Urban Nature Conservation Research Articles

Understanding typhoon-induced vegetation loss and potential ecosystem disservices from land use zonings perspective in high-density Hong Kong

While cities are embracing nature through urban greening and nature conservation, vegetation in typhoon-prone cities is facing stress from intense typhoon disturbances. Limited studies have investigated vegetation loss and its potential ecosystem disservices in the aftermath of typhoons from a land use zoning perspective. Therefore, we (1) compared vegetation losses from three 2023 category 3–4 typhoons in Hong Kong across all land uses in protected and non-protected areas, (2) identified hot spots and cold spots, and (3) weighed the annual average daily traffic and urban volumetric density with vegetation loss rates to generate a Disservice Risk Index for analysis. Results suggest that vegetation loss rate in non-protected areas was higher (7.23%) than in protected areas (1.57%). Within protected areas, country parks had the lowest loss rate (0.11%) and the highest percentage of cold spots (79.4%). In contrast, transportation land use has the highest loss rate of 18.04% and the highest percentage of hot spots (17.9%) within non-protected areas. Ecosystem disservices are potentially more adverse in the city center, which requires immediate preventive measures. This study provides timely urban greening and conservation implications for typhoon-prone cities to allocate vegetation that maximizes ecosystem services while minimizing disservices under frequent typhoon disturbances.

Urban Nature Preservation and Conservation Strategies Based on Biophilic Institutions and Governance: A Lesson Learned from Gold Coast City for Indonesian Cities

Biophilic urbanism is considered as one approach to solve the problem of city’s over-development and may provide opportunities for citizens to connect with the natural environment. This research project is using argumentative approach in attempts to analyse urban nature preservation strategy of the Gold Coast City, based on the biophilic urbanism concept, with a focus on institutions and governance aspect, including biodiversity-related action plans, biophilic support organizations, environmental education, budgets for biophilic urbanism projects, and biophilic-related projects and initiatives. Moreover, it also analyses the constraints to implementing good biophilic governance based on the political/legal, economic, socio-cultural, and technological factors. To determine urban nature conservation and preservation strategies for the Gold Coast’s future, a SWOT analysis was undertaken. The results of this study could usefully give a brief reflection on the possibility of implementing the biophilic city concept for Indonesian cities in general.

Comparison of Flight Periods of Solitary and Primitively Eusocial Bees in Urban Environments and Nature Conservation Areas: a Preliminary Report

Solitary and primitively eusocial bees, an important group of pollinators, have declined in the past few decades. In view of the recent focus on safeguarding pollinating insects, it is vital to understand the basic ecology of species for their conservation, for example their phenologies. We observed the flight periods of solitary and primitively eusocial bees in both the urban core of a large British town and nearby nature conservation areas. The bee surveys were conducted with standardised methods, on warm sunny days from the first appearance of bees in March 2012 and continued until October 2012. This study confirmed that a high number of species are active in the spring season. The emergence dates of species in urban areas and nature sites varied; about 26 of the 35 species were recorded at least one week earlier in urban areas; in contrast, only four species were seen earlier in nature conservation sites. When comparing this with the expected flight periods recorded (largely in nature sites) in the literature, many species were recorded at their expected time. However, a few individuals were recorded after their usual flight activity time, suggesting that the populations were possibly affected by the microclimate in urban areas. More urban phenological data are needed to understand the phenological trends in bees in urban habitats.

