the impact of various leaf characteristics on their ability to adsorb PM from field conditions, few have been conducted in controlled chambers to analyze the adsorption of PM on leaf surfaces and the uptake of metal and non-metal elements from PM on leaves. To fill these knowledge gaps, this study investigated the PM adsorption and leaf characteristics of two different tree species, Pinus densiflora (an evergreen coniferous species) and Quercus acutissima (a deciduous broad-leaved species) under controlled conditions in a PM exposure chamber with a target concentration of 300 μg m−3. The main aim of this study was to measure and compare the rate of PM component (metal and non-metal elements) uptake in two species and investigate the leaf characteristics that contribute to PM adsorption. We investigated the relationship between PM adsorption and physiolog, micro-morphology, and chemical properties of the leaf surface in two species. This study used a Pearson’s correlation analysis and a principal component analysis (PCA) to evaluate correlation between PM adsorption and leaf characteristics and uptake of metal/non-metal elements in PM on leaves. This result showed that leaf characteristics such as stomatal size, leaf roughness, and wax content played a crucial role in PM10 adsorption, while physiological factors like transpiration and leaf boundary layer conductance were identified as important determinants of PM2.5 adsorption on plant leaves. It also observed significant variations in the uptake of aluminum, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and sulfur. This study not only advances our understanding of the mechanisms behind PM adsorption by tree leaves but also underscores the importance of selecting appropriate tree species based on their leaf characteristics for urban forestry and green infrastructure projects. The ability to strategically use tree species for PM pollution mitigation highlights a practical approach to enhancing environmental sustainability and public health.

Urban forest biotope mapping: A new approach for sustainable forest management planning in Mexico City

Environmental demands for greener, more sustainable urban areas are increasing worldwide and are particularly magnified in megacities such as Mexico City, the largest city in North America. Strategic land use planning initiatives aimed at integrated and sustainable urban green infrastructure across broader city landscapes require an understanding of urban environments, their urban forest, and their spatial distribution. However, this approach has not been widely used in megacities. Here, we use the urban biotope approach to address the knowledge gap and help inform land-use planning to support greater urban forest sustainability in Mexico City. Two levels of biotope classes, broader-level (3 classes defined by canopy cover) and finer-level (7 classes describing urban forest characteristics), were modeled and mapped across the city. Statistical modeling was done using a random forest algorithm, a set of uncorrelated predictor variables, and field observations to predict biotope presence. Models of the broader-level biotopes yielded better prediction results (AUC > 0.90) than the finer-level biotopes (AUC values from 0.61 to 0.88). Classification errors ranged from 6.5 to 100 %, indicating different levels of predictive confidence. Of all mapping units of the broader-level biotopes 87 % were predicted while of the finer-level biotopes only 12.7 %. As the finer-level predictions often overlap, more field data and better predictors are required to accurately capture biotope classes. The modeled biotopes can inform urban planning across spatial scales, from the neighborhood and borough level to the city-wide scale, and across the residential-commercial land use, which requires more greening efforts. Results suggest that more field and spatial data, and a smaller grain size, can improve biotope models and maps to better represent the variation in urban forest characteristics across Mexico City. Biotope maps are a practical tool to guide spatial planning, identify priority areas for canopy protection and tree planting, and set tree diversification goals.

Leveraging Ecosystem Services and Well-Being in Urban Landscape Planning for Nature Conservation: A Case Study of Peri-Urban Dynamics

Within peri-urban landscapes, this research investigated the complexity of the balance between urban development and green infrastructure preservation, with a specific focus on Harku municipality, Estonia. This study aimed to understand the interplay between cultural ecosystem services (CESs) and residents’ well-being. Aligned with the EU Nature Restoration Law, this research explored long-term dynamics in peri-urban areas’ CES conservation. The methodology included creating scenarios by combining new secondary data with the author’s prior studies, which covered landscape belts, CES values, and residents’ perceptions of satisfaction with the environment and recreation opportunities collected through a municipal survey. While residents expressed satisfaction in coastal and green spaces, a distinct decline was evident near villages with industrial and agricultural features, highlighting the landscape’s impact on well-being. This study identified case-study-specific threats related to rapid urbanisation and put forward constructive policy recommendations. The goal was to develop effective and sustainable strategies for preserving nature through ecosystem service-based frameworks, enhance community well-being, and account for landscape dynamics through scenario planning.

The Application of Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Heat Island Mitigation in Asia: Progress, Challenges, and Recommendations.

