Landscape and Urban Planning最新文献

Urban and forest trees provide valuable ecosystem services. However, they are increasingly threatened by invasive forest pests and pathogens. Trees in urban areas are often the first potential hosts non-native tree-feeding insects and tree pathogens (“pests”) encounter after introduction in a novel region. If the trees encountered are suitable hosts, these pests can establish and become invasive – eventually also in surrounding forests. Here, we compared tree species and genus composition between urban areas and surrounding forests and examined the implications for host availability for forest pests and potential effects on invasibility. We compiled and standardised 26 urban tree inventories, containing ∼ 500.000 individual trees. We used multivariate analyses to compare urban tree composition with forest tree composition from forests surrounding each municipality (10 km radius), derived from the Swiss National Forest Inventory. With > 1300 different tree species, species richness of urban trees was 17 times higher than species richness in surrounding forests. Linear models and multivariate analyses revealed that host availability for forest quarantine pests is significantly higher in urban areas than in forests, with large differences in host suitability for different quarantine pests between urban and forest tree assemblages. This indicates that differences in species composition in urban and forest trees can result in increased host availability, possibly facilitating the establishment of quarantine forest pests.

Existing research on urban dynamic simulations has primarily focused on horizontal aspects, whereas vertical changes have remained relatively unexplored. Although a few preliminary studies have attempted to simulate three-dimensional (3D) urban dynamics, these have generally amounted to rudimentary amalgamations of horizontal urban expansion simulation and vertical height estimation. In this study, we enhanced our original Future Land Use Simulation (FLUS) model into a 3D version (FLUS-3D) to simulate the continuous 3D dynamics of real-world urban development. A distinctive characteristic of the proposed model is its ability to concurrently update 3D information of the developed land grids during the simulation process. The FLUS-3D model was assessed via simulations across three metropolitan regions in China: the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta regions. Satisfactory simulation performances were found across all regions, with Figure of Merit values ranging 0.21–0.35 for horizontal expansion, overall accuracy values of 83 % for the refinement of urban functional types, and root mean squared error values of 5–7 m for built-up height simulations. Comparative experiments further demonstrated a significant outperformance of the FLUS-3D model compared to that of existing models. Subsequently, the proposed model was applied to simulate the future evolution of 3D urban dynamics until 2030 under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). The simulation results effectively illustrated the influence of each SSPs on 3D urban development. Given that 3D urban structures are fundamental parameters in urban climate modeling, the proposed model can potentially be used in urban-related studies climate change mitigation to achieve future urban sustainability.

Sexual crime is a critical global social problem. There remains a critical knowledge gap concerning whether and to what extent sexual crimes in public outdoor spaces can be influenced by landscape morphology of green spaces. This missing knowledge hinders the effective use of green spaces to reduce sexual crimes in these public settings. To address this issue, we collected a dataset comprising 5,155 cases of sexual crimes that occurred in public outdoor spaces in the United States from August 2021 to July 2022. A random forest model was employed to examine the statistical relationships between landscape morphology and sexual crimes. Additionally, we utilized the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) model to quantify the interaction effects of landscape morphology with socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. This study yields three key findings: (1) Both the proportion and configuration factors of landscape morphology may significantly influence the sexual crime probability. (2) The relationships between landscape morphology and sexual crimes are nonlinear, and threshold values for the satisfactory dose and the preferred dose of green spaces can be identified. (3) There are significant interaction effects between landscape morphology with socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing green space interventions in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. Lastly, through summarizing the findings of this study and previous research, we propose the Landscape-Sexual Crime Model (LSCM), which advocates for further research to explore effective strategies for using green spaces to reduce sexual crimes.