Assessing biodiversity's impact on stress and affect from urban to conservation areas: A virtual reality study

Biodiversity is the essential foundation of ecosystem stability and significantly influences human health. However, the specific impacts of broadly varied biodiversity levels across diverse greenspaces on mental well-being remain unclear. In this randomized controlled trial, immersive virtual reality (VR) auditory-visual simulations, emulating real biodiversity scenarios, were employed to investigate the effect of diverse biodiversity levels on stress and affect. After an induced stress phase, participants (N = 90) were randomly assigned to a ten-minute immersion in one of three settings: urban park, peri-urban park, or nature conservation area. Physiological responses were measured via skin conductance level (SCL) and significant skin conductance responses (nSCR), while psychological responses were evaluated using Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Additionally, the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS) was employed to evaluate restoration potential. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that immersion in the peri-urban park and nature conservation area was associated with a significantly faster and more substantial decrease in SCL compared to the urban park. nSCR in the nature conservation area remained significantly lower than in the urban park. While immersion in all three natural environments significantly diminished negative affect, the nature conservation scenario was associated with a substantial decline in positive affect and received the lowest rating on the subjective restorativeness. A psychological benefit threshold related to biodiversity was observed, in contrast to the absence of a corresponding physiological threshold. This disparity suggests that an innate genetic affinity for high biodiversity may persists, unaffected by acquired experiences. Our study underscores the stress recovery benefits of high-value ecological environments, thereby fostering an avenue for further investigations into human-ecological health interconnections.

Spatiotemporal dynamics in the roosting ecology of the green toad: implications for urban planning and nature conservation

Continuously growing urbanisation and the ongoing rebuilding of urban habitats affect amphibians, the most threatened vertebrate groups. Even though the effects of urbanisation are mostly negative, some artificial components of the urban landscape may also display positive relationships with amphibian populations and therefore work in favour of their persistence in cities. Roosts provide protection from predation, desiccation and offer invertebrate prey availability; therefore, roost availability is an essential necessity of amphibian maintenance in urban areas. On the example of the European green toad Bufotes viridis, a typical urban dweller, we investigated roost-type occupancy and their distribution relative to a breeding pond during the active season (from June to October). The analysis was done with regard to the different life stages of individuals from three urban populations. Green toads used fissures situated in various man-made constructions (e.g., buildings, roads, pathways) for roosting cavities, however without any predominant pattern among toad life stages. The local architecture of the study sites mainly determined the type of occupied roosts. In adults and juveniles we recorded a gradually increased roost distance from breeding pond, while subadults were found roosting further from the water during the active season. Management measures aimed at maintaining a favourable state of green toad populations in urban environments should incorporate a complex of actions that consider general as well as the local ecological patterns of particular populations.

Inequitable Changes to Time Spent in Urban Nature during COVID-19: A Case Study of Seattle, WA with Asian, Black, Latino, and White Residents

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone in urban areas. Some of these impacts in the United States have negatively affected People of Color more than their White counterparts. Using Seattle, Washington as a case study, we investigated whether inequitable effects appear in residents’ interactions with urban nature (such as urban green space). Using a 48-question instrument, 300 residents were surveyed, equally divided across four racial/ethnic groups: Asian, Black and African American, Latino/a/x, and White. Results showed that during the span of about 6 months after the onset of the pandemic, Black and Latino residents experienced a significant loss of time in urban nature, while Asian and White residents did not. The implications of these findings, including inequities in the potential buffering effects of urban nature against COVID-19 and the future of urban nature conservation, are discussed. Multiple variables were tested for association with the changes to time spent in urban nature, including themes of exclusion from urban nature spaces found throughout the existing literature. Findings show that decreases in time spent in urban nature among Black and Latino residents may be associated with their feeling as though they did not belong in urban nature. We provide recommendations based on these findings for how government agencies can promote more equitable access to urban nature during the pandemic and beyond. The results of this study have implications that extend beyond the US and are relevant to the international scholarly literature of inequities and urban nature interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harmonization of Urban Development and Nature Conservation Environment Based on Machine Learning

Harmonization of Urban Development and Nature Conservation Environment Based on Machine Learning

The role of spatial planning in land change: An assessment of urban planning and nature conservation efficiency at the southeastern coast of Brazil