Unprecedented urbanization in Asia affects the net radiation and energy flux of urban areas in the form of urban heat islands (UHI). The application of nature-based solutions (NbS) via urban green and blue infrastructures is a promising approach to mitigate UHI via urban boundary condition modifications, which affect the energy balance. This narrative review discusses the application of green and blue infrastructures in the Asian context by highlighting its progress, challenges, and recommendations. This review is descriptive in nature and includes perspectives on the discussed topics. Studies on the application of green and blue infrastructures in UHI mitigation are still scant in Asia. Their cooling performance is greatly influenced by their types, size, geometry, surface roughness, spread (threshold distance), temporal scales, topography, pollution levels, prevailing climate, and assessment techniques. Distinct urban characteristics, climatic conditions, environmental risks, lack of awareness and expertise, lack of policy and government incentives, and limited scientific studies are the major challenges in their implementation of UHI mitigation in Asia. Although green and blue infrastructures are associated with urban cooling, more in-depth experimental work and multidisciplinary research collaboration are paramount to exploring its implementation potential in Asia and other countries that share similar urban and environmental characteristics.

Evaluation of flow, supply, and demand for noise reduction in urban area, Hamadan in Iran.

Noise pollution is one of the consequences of urbanization that can cause environmental disturbances in urban areas. Urban ecosystems provide noise reduction services through Urban Green infrastructures (UGIs). Many studies have been conducted to evaluate and model traffic noise, but none have addressed the flow, supply, and demand of noise reduction ecosystem services. The main purpose of this paper is to present a new methodology for estimating flow, supply, and demand for noise reduction in Hamadan city that has not been mentioned in any paper so far. UGIs were classified into six main categories: agricultural lands, gardens, parks, abandoned lands, single trees, and street trees. A total of 57 sampling stations for sound measurement were made in August 2018. The current map of noise pollution (flow) was created using the Kriging method. The amount of supply was measured up to a distance of 50 meters from the main roads based on two approaches (the distance effect and the sound barrier effect). To quantify the demand, the current sound intensity level in the noise-sensitive land uses was compared with standards. Zonal statistics was used for spatial analysis of supply-demand in the urban neighborhood as a working unit. Results showed that at distances of 5m, 10m, 15m, and 20m, the average noise reduction was found to be 1.61, 2.83, 3.92, and 5.33 dB, respectively. Sound barriers at distances of 5m and 10m resulted in an average sound reduction of 1.61 and 2.83 dB, respectively. Individual trees, strip trees, abandoned lands, parks, and gardens led to a decrease in traffic noise by 0.3, 1, 0.1, 3.5, and 4.5 dB, respectively. The clustering analysis revealed a significant spatial clustering of noise pollution in Hamedan. The results and new methodology of this research can be used in similar areas to estimate the supply and demand of noise reduction and also for decision-makers to take management actions to increase supply and meet the demand for noise reduction service.

Разработка стратегии озеленения г. Перми

This article presents the results of a study underpinning the Greening Strategy 2030 for the city of Perm. The research employed SWOT analysis — a technique that emerged within economics. In practice, SWOT analysis can be applied to objects of different scales outside profit-driven contexts to achieve social and socioeconomic purposes. In a broad understand­ing, SWOT analysis focuses on socioeconomic objects, an instance of which is urban green infrastructure. This study identifies and characterises Perm’s green infrastructure elements: conserva­tion areas, urban forests, public and limited access amenities and special-purpose objects. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Perm’s current landscaping system are described, alongside potential development scenarios for the city’s green spaces up to 2030. A development strategy is outlined to achieve significant progress in landscaping and biodiver­sity conservation. Its other goals involve enhancing the urban environment by converting spontaneously growing vegetation into various landscaped areas, ranging from conservation zones to public amenities, and actively managing these areas. The study also defines the val­ues, vision and mission of green infrastructure, along with its purpose and long- and medi­um-term development plans.

Carbon negative biochar systems contribute to sustainable urban green infrastructure: a critical review

Biochar from biomass and waste is a valuable component of various urban green infrastructures, including green roofs, permeable pavements, green walls, and green parking lots.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Urban Green Infrastructures: A Case Study of the LiuChuan River Corridor, Taichung City, from Linsenliu Bridge to Minquanliu Bridge

Green infrastructure has been shown to play the role of adaptation and adjustment under the effect of harsh climate. The creation of urban green infrastructure is an important indicator of sustainable urban development, and determining the cost-effectiveness of green infrastructure is a necessary step to help investment decisions. The whole economic worth of Taichung City’s Liuchuan pollution cleanup and environmental improvement project is examined using cost-benefit analysis from three perspectives: investment value, tangible value, and intangible value. The study findings demonstrate that green infrastructure has long-term development value and can help the sustainable development of cities.