Urban expansion and sprawl lead to loss of green space. This has the potential to degrade natural capital and associated ecosystem services. Urban growth boundaries (UGBs) are a planning tool to delineate where growth may or may not occur as a strategy to protect green and open space. However, how these policies impact ecosystem services is unknown, particularly across multiple years. Here we compare pairs of cities: one of which has a UGB and one that does not. Specifically, we analyzed the following city pairs: (1) Lexington, KY: Huntsville, AL and (2) Portland, OR: Denver, CO. We modeled the ecosystem services provided to each city, quantifying carbon storage, pollinator abundance, urban flood risk, and urban cooling. Our results show that UGBs succeed in preserving the ecosystem services, over time, at a higher and more predictable rate than cities that do not have a UGB. Change over time highlights the effectiveness of UGBs in preserving ecosystem services overall and concentrating loss of ecosystem service delivery within highly urbanized areas. We discuss how the data necessitates analyzing spatial and temporal trends together to incorporate starting values of ecosystem service function for comparison between case studies. Natural capital and its associated ecosystem services should be key criteria for assessing policies for urban planning and used to further implement laws and policies to enhance environmental and human health within urban areas.

Urban green spaces are highly important for the health and well-being of urban residents, especially under conditions of ongoing climate change and urbanisation. However, vegetation in urban parks may also present a risk to human health through the presence of allergenic plants and release of allergy-inducing pollen. Using the city of Leipzig as a case study, we monitored pollen abundance in two inner city parks and on the roof of a central university hospital during the pollen season in 2021. We also conducted a questionnaire survey with 186 city residents. Questions related to their allergic symptoms, perceived physical and mental health impairment, potential behavioural adaptations due to expected pollen exposure, and suggestions for urban planning. We found nine plant genera with particularly high concentrations of pollen across the monitoring sites, including especially Alnus and Betula. While a high proportion of trees planted in one of the parks were Betula, potentially explaining the high concentrations we monitored, the high pollen load for Alnus could not be explained by the local presence of Alnus trees at either park. A majority of respondents (61%) indicated they suffered from pollen-related allergic symptoms, with Betula pollen most often mentioned as a main cause of their health impairment. Of respondents with symptoms, 82% indicated they did not change their park visitation patterns due to expected pollen exposure. However, nearly two-thirds of the respondents took allergy medication at least once per week. Participants’ recommendations for urban planning included considering allergies when selecting species for planting, improving urban air quality, and advancing public pollen information and warning systems. We conclude that particularly allergenic trees, such as Betula, should be avoided in densely populated urban areas, because of the potential for a large number of residents to experience allergy symptoms. However, such species should not be completely avoided, as plant diversity is still a crucial element of ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change and urbanisation. Combining objective and subjective data on the burden of allergenic pollen, as was done in our study, can help derive such targeted policy recommendations.

Walking and access to nature are two of the most effective health promotion and disease prevention strategies. There has been a growing interest in the dynamic pathways among access to nature, walking, and health. Effective measurement of these variables is the prerequisite to advancing our understanding of such pathways. However, contrasting to the rigorous methods available for walking and health measures, methods to quantify nature have been limited.

This study uses a systematic literature review to synthesize urban nature measures (UNMs) used in published studies linking urban nature with pedestrian health outcomes (e.g. walking, physical activity, physical health, mental health). A survey of experts (n = 30) was used to identify additional and emerging methods.

The literature search identified 115 articles and 48 UNMs most of which (40 or 83%) were objective measures. Results showed no consensus on the optimal UNMs for pedestrian health research, but certain measures such as NDVI, proximity to green spaces, and area/proportion of green spaces, were popularly used in previous studies. Experts suggested emerging methods including LiDAR, GPS, high-resolution imagery, virtual/augmented reality, and context-sensitive ecological momentary assessment. Major gaps in current UNMs included the shortage of eye-level and quality-related measures. While experts acknowledge the promise of emerging technologies, they shared concerns related to privacy, digital divide, confidentiality, and bias.

This study offers insights into the UNMs available to quantify nature for pedestrian health research, which can serve to facilitate future research, community actions, and policy changes aimed at promoting walking and nature access for healthier urban communities.

Public parks are critical urban infrastructures offering health, environmental, social, and cultural benefits to people. However, the idea of park quality has lacked a clear operational definition and normative standard for measurement. We provide critical insights into existing park quality instruments and advocate for an alternative approach. First, due to the significant diversity in parks, inherent ambiguity and subjectivity in the idea of quality, and previous instruments’ inconsistent operationalizations of park quality, we recommