Landscape and Urban Planning最新文献

Many methods have been applied to quantify urban ecosystem services (UESs) in the past two decades. Timely reviews of UES assessment methods are necessary for tracking the methodological progress and identifying research gaps. In this study, we systematically analyzed 862 to reveal the overall trend of quantitative studies of UESs, the types of ecological structures and UESs assessed in those studies, and the main equations and parameters used. We found a rising trend of quantitative studies of UESs, accelerating after 2015. Large-size and publicly-owned ecological structures and regulating services were assessed the most frequently. We identified 1,130 equations and 1,190 parameters. Simple methods and equations were used more regularly than complex ones. Values for around 30% of parameters were taken from published papers, while the sources or the values were not specified for about 40% and 20% of all parameters, respectively. The remaining 10% were derived from field measurements and other sources. Based on our findings, we recommend building an open database of quantitative methods, testing the suitability of existing methods for urban environments, developing new methods specifically designed for urban areas, and increasing the transparency of reported methods.

As urbanisation increases, wildlife is more likely to be exposed to humans. Although human disturbance is the main cause of biodiversity loss, some wildlife thrives in anthropogenic environments. Such species show increased behavioural tolerance to humans, which plays an important role in human-wildlife coexistence. However, whether wildlife modulates tolerance differently between regions and cities is inadequately understood. Understanding how animals behaviourally modulate their tolerance to humans at the larger geographical scale can provide useful information to predict behavioural adaptations to urbanisation and adequate management actions for conservation. We examined alert distance (AD), flight initiation distance (FID), and vertical escape distance (VED) in Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) in four countries (Finland, Germany, Japan, and the UK). Linear mixed models with Tukey’s multicomparisons showed that all tolerance measures varied between countries. We subsequently analysed the relationship between site-scale environmental variables (vegetation conditions, presence of artificial feeding, and human population density) and tolerance behaviours separately by country. We found that squirrels were more tolerant in sites with taller trees and more underbrush cover in the UK, and more tolerant in sites with artificial feeding in Japan, while environmental variables were not associated with squirrels’ tolerance in Finland and Germany. Our results indicated that regional forms of environmental factors and human-squirrel interactions play a key role in tolerance modification at the larger spatial scale. Our study suggests the importance of considering regional-dependent relationships between tolerance behaviours and environmental characteristics for urban wildlife conservation and management.

Metacommunities are the set of local communities that are linked by the dispersion of potentially interacting species. The study of metacommunities is important to elucidate the relationship between processes that occur at different spatial scales. However, bird metacommunities in urban parks have been little studied. The objectives of this study were: 1) to analyze the relative role of species dispersal, environmental selection, and stochastic processes shaping urban bird metacommunities; and 2) to analyze the structure of the metacommunities of birds in urban parks. Bird surveys were made in 51 parks of six cities in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. To obtain the metacommunity structure, three elements were analyzed: coherence, turnover, and boundary clumping. We found that the metacommunity conforms to a clementsian structure, in which groups of species respond in a similar way to environmental gradients. The environmental and connectivity variables explained a greater proportion of the variance than the spatial variable. The composition of species was related to the location of the cities, the distance to the rural area, the distance to the urban center, the number of cars passing near parks, and habitat diversity. Due to the clementsian structure of metacommunities, they probably were structured under a species sorting and mass effect process. The number of cars and habitat diversity in the parks would be acting as environmental filters for bird species, while the distance to rural areas and the distance to the urban center would affect species dispersal to the parks. These findings emphasize the importance of maintaining and improving park connectivity and habitat diversity for bird species, managing them as cities grow.

