Understanding inhabitants' perceptions of cultural ecosystem services (CES) of urban green space will offer solutions to sustainability challenges. This study aimed to analyse the social perceptions of the supply and demand sides of CES in Dhaka City. A questionnaire-based social preference method was used. Questions in the survey concerned the respondents' satisfaction with green spaces, connected activities, limitations, CES preference and motivation. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to the 405 surveyed questionnaire data to understand variation in respondents' opinions. Respondents were mostly dissatisfied with the quantity of green spaces. Respondents' family status and age influenced their satisfaction with green space quantity. Single and teenage respondents prefer green space for active recreational activities, whereas young and old respondents preferred passive kinds of recreational activities. Both space-related issues and respondents' barriers limited CES provisioning. This contextual factor particularly affected female, single and young respondents. Respondents most preferred CES was recreation. Respondents' gender, family status and age are drivers for differing perceptions of the green space-based CES. To develop sustainable city planning in the face of global environmental change, those divergent perceptions should be taken into consideration through urban development strategies. Moreover, understanding the supply and demand sides of CES help facilitate a more inclusive planning process to address urban sustainability issues.
{"title":"Diverse perceptions of supply and demand of cultural ecosystem services offered by urban green spaces in Dhaka, Bangladesh","authors":"R. Sultana, S. Selim, Md. Shafiul Alam","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac003","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding inhabitants' perceptions of cultural ecosystem services (CES) of urban green space will offer solutions to sustainability challenges. This study aimed to analyse the social perceptions of the supply and demand sides of CES in Dhaka City. A questionnaire-based social preference method was used. Questions in the survey concerned the respondents' satisfaction with green spaces, connected activities, limitations, CES preference and motivation. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to the 405 surveyed questionnaire data to understand variation in respondents' opinions. Respondents were mostly dissatisfied with the quantity of green spaces. Respondents' family status and age influenced their satisfaction with green space quantity. Single and teenage respondents prefer green space for active recreational activities, whereas young and old respondents preferred passive kinds of recreational activities. Both space-related issues and respondents' barriers limited CES provisioning. This contextual factor particularly affected female, single and young respondents. Respondents most preferred CES was recreation. Respondents' gender, family status and age are drivers for differing perceptions of the green space-based CES. To develop sustainable city planning in the face of global environmental change, those divergent perceptions should be taken into consideration through urban development strategies. Moreover, understanding the supply and demand sides of CES help facilitate a more inclusive planning process to address urban sustainability issues.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Johannes Klement, J. Mutke, M. Weigend, Wiltrud Terlau
The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the conservation and protection of nature are among the greatest challenges facing urban regions. There are few approaches so far that link the SDGs to natural diversity and related ecosystem services at the local level and track them in terms of increasing sustainable development at the local level. We want to close this gap by developing a set of indicators that capture ecosystem services in the sense of the SDGs and which are based on data that are freely available throughout Germany and Europe. Based on 10 SDGs and 35 SDG indicators, we are developing an ecosystem service and biodiversity-related indicator set for the evaluation of sustainable development in urban areas. We further show that it is possible to close many of the data gaps between SDGs and locally collected data mentioned in the literature and to translate the universal SDGs to the local level. Our example develops this set of indicators for the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which comprises both rural and densely populated settlements. This set of indicators can also help improve communication and plan sustainable development by increasing transparency in local sustainability, implementing a visible sustainability monitoring system, and strengthening the collaboration between local stakeholders.