Urban expansion is expected to continue at a fast rate, precisely in peri-urban areas of developing countries surrounded by biodiversity hotspots. The need to assess and potentially restructure urban and environmental planning instruments becomes apparent in scenarios where urban expansion is difficult to manage. Indicators based on spatially explicit datasets have been suggested as effective tools to evaluate spatial planning outcomes because they can shed light on the efficiency of planning measures and the fulfilment of claimed goals. In this work, we evaluated the conformance of stated spatial planning goals and the outcomes in terms of urban compactness, basic services and housing provision, and nature conservation for different land-use strategies. We evaluate the 2005 Ecological-Economic Zoning (EEZ) and two municipal master plans from 2006 in a coastal region in São Paulo State, Brazil. We used Partial Least Squares Path Modelling (PLS-PM) to explain the relationship between the plan strategies and land-use change ten years after implementation in terms of urban compactness, basic services and housing increase, and nature conservation. Our findings suggest that the evaluated plans were influenced by the land-use pattern at the time when the plan was approved (2005). For all evaluated plans, the Urban Use strategy was important to explain the Urban Compactness, but most of the new urban isolated areas occurred outside of the zones where the Urban Use strategy was applied. Two out of three of the evaluated plans were considered efficient in terms of nature conservation. In general, the Urban Use strategy can be considered successful in promoting more compact patterns of new build-up areas (axial and infill growth), but not in containing the emergence of new isolated areas outside the zones with Urban Use strategy. Our findings are in line with those from similar studies showing that areas outside of urban cores are often deprived of efficient spatial planning. The increase in Basic Services and Housing was not sufficient to attend the regional demand, and the inadequacy of these services remains a problem in the region. Future policies for land-use management in NCSP need to address the increasing demand for basic services and housing and to enable urban development inside urban core areas.

Impacts of dogs on urban grassland ecosystems

Dog walking is a highly popular leisure activity in cities around the globe. It is also a controversial issue for urban conservation and green space management due to presumed ecological impacts of dogs. Yet regulations allowing or prohibiting the presence of dogs in areas of conservation concern are rarely based on demonstrated effects of dogs on urban nature. To unravel the relationships between the presence of dogs at a site and soil features and plant and animal diversity, we selected dry grassland as our study system since this type of ecosystem is of conservation concern in many cities and is frequently used for dog walking. We combined data on the number and movement patterns of dogs and their owners in 52 dry grassland patches in Berlin, Germany, to create a novel index of dog presence and activity. We then analysed the relationship between the index and soil features, species richness of plants and seven invertebrate taxa, and abundances of sand lizards, a species of particular conservation interest. Generalised linear models revealed significant relationships between the dog index and one soil parameter and some biodiversity measures. The dog index was positively related to phosphorus and non-native plant richness but negatively to spider diversity. While dogs may facilitate biological invasions, likely through a combination of eutrophication and disturbance, overall relationships with general species richness or richness of endangered plant or animal species were weak. These results indicate opportunities for reconciling urban nature conservation with moderate dog walking in urban grassland areas. Still, urban policies should consider remaining dog-related risks in other ecosystem types - a promising direction for further urban research.

Plant traits, biotopes and urbanization dynamics explain the survival of endangered urban plant populations

Abstract With accelerating urbanization, the urban contribution to biodiversity conservation becomes increasingly important. Previous research shows that cities can host many endangered plant species. However, fundamental questions for urban nature conservation remain open: to what extent and where can endangered plant species persist in the long term and which mechanisms underlie population survival? We evaluate the survival of 858 precisely monitored populations of 179 endangered plant species in Berlin, Germany, by assessing population survival throughout different urban ecosystems over a period of 7.6 years on average. By linking population survival to various landscape variables and plant traits, we unravel the underlying drivers. More than one–third of populations went extinct during the observation period. Population survival was inversely correlated to the increase in impervious surfaces in the vicinity following the first 11 years after the fall of the Berlin wall. Additionally, populations in semi‐natural habitats like forests and bogs were surprisingly more prone to local extinction than populations in anthropogenic habitats. Survival was highest for competitive species with a preference for drier soils (Ellenberg indicator for soil humidity). Synthesis and applications. Considerable levels of local population extinction demonstrate that the presence of endangered plants cannot be directly linked with their long‐term survival in cities. However, the survival of remaining populations indicates opportunities for urban biodiversity conservation both within and outside conservation areas. The elucidated links between population survival, urbanization dynamics, biotope class and species traits support urban conservation strategies that reduce the proportion of impervious surface, prioritize conservation management in forests and grasslands and explore the opportunities of green spaces and built‐up areas.