Natural environments are changing with shifts in fire regimes. A little-understood impact is change to the interactions people have with forests. Generally, forests invoke positive feelings, but wildfire changes both forests and people’s experiences of them. These were investigated with attention to the ever-changing physical characteristics of fire-adapted forests. In a mixed method approach, interviews were used to explore the subjective experiences of 57 adults in forests at different times since fire. A photo-based survey with 529 responses enabled further analysis of forest characteristics in experience. The Human-Environment Interaction (HEI) model guided analysis of experience events on four factors which shape them: the physical environment, activities undertaken, personal resources and social support. We found that bushfires create potent environments by changing the sense of enclosure, colours and dead trees in forests. Different levels of environmental potency combine with activities and personal resources to invoke different types of experience, the main ones being aesthetic (feelings of pleasure) restorative (relaxation) and loss/recovery (sadness mixed with hope). Personal resources are particularly important in the loss/recovery type. People who are connected to nature (one such resource), feel the loss of forest elements, but also notice forest recovery, which inspires hope. As fire frequency increases with climate change, experiences can be expected to become more negative overall. However, thought-based adaptations may be occurring in the spread of beliefs that forests are inherently dynamic and in the emergence of a fire aesthetic. Forest managers can assist people to come to terms with wildfires by providing access to forests postfire and by engagement to encourage adaptation.

Although the availability of natural space is found to be associated with the reduction of neighborhood-level violent crimes, such relationship is often confounded by heightened public surveillance in such spaces. Using satellite remote sensing data and official crime record, we examined the extent to which natural space coverage and population-weighted exposure were associated with assault crime rates, including domestic violent assault, which minimalized the influence of surveillance. Analyses of data from New South Wales, Australia, between 2015 and 2019 showed that regions with more green space and higher population-weighted exposure to green space had lower rates of both domestic and non-domestic violent assault during the five-year period of inquiry. The coverage of water bodies did not reveal a significant association. This study underscores the consistent negative association between green space and interpersonal violence and highlights its potential implications for urban planning and landscape design as strategies for violence mitigation.

Understanding how mobility-based green space exposure influences momentary wellbeing is vital to promote life quality. Based on a survey conducted in 2017 characterizing residents’ daily activities and environmental pollution exposure in Meiheyuan Community of Beijing, we use Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Green View Index (GVI) to gauge the amount and visibility of exposure to green space at the granularity of activity episodes. Structural equation models are formulated to examine direct influences of green space on activity satisfaction, mediating effects of real-time environmental pollution, and environmental justice under a dynamic activity context. Our results show that the amount of greenness boosts activity satisfaction, and that the direct relationship between green visibility and activity satisfaction follows an inverted U-shaped curve. NDVI indirectly affects activity satisfaction by reducing perceived air pollution. GVI influences both objective and subjective noise pollution, thereby inducing indirect effects on activity satisfaction. Moreover, clear patterns of environmental injustice emerge: individuals with lower monthly incomes, renters, and the unemployed face heightened environmental pollution, when compared to their more affluent, homeowner, and employed counterparts. These findings underscore the significance of larger parks and green spaces for direct satisfaction enhancement, while street vegetation reduces perceived noise pollution and promotes wellbeing.

Walking and high-quality walking environments are essential for sustainable and healthy cities. Walkability depends on both objective environmental features and perceived aspects. However, less is known about how the interplay between objective and perceived walkability influences walking behaviour across different urban contexts. We conducted a spatially explicit comparison of walkability and walking routes between a city centre representing inner-city walking fabric and a suburb comprising transit and automobile urban fabrics in Helsinki, Finland. Our objective walkability index consisted of floor space ratio, functional mix, and accessibility variables, while the perceived quality index included safety, comfort, and enjoyment variables retrieved from public participatory GIS data reflecting citizens’ perceptions. We also compared the characteristics of hotspots of people’s reported routes for utilitarian and recreational walking, incorporating additional variables, namely green and blue index, which consisted of the NDVI and shoreline length. We found that prerequisites for walking significantly differed between city-centre and suburban contexts. In the city centre, objective and perceived walkability were high in the commercial centre, whereas in the suburb, they rarely overlapped. Suburban centres had a lower degree of perceived walkability than the city centre, but these areas were widely used for utilitarian and recreational walking. In the city centre, perceived protection was higher in utilitarian walking hotspots, which were also associated with higher building density, functional mix, and objective walkability index. Conversely, in the suburb, perceived protection was higher in recreational hotspots, associated with higher urban permeability, NDVI, and shoreline length. High perceived enjoyment, i.e., pleasant sensory experiences, induced both utilitarian and recreational walking across urban fabrics. Our results underline the importance of including citizen perceptions in walkability planning. With more limited mobility options, suburban walkability is crucial for fair mobility. Such contextual features of walkability need to be better addressed in future studies and planning practices.