{"title":"Assessment of ecosystem services for urban regions in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals exemplified by the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg region","authors":"Johannes Klement, J. Mutke, M. Weigend, Wiltrud Terlau","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac018","url":null,"abstract":"The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the conservation and protection of nature are among the greatest challenges facing urban regions. There are few approaches so far that link the SDGs to natural diversity and related ecosystem services at the local level and track them in terms of increasing sustainable development at the local level. We want to close this gap by developing a set of indicators that capture ecosystem services in the sense of the SDGs and which are based on data that are freely available throughout Germany and Europe. Based on 10 SDGs and 35 SDG indicators, we are developing an ecosystem service and biodiversity-related indicator set for the evaluation of sustainable development in urban areas. We further show that it is possible to close many of the data gaps between SDGs and locally collected data mentioned in the literature and to translate the universal SDGs to the local level. Our example develops this set of indicators for the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which comprises both rural and densely populated settlements. This set of indicators can also help improve communication and plan sustainable development by increasing transparency in local sustainability, implementing a visible sustainability monitoring system, and strengthening the collaboration between local stakeholders.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Itay Keren, D. Malkinson, M. Dorman, Amir Balaban, P. Bar (Kutiel)
Urbanization is the land-use process that most significantly impacts flora and fauna. We conducted a multiple city comparison of two taxa to assess whether richness patterns are similar across cities and taxa. This study aimed to examine the effects socioecological factors, namely open area size, socioeconomic status and the built-up cover, on species richness and composition of plants and butterflies in five adjacent Mediterranean cities in Israel’s coastal plain. Vegetation surveys were conducted in 170 open area sites in various urban settings. In 34 of them, the presence of butterfly species was also recorded. Mixed-effect generalized linear models were used to examine the site's characteristics effect on the species richness. The identity of each city was included as a random effect in the models. Results indicated that overall plant species richness increased with patch size, whereas butterfly richness was not associated with this factor. Plant and butterfly species richness in all categories decreased with the increase in building cover, except for endemic plant species. The results demonstrate the complex contribution of urban open area patches to the biodiversity of different taxa, being conditional on their size, surrounding built-up area and socioeconomic values.
{"title":"The relationship between plant and butterfly richness and composition and socioecological drivers in five adjacent cities along the Mediterranean Coast of Israel","authors":"Itay Keren, D. Malkinson, M. Dorman, Amir Balaban, P. Bar (Kutiel)","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac001","url":null,"abstract":"Urbanization is the land-use process that most significantly impacts flora and fauna. We conducted a multiple city comparison of two taxa to assess whether richness patterns are similar across cities and taxa. This study aimed to examine the effects socioecological factors, namely open area size, socioeconomic status and the built-up cover, on species richness and composition of plants and butterflies in five adjacent Mediterranean cities in Israel’s coastal plain. Vegetation surveys were conducted in 170 open area sites in various urban settings. In 34 of them, the presence of butterfly species was also recorded. Mixed-effect generalized linear models were used to examine the site's characteristics effect on the species richness. The identity of each city was included as a random effect in the models. Results indicated that overall plant species richness increased with patch size, whereas butterfly richness was not associated with this factor. Plant and butterfly species richness in all categories decreased with the increase in building cover, except for endemic plant species. The results demonstrate the complex contribution of urban open area patches to the biodiversity of different taxa, being conditional on their size, surrounding built-up area and socioeconomic values.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In a perspective of exceptional environmental change, the role of unbuilt and green spaces to improve urban resilience has increasingly attracted the interest of the scientific community. The conceptualisation of cities as urban landscapes has drawn a parallel between their spatial and ecological dimensions. Both urban morphology and urban ecology have examined the structure of cities form. However, we still do not completely understand how anthropogenic processes and ecosystems have been dynamically interacting in the formation of the urban structure. Thus, this article carries out a comprehensive analysis of built and unbuilt spaces in a case study with the objective to reveal the underlying morpho-ecological periods and patterns in the urban ecosystem. Morphological periods (temporal analysis) and ecological patterns (spatial analysis) are examined in combination through the hypothesis of nested scales at different resolutions operated at the macro, meso and micro levels of the urban landscape. By identifying common denominators across urban morphology and landscape ecology, the study is also a contribution to interdisciplinary research. The proposed framework set up the foundation for a more systematic quantitative assessment of the urban ecosystem across different disciplinary traditions while supporting a new urban landscape design culture based on the evidence of ecological constructs. An accurate explanation of how built forms symbiotically interacted with the ecological dimensions of the landscape over time is also crucial to predict the effects of environmental change and promote future sustainable planning agendas.