Assessments of Biodiversity and Habitat Services in Cities – Exemplified by Dresden (Germany) and Liberec (Czech Republic)

Abstract The choice of suitable biodiversity assessment methods for practical purposes in city planning and decision-making is still a challenging problem. Despite the availability of a wide variety of methods for almost all dimensions of diversity (mainly species and habitat diversity, including spatial aspects), few of them have entered the practical ‘daily’ work. In the example of in-depth examinations in German and Czech cities (e.g., Dresden and Liberec), it was found that the most frequently applied analyses are those of protected species and habitats in urban nature conservation in general, and particularly in city development planning to derive avoidance, protection and compensation measures. Preference analyses (questionnaires, structured interviews) are becoming increasingly popular. Economic calculations of habitat values and the valuation of ecosystem services are still in their infancy. We will present methods that are presently being applied or could be included in a practical methodological toolkit to analyse and valuate biodiversity in urban nature conservation, city planning and decision-making.

Public attitudes toward biodiversity‐friendly greenspace management in Europe

AbstractIncreasing urbanization worldwide calls for more sustainable urban development. Simultaneously, the global biodiversity crisis accentuates the need of fostering biodiversity within cities. Policies supporting urban nature conservation need to understand people's acceptance of biodiversity‐friendly greenspace management. We surveyed more than 2,000 people in 19 European cities about their attitudes toward near‐natural urban grassland management in public greenspaces, and related their responses to nine sociocultural parameters. Results reveal that people across Europe can support urban biodiversity, yet within the frames of a generally tidy appearance of public greenery. Younger people and those using greenspaces for a greater variety of activities were more likely to favor biodiversity‐friendly greenspace management. Additionally, people who were aware of the meaning of biodiversity and those stating responsibility for biodiversity conservation particularly supported biodiversity‐friendly greenspace management. Our results point at explicit measures like environmental education to increase public acceptance of policies that facilitate nature conservation within cities.

Quantifying Long-Term Urban Grassland Dynamics: Biotic Homogenization and Extinction Debts

Sustainable urban nature conservation calls for a rethinking of conventional approaches. Traditionally, conservationists have not incorporated the history of the landscape in management strategies. This study shows that extant vegetation patterns are correlated to past landscapes indicating potential extinction debts. We calculated urban landscape measures for seven time periods (1938–2019) and correlated it to three vegetation sampling events (1995, 2012, 2019) using GLM models. We also tested whether urban vegetation was homogenizing. Our results indicated that urban vegetation in our study area is not currently homogenizing but that indigenous forb species richness is declining significantly. Furthermore, long-term studies are essential as the time lags identified for different vegetation sampling periods changed as well as the drivers best predicting these changes. Understanding these dynamics are critical to ensuring sustainable conservation of urban vegetation for future citizens.

