The Little Book of ECOSYSTEM SERVICES in The City

Let’s start by framing the problem. Parallel and interconnected trends in global population, climate, resource availability and economic development pose significant challenges to the current western model for urban living. Indeed, the rapid growth in urban populations has led to inevitable concerns over the sustainability of city form and function, and the health of ecosystems and citizens.1 Green and blue spaces in cities (hereafter termed Urban Green Infrastructure – UGI), the stuff that delivers ecological services (ES),2 accounts for 14% of urban space in the UK3 and between 1.9% and 46 % in other European cities.4 This is highly variable, and worryingly, urbanisation has made, and is making, matters worse, leading to a net loss of this essential urban resource in some places.5 So this made us think: in these challenging political times where money and staffing resources are limited, can we work towards a new model of governance that emphasises the key role for ecological services in cities and puts it at the core of city decision-making? From the outset, our vision for the research was framed in social-ecological terms, in which we saw a city where air, sound and light pollution are minimised, and where transport routes, industrial activities and buildings are harmonised with green infrastructure to maximise social cohesion, the economy and human wellbeing. Such a city would make a chance encounter with ‘the natural in the built’ a daily, commonplace experience and make ecological service provision more equitable, irrespective of class, diversity, age or gender.

source :

https://www.greenflagaward.org/media/2134/littlebookofecosystemservicesinthecity.pdf