{"title":"Bridging urban morphology and urban ecology: a framework to identify morpho-ecological periods and patterns in the urban ecosystem","authors":"E. Palazzo","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac007","url":null,"abstract":"In a perspective of exceptional environmental change, the role of unbuilt and green spaces to improve urban resilience has increasingly attracted the interest of the scientific community. The conceptualisation of cities as urban landscapes has drawn a parallel between their spatial and ecological dimensions. Both urban morphology and urban ecology have examined the structure of cities form. However, we still do not completely understand how anthropogenic processes and ecosystems have been dynamically interacting in the formation of the urban structure. Thus, this article carries out a comprehensive analysis of built and unbuilt spaces in a case study with the objective to reveal the underlying morpho-ecological periods and patterns in the urban ecosystem. Morphological periods (temporal analysis) and ecological patterns (spatial analysis) are examined in combination through the hypothesis of nested scales at different resolutions operated at the macro, meso and micro levels of the urban landscape. By identifying common denominators across urban morphology and landscape ecology, the study is also a contribution to interdisciplinary research. The proposed framework set up the foundation for a more systematic quantitative assessment of the urban ecosystem across different disciplinary traditions while supporting a new urban landscape design culture based on the evidence of ecological constructs. An accurate explanation of how built forms symbiotically interacted with the ecological dimensions of the landscape over time is also crucial to predict the effects of environmental change and promote future sustainable planning agendas.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban bird diversity has been shown to be a useful indicator of overall biodiversity in urban green spaces. Attributes of green spaces (size, location and age) vary within a city and can influence bird diversity. To understand the relationship between bird diversity and green space attributes, we assessed bird abundance and richness in several green spaces in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fifteen green spaces were selected, representing different size categories (small: <5 ha and large: 7–41 ha) and different locations within the urban sprawl (central and suburban). Thirteen transect surveys were conducted at each park from March to September 2020. Abundance, species richness, the Shannon diversity index and evenness were compared across parks. Abundance, Shannon index and evenness were significantly higher in large, intermediate-aged parks with residential urban contexts (P < 0.05). Richness did not vary significantly with park size but was significantly higher in old- and intermediate-age parks that were centrally located (P < 0.005). Bird diversity did not vary significantly over the survey season. For abundance, our results were expected: the larger the park, the greater the abundance. However, contrary to most studies, the suburbs of Reykjavik had less richness than the city center. Furthermore, park size was not relevant for richness, which is the main factor in other cities (e.g. London, Boston). These differences in response indicate that abundance and richness should be considered simultaneously when monitoring urban bird diversity. Lastly, small urban parks (<5 ha) should not be disregarded in urban planning, especially in high latitude cities.
{"title":"Urban bird diversity: does abundance and richness vary unexpectedly with green space attributes?","authors":"Rebecca Thompson, M. Tamayo, Snorri Sigurðsson","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac017","url":null,"abstract":"Urban bird diversity has been shown to be a useful indicator of overall biodiversity in urban green spaces. Attributes of green spaces (size, location and age) vary within a city and can influence bird diversity. To understand the relationship between bird diversity and green space attributes, we assessed bird abundance and richness in several green spaces in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fifteen green spaces were selected, representing different size categories (small: <5 ha and large: 7–41 ha) and different locations within the urban sprawl (central and suburban). Thirteen transect surveys were conducted at each park from March to September 2020. Abundance, species richness, the Shannon diversity index and evenness were compared across parks. Abundance, Shannon index and evenness were significantly higher in large, intermediate-aged parks with residential urban contexts (P < 0.05). Richness did not vary significantly with park size but was significantly higher in old- and intermediate-age parks that were centrally located (P < 0.005). Bird diversity did not vary significantly over the survey season. For abundance, our results were expected: the larger the park, the greater the abundance. However, contrary to most studies, the suburbs of Reykjavik had less richness than the city center. Furthermore, park size was not relevant for richness, which is the main factor in other cities (e.g. London, Boston). These differences in response indicate that abundance and richness should be considered simultaneously when monitoring urban bird diversity. Lastly, small urban parks (<5 ha) should not be disregarded in urban planning, especially in high latitude cities.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban expansion has been identified as one of the main threats to biodiversity because it can negatively affect wildlife populations. However, wildlife population dynamics have not been studied in one of the most rapidly urbanizing regions in the world—the Neotropics. To examine the effect of urbanization on the population dynamics of Neotropical wildlife, we used recapture data from a marked population (2011–2017) of White-eared Ground-Sparrow (Melozone leucotis) across an urban–rural gradient in the Costa Rican Central Valley. Additionally, we tested if this effect differed between males and females. Contrary to our prediction, ground-sparrow survival rates were higher in urban and suburban sites than in the rural site, and we found that survival was positively correlated to the proportion of urban surface inside each territory (β = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.71–0.97). We did not find differences in survival rates between the sexes and the mean survival rate was high overall (0.79 ± 0.06). Surprisingly, our results suggest that the survival rate of this urban avoider is positively influenced by urbanization, and therefore, suggest that the potential cost to some urban avoiders may not be driven by reduced survival in more urbanized environments, and could be driven by reductions in other vital rates. Therefore, we encourage research to evaluate multiple vital rates of urban avoiders and urban adapters to achieve more comprehensive knowledge on how urbanization is affecting avian populations in the Neotropics.