Social equity and urban nature conservation

AbstractNature conservation and social equity issues have been approached in a myriad of ways by conservation, humanitarian, and development practitioners. The rapid and shifting urbanization of the globe makes the interaction of these issues paramount and it is imperative to articulate pathways to harmonizing these relationships readily followed by conservation practitioners. We describe the processes and compare the resulting social equity and conservation objectives of two initiatives purposefully integrating these approaches. A private nonprofit seeking to develop an urban conservation program in the Atlanta metropolitan area purposefully engaged residents from surrounding communities and self‐identified local and sector leaders to identify communities where social equity and conservation objectives could be created together. A public agency, built on a century‐long history of environmental stewardship for migratory birds and pollinators, integrated 20 years of participatory action research to engage the surrounding communities using methods suggested and developed by the communities themselves. In both cases, community‐based research approaches have helped establish cocreated objectives and flexible monitoring and evaluation baselines. Both initiatives found a need to appropriately resource and train staff to remain open to learning and evolving new objectives as additional perspectives emerge and the impact on conservation and equity objectives is assessed.

Implementation of Geographical Conditions Monitoring in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, China

Increasingly accelerated urbanization and socio-economic development can cause a series of environmental problems. Accurate and efficient monitoring of the geographical conditions is important for achieving sustainable development. This paper presents the first results of the project “Geographical Conditions Monitoring (GCM)” in an exemplified area “Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH)” in China over the last three decades. It focuses on four hot issues in BTH: distribution of dust surfaces and pollution industries, vegetation coverage, urban sprawl, and ground subsidence. The aim of this project is the detection of geographical condition changes and for the description of this development by indicators, as well as the analysis and evaluation of the effects of such processes on selected environmental perspectives. The results have shown that the contributions of the applied GCM in making the plan of urban design and nature conservation. Valuable experience gained from this project would be useful for further developing and applying GCM at the national level.

The role of natural resources in the historic urban landscape approach

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore possible contributions of natural resources for the historic urban landscape (HUL) approach. It points to several possible avenues for collaborative research, which can expand the discourse on the topic of urban sustainability with different disciplines of heritage studies, natural resource management, urban planning and disaster risk reduction.Design/methodology/approach– There are already several UNESCO initiatives such as the Man and Biosphere Programme, World Heritage Forests Programme and the World Heritage Programme for Small Island Developing States, which the HUL approach can learn from to understand approaches that integrate natural resource management in urban planning methods. Different cases from the USA, Japan and Singapore applying landscape approaches have also been documented in this research.Findings– Several examples have been found in which natural resources are integrated to bigger strategies of urban planning. Japan has enacted the “Landscape Law” in 2004 to highlight the importance of preserving landscapes in improving the quality and viability of community life. The “Mauritius Strategy” created by small island developing states is another example. It holistically looks at policies to deal with environmental challenges while advocating economic growth and protecting cultural and natural heritage, among other concerns. The long tradition of creating greenways in the USA have also contributed in presenting heritage assets and providing environmental benefits. The High Line in New York City is a good example of this.Originality/value– In line with the HUL approach, the research points out possibilities of non-traditional collaborations in solving current urban challenges. Finding ways of linking natural resources to a bigger urban framework can inspire new solutions for the interlinked problems of urban growth, heritage management and nature conservation amidst climate change.

Impacts of land use change on ecosystem services and implications for human well-being in Spanish drylands

The arid southeastern Iberian Peninsula is a unique region in which conservation and human development have coexisted and coevolved over many decades. However, conflicts between economic development and conservation have generated increasing concern due to the rapid expansion of greenhouse horticulture and the abandonment of rural and mountainous areas. Human decisions regarding land use management have affected the status of ecosystems and therefore the ecosystem services supply. We identified four land use-land cover changes that summarize the most common management decisions. These include greenhouse horticulture expansion, urban intensification, rural abandonment, and conservation actions, which occur through protected area declarations. This study aims to explore the social relevance of land use-land cover changes on the delivery of eight key services provided by Spanish arid ecosystems as follows: provisioning services related to intensive and traditional agriculture, regulating services associated with water regulation, climate regulation, air quality and erosion control, and cultural services linked to local identity and tourism. Through 402 face-to-face questionnaires, we analyzed the arguments for and against these four land use-land cover types. We also assessed their impact on ecosystem services and the social importance and vulnerability of ecosystem services. We found significant differences in the social perception of the positive and negative impacts of land use types on ecosystem services. The sample population recognized the negative impacts of greenhouse horticulture on regulating services that are, in terms of water regulation, essential for the sustained delivery of final provisioning services related to agricultural activities. Overall, traditional agriculture and tourism are recognized as the most important services. A controversy between the two opposite models of territorial development – urban development and nature conservation – highlights the need to promote new strategies of land management. Finally, we discuss the usefulness of this approach to understand the arguments affecting the promotion of land use-land cover changes and to visualize the ecosystem service trade-offs under different management strategies.