Reuse of Tunisian excavated material into composite soil for rainwater infiltration within urban green infrastructure

Excavated material or soil is one of the most abundant types of waste produced by civil works. The study draws a methodology for assessing through selected standard tests the environmental, geotechnical, and agronomical features of excavated material to highlight the most ecological way to reuse it. In view of making a constructed soil to be implemented within green infrastructure part of new urban landscape, imperative skills of soil or material are referred to as SWOFI: safety, workability, fertility, infiltrability, and guidelines are derived accordingly. As a practical case of the application of the methodology, a non-cohesive sedimentary parent rock with a sandy loam texture excavated at Bou Argoub in Tunisia has been characterised. This excavated material is a negligible source of pollution hazard by heavy metals. It classifies in a category very sensitive to compaction and strongly influenced by the clay content, so difficult to reuse in road applications. It is very poor in organic matter and too much alkaline, so grape marc waste is used to improve its fertility, thus making a composite soil that prefigures a constructed soil. This allows the valorisation of local agriculture waste throughout the designed strategy.Novelty resides in the selection of tests and the association of technics issued from usually separated disciplines and the integrated workflow of the soil at three stages of the value-chain: excavated-homogenised, amended, then repacked at a given bulk density as a composite soil. Immediate compactibility changes as a linear function of repacked bulk density BD; from the literature, this result is assumed true in the composite soil as well as the excavated material. Based on required intervals of permeability for the projected use in green infrastructure requiring rainwater infiltration, a decision-making table is applied with, as input, the most probable value of permeability determined from pedotransfer function as topsoil or as subsoil. Combining pollution hazard assessment, geotechnical improvement, agronomical amendment, an innovative approach leads to pedological and hydrological functionality for constructed soil, a nature-based solution.

Vegetal Agency in Street Tree Stewardship Practices: People-Plant Involutions Within Urban Green Infrastructure in New York City

In cities nature is taking on a new role as infrastructure, providing essential services in terms of temperature regulation and water management, as well as the provision of habitat for biodiversity conservation. With this turn to green infrastructure have come new challenges to maintenance. Plants are lively things and if they are to perform their infrastructural roles they must be routinely tended to in particular ways. In the context of neoliberal governance, much of this labor falls to volunteer humans. Framed as stewardship, this volunteerism for plant-city thriving is posited as a way to meet maintenance needs while promoting human health and well-being and creating support for nature-based solutions through a sense of ownership and responsibility. While it is thus possible to read stewardship as an enrollment of people and plants into the reproduction of neoliberal urban political ecologies, in this paper I argue that such an analysis overlooks the involution of plants and people that occurs during acts of stewardship. Drawing on ethnographic research with street tree stewards in New York City I explore how vegetal agency draws people into affective, embodied relations. During acts of stewardship, trees act on people and reconfigure their relations in ways that potentially exceed the strictures of stewardship. Rather than allowing stewardship discourses and critiques thereof to be our sole frame for understanding these people-plant relations, we should also consider them from the perspective of vegetal agency and what human-tree involutions do within, around, and to human practices of stewardship.

Green Infrastructure Development within Urban Environment provided by Privately Owned Public Spaces

Since the industrialisation era, there has been a trend towards radial sprawl, rapid development and concentration of people in the largest cities. Historically, people needed space outside their homes to interact and communicate to each other. In the city it was provided by public open space, forming the centres of social life. The conditions and opportunities for people to use outdoor space have also changed with changing eras and political power settings, along with the scale of development, security concerns and ownership of space in the city. The aim of the study is to explore the nature of Privately Owned Publicly – Accessible Spaces (POPS) and their potential development contribution to urban green infrastructure, developing design and planning recommendations for the development of Privately Owned Publicly – Accessible Spaces in the urban environment. The research carried out during the literature review and analysis of city plans of the cities introduced POPS program shows the relevance of the topic of private ownership of public open space in the world's major metropolises, but that it is conceptually possible to adapt it to smaller-scale urban planning, for example by applying it to private investors and developers in their requirements for new buildings and sites development.

Green Urban Scenarios: A Framework for Digital Twin Representation and Simulation for Urban Forests and Their Impact Analysis

Abstract Background Trees are a critical part of urban infrastructure. Cities worldwide are pledging afforestation objectives due to net-zero targets; however, their realisation requires a comprehensive framework that combines science, policy, and practice. Methods The paper presents the Green Urban Scenarios (GUS) framework for designing and monitoring green infrastructures. GUS considers weather, maintenance, tree species, diseases, and spatial distributions of trees to forecast their impacts. The framework uses agent-based modelling (ABM) and simulation paradigm to integrate green infrastructure into a city’s ecological, spatial, economic, and social context. ABM enables the creation of digital twins for urban ecosystems at any level of granularity, including individual trees, to accurately predict their future trajectories. Digital representation of trees is created using a combination of datasets such as earth observations from space, street view images, field surveys, and qualitative descriptions of typologies within existing and future projects. Machine learning and statistical models calibrate biomass growth patterns and carbon release schemes. Results The paper examines various green area typologies, simulating several hypothetical scenarios based on Glasgow’s urban forests. It exhibits the emergence of heterogeneity features of the forests due to interactions among trees. The growth trajectory of trees has a non-linear transition phase toward stable growth in its maturity. Reduced maintenance deteriorates the health of trees leading to lower survival rate and increased CO2emissions, while the stormwater alleviation capacity may differ among species. Conclusions The paper demonstrates how GUS can facilitate policies and maintenance of urban forests with environmental, social, and economic benefits.