{"title":"Surviving in cities: the case of a year-round territorial bird in the Neotropics","authors":"Roselvy Juárez, V. Ruiz‐Gutierrez, L. Sandoval","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac006","url":null,"abstract":"Urban expansion has been identified as one of the main threats to biodiversity because it can negatively affect wildlife populations. However, wildlife population dynamics have not been studied in one of the most rapidly urbanizing regions in the world—the Neotropics. To examine the effect of urbanization on the population dynamics of Neotropical wildlife, we used recapture data from a marked population (2011–2017) of White-eared Ground-Sparrow (Melozone leucotis) across an urban–rural gradient in the Costa Rican Central Valley. Additionally, we tested if this effect differed between males and females. Contrary to our prediction, ground-sparrow survival rates were higher in urban and suburban sites than in the rural site, and we found that survival was positively correlated to the proportion of urban surface inside each territory (β = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.71–0.97). We did not find differences in survival rates between the sexes and the mean survival rate was high overall (0.79 ± 0.06). Surprisingly, our results suggest that the survival rate of this urban avoider is positively influenced by urbanization, and therefore, suggest that the potential cost to some urban avoiders may not be driven by reduced survival in more urbanized environments, and could be driven by reductions in other vital rates. Therefore, we encourage research to evaluate multiple vital rates of urban avoiders and urban adapters to achieve more comprehensive knowledge on how urbanization is affecting avian populations in the Neotropics.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
U. Bhatt, Shubhangani Sharma, Deepak Kumar, V. Soni
The use of artificial light at night is a very basic symbol of urbanization and has distorted many ecological, biochemical and physiological phenomena in plants, which have settled for millions of years in the biological system. Continuous illumination of light significantly alters the circadian rhythm of all organisms. The present study was focused to understand the effects of continuous light (CL) on the biochemistry and physiology of moss Semibarbula orientalis. It was observed that H2O2 accumulation and activities of chlorophyllase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes significantly enhanced in plants growing under streetlights. Similarly, plants under CL showed a marked reduction in photosynthetic performance. Specific fluxes (ABS/RC, TR/RC, ET/RC), phenomenological fluxes (ABS/CS, TR/CS, ET/CS), density of photosystem-II, quantum yield of photosynthesis and chlorophyll concentration markedly declined in plants growing under streetlights. Depletion in performance indices (PIcs and PIabs) and primary and secondary photochemistry [PHIO/(1 − PHIO) and PSIO/(1 − PSIO)] were also noticed, which indicated failure of adaptive strategies of photosystem-II, resulting in the loss of biomass of S. orientalis. Biomass decline is also shown by a decrease in coverage, which reduces the bryophyte species richness of the chosen locations. Present studies clearly indicate that artificial light at night drastically affects the moss population. The reduction in the dominating species, S. orientalis, improves species evenness and results in a slow growth rate.
{"title":"Impact of streetlights on physiology, biochemistry and diversity of urban bryophyte: a case study on moss Semibarbula orientalis","authors":"U. Bhatt, Shubhangani Sharma, Deepak Kumar, V. Soni","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac019","url":null,"abstract":"The use of artificial light at night is a very basic symbol of urbanization and has distorted many ecological, biochemical and physiological phenomena in plants, which have settled for millions of years in the biological system. Continuous illumination of light significantly alters the circadian rhythm of all organisms. The present study was focused to understand the effects of continuous light (CL) on the biochemistry and physiology of moss Semibarbula orientalis. It was observed that H2O2 accumulation and activities of chlorophyllase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes significantly enhanced in plants growing under streetlights. Similarly, plants under CL showed a marked reduction in photosynthetic performance. Specific fluxes (ABS/RC, TR/RC, ET/RC), phenomenological fluxes (ABS/CS, TR/CS, ET/CS), density of photosystem-II, quantum yield of photosynthesis and chlorophyll concentration markedly declined in plants growing under streetlights. Depletion in performance indices (PIcs and PIabs) and primary and secondary photochemistry [PHIO/(1 − PHIO) and PSIO/(1 − PSIO)] were also noticed, which indicated failure of adaptive strategies of photosystem-II, resulting in the loss of biomass of S. orientalis. Biomass decline is also shown by a decrease in coverage, which reduces the bryophyte species richness of the chosen locations. Present studies clearly indicate that artificial light at night drastically affects the moss population. The reduction in the dominating species, S. orientalis, improves species evenness and results in a slow growth rate.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Cappellaro, Gianluca D'Agosta, Piero De Sabbata, Felipe Barroco, Claudia Carani, A. Borghetti, L. Lambertini, C. Nucci