The values and benefits of environmental elements on housing rents

The value provided by availability of environmental elements on human quality of urban life is difficult to assess and incorporate into urban planning and development. Researchers worldwide have seldom objectively factored these attributes into property pricing and associated decisions. This study contends that a better understanding of the effect of environmental elements requires systematic study of the relationship between objective and subjective measures of environmental phenomena and human responses. This paper summarizes the outcomes from applying Hedonic Pricing (HP) and Life Satisfaction (LS) methods – providing valuation in an increasingly expanding and privatized property Iranian market. A survey was carried out from 400 households that are more likely to make location choices and pay rent and property expenses in the city of Shiraz. The findings indicates that Shiraz neighbourhoods are likely to be characterized by deep environmental segregation. This study informs the decisions of policy makers and property developers regarding sales and purchases conversion, property development, urban nature conservation, and design of ecological green-space networks.

All ecosystems look messy, but some more so than others: A case-study on the management and acceptance of Mediterranean urban grasslands

Abstract The spontaneous revegetation of a disused demolition waste landfill in Rome (Italy) led to a very high vascular plant species density (269 species in 0.2 km2). Vegetation was dominated by Mediterranean annual species (Therophytes), and floristic assemblage was consistent with the regional species pool. No significant levels of biotic homogenization were found. Local activists successfully campaigned to save the site from development, which resulted in its designation as an Urban Nature Reserve; however, it was essentially managed as a conventional neighbourhood park. As a consequence, vascular plant species richness decreased by 50%. The functional and biogeographic groups most typical of Mediterranean habitats saw the largest decrease (the steno-Mediterranean element decreased by 80%), leading to biotic homogenization via changes in native species only (no increases in alien species were observed). The removal of most of the old demolition-waste mounds was probably the main cause for these observed changes. These mounds provide well-drained, oligotrophic soils and micro-habitat heterogeneity. Mediterranean grassland vegetation, especially within urban areas, is often perceived as “untidy” and undesirable by local residents and decision-makers, who tend to overlook or ignore the ecological value of spontaneous grasslands—perhaps distracted by their apparently “messy” aesthetics. Mediterranean urban wastelands that are “saved” with the scope of creating public green spaces are particularly at risk of being inappropriately managed from the ecological perspective. Thus, in dry-climate regions, ecologists should be particularly careful not to dismiss the importance of aesthetic issues and cultural acceptance in urban nature conservation. Considering the results of this case-study, we offer some generalized management guidelines that can help render urban dry grasslands acceptable for recreational use, while at the same time preserving their biodiversity and educational value.

‘An Unimportant River in the Neighbourhood of London’: The Use and Abuse of the River Wandle

Being neither large, nor unusual in its natural attributes, environmental and historical interest in south London's River Wandle lies in the human impact on water quality, habitat modification, maintenance of discharge and physical channel form. Problems emerged during the first half of the nineteenth century deriving from sewage and industrial development, so that between about 1930 and 1970, with the authorities negligent, the river channels became functionally open foul sewers. Recovery since then has included efforts to improve water quality, restore the banks and associated habitats and create enabling initiatives within all economic sectors. This article describes the Wandle's significance as an arena for scrutinizing water resource conflicts since the 1950s, its contribution towards Integrated Water Resources Management and the rise of an urban nature conservation ethos. Questions remain around how — and to what condition — the river might be restored.