Citizens are expected to play a great role in the future global energy transition, being able to give a decisive contribution to limit global warming to 1.5° and avoid the worst consequences. Empowering citizens is crucial and assigning them the role of prosumers in the new energy market is necessary to ensure a sustainable and fair pathway to the low-carbon energy transition. Creating energy communities (ECs) can also engage citizens by providing flexibility and ancillary services, reducing losses and curtailments in the grid. It also yields environmental and social benefits, activating virtuous circles in the local economy aligned with the SDGs of Agenda 2030. We illustrate the experience of an EC implementation, using GECO-Green Energy COmmunity project, as a case study. In particular, the in-depth qualitative analysis of the project from a social and technical perspective is provided. The GECO Project is active in the districts of Pilastro and Roveri, Bologna, Italy, being implemented by a consortium including the Energy and Sustainable Development Agency (AESS), the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) and the University of Bologna (UniBo). Our findings show the potential interconnections among the development of an ECs and SDGs, especially goals 7, 11, 12 and 13. Placing ECs and prosumers at the centre of the international debate may deliver a more sustainable paradigm in the energy sector, in line with the climate change needs and community approaches.
公民有望在未来的全球能源转型中发挥重要作用,能够为将全球变暖限制在1.5°c内并避免最坏的后果做出决定性贡献。赋予公民权力至关重要,并赋予他们在新能源市场中的产消费者角色是必要的,以确保实现低碳能源转型的可持续和公平途径。创建能源社区(ec)还可以通过提供灵活性和辅助服务,减少电网的损失和削减,让公民参与进来。它还能产生环境和社会效益,在符合《2030年议程》可持续发展目标的地方经济中激活良性循环。我们以GECO-Green Energy COmmunity项目为例,阐述了EC实施的经验。特别是从社会和技术角度对项目进行了深入的定性分析。GECO项目活跃在意大利博洛尼亚的皮拉斯特罗和罗韦里地区,由包括能源和可持续发展署(AESS)、国家新技术、能源和可持续经济发展署(ENEA)和博洛尼亚大学(UniBo)在内的一个财团实施。我们的研究结果表明,经济共同体的发展与可持续发展目标,特别是目标7、11、12和13之间存在潜在的相互联系。将ec和产消者置于国际辩论的中心,可能会在能源领域提供一个更可持续的范例,符合气候变化需求和社区方法。
{"title":"Implementing energy transition and SDGs targets throughout energy community schemes","authors":"F. Cappellaro, Gianluca D'Agosta, Piero De Sabbata, Felipe Barroco, Claudia Carani, A. Borghetti, L. Lambertini, C. Nucci","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac023","url":null,"abstract":"Citizens are expected to play a great role in the future global energy transition, being able to give a decisive contribution to limit global warming to 1.5° and avoid the worst consequences. Empowering citizens is crucial and assigning them the role of prosumers in the new energy market is necessary to ensure a sustainable and fair pathway to the low-carbon energy transition. Creating energy communities (ECs) can also engage citizens by providing flexibility and ancillary services, reducing losses and curtailments in the grid. It also yields environmental and social benefits, activating virtuous circles in the local economy aligned with the SDGs of Agenda 2030. We illustrate the experience of an EC implementation, using GECO-Green Energy COmmunity project, as a case study. In particular, the in-depth qualitative analysis of the project from a social and technical perspective is provided. The GECO Project is active in the districts of Pilastro and Roveri, Bologna, Italy, being implemented by a consortium including the Energy and Sustainable Development Agency (AESS), the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) and the University of Bologna (UniBo). Our findings show the potential interconnections among the development of an ECs and SDGs, especially goals 7, 11, 12 and 13. Placing ECs and prosumers at the centre of the international debate may deliver a more sustainable paradigm in the energy sector, in line with the climate change needs and community approaches.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61022476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban gardens are an integral part of urban agricultural systems, contributing to ecosystem services, biodiversity and human wellbeing. These systems occur at fine scales, can be highly complex and therefore offer the opportunity to test mechanisms of ecological patterns and processes. The capacity to confidently characterize urban gardens and their land uses is still lacking, while it could provide the basis for assessing ecosystem service provision. Land classifications from remote sensing platforms are common at the landscape scale, but imagery often lacks the resolution required to map differences in land use of fine-scale systems such as urban gardens. Here, we present a workflow to model and map land use in urban gardens using imagery from an unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) and machine learning. Due to high resolutions (<5 cm) from image acquisition at low altitudes, UAV remote sensing is better suited to characterize urban land use. We mapped six common land uses in 10 urban community gardens, exhibiting distinct spatial arrangements. Our models had good predictive performance, reaching 80% overall prediction accuracy in independent validation and up to 95% when assessing model performance per cover class. Extracting spatial metrics from these land use classifications, we found that at the garden and plot scale, plant species richness can be estimated by the total area and patchiness of crops. Land use classifications like these can offer an accessible tool to assess complex urban habitats and justify the importance of urban agriculture as a service-providing system, contributing to the sustainability and livability of cities.
{"title":"Application of UAV remote sensing and machine learning to model and map land use in urban gardens","authors":"Benjamin Wagner, Monika H. Egerer","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac008","url":null,"abstract":"Urban gardens are an integral part of urban agricultural systems, contributing to ecosystem services, biodiversity and human wellbeing. These systems occur at fine scales, can be highly complex and therefore offer the opportunity to test mechanisms of ecological patterns and processes. The capacity to confidently characterize urban gardens and their land uses is still lacking, while it could provide the basis for assessing ecosystem service provision. Land classifications from remote sensing platforms are common at the landscape scale, but imagery often lacks the resolution required to map differences in land use of fine-scale systems such as urban gardens. Here, we present a workflow to model and map land use in urban gardens using imagery from an unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) and machine learning. Due to high resolutions (<5 cm) from image acquisition at low altitudes, UAV remote sensing is better suited to characterize urban land use. We mapped six common land uses in 10 urban community gardens, exhibiting distinct spatial arrangements. Our models had good predictive performance, reaching 80% overall prediction accuracy in independent validation and up to 95% when assessing model performance per cover class. Extracting spatial metrics from these land use classifications, we found that at the garden and plot scale, plant species richness can be estimated by the total area and patchiness of crops. Land use classifications like these can offer an accessible tool to assess complex urban habitats and justify the importance of urban agriculture as a service-providing system, contributing to the sustainability and livability of cities.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61021996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Given the increasing relevance of cities in the global agenda, we examine the voluntary local reports from six northern and southern cities around the world to understand their approach to the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. We examine not only the framework but also the content of the reports to identify the differences in reporting on sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the factors that may explain why these cities have voluntarily submitted their reports. The research has revealed a wide diversity in the structure and content of the voluntary local reports, demonstrating that there was little to no institutional framework used to submit and compile the reports. Although the reports of northern cities tend to align with previous strategies for the SDGs, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in southern cities has had a more significant impact on the adoption of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms at the local level. We have found that both international bodies and national policies have an influence on the development of sustainable practices at the local level. Our analysis also indicates that all cities have some sort of international exposure either through their participation in transnational municipal networks or through their collaboration with international organizations, especially in southern cities, which can explain why these cities (and not others) are more active in the adoption of SDGs at the local level and in the submission of voluntary reports.
{"title":"Local voluntary reports: the implementation of sustainable development goals in northern and southern cities","authors":"Xira Ruiz-Campillo, Samanta Rosas Nieva","doi":"10.1093/jue/juac013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juac013","url":null,"abstract":"Given the increasing relevance of cities in the global agenda, we examine the voluntary local reports from six northern and southern cities around the world to understand their approach to the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. We examine not only the framework but also the content of the reports to identify the differences in reporting on sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the factors that may explain why these cities have voluntarily submitted their reports. The research has revealed a wide diversity in the structure and content of the voluntary local reports, demonstrating that there was little to no institutional framework used to submit and compile the reports. Although the reports of northern cities tend to align with previous strategies for the SDGs, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in southern cities has had a more significant impact on the adoption of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms at the local level. We have found that both international bodies and national policies have an influence on the development of sustainable practices at the local level. Our analysis also indicates that all cities have some sort of international exposure either through their participation in transnational municipal networks or through their collaboration with international organizations, especially in southern cities, which can explain why these cities (and not others) are more active in the adoption of SDGs at the local level and in the submission of voluntary reports.","PeriodicalId":37022,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Ecology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"61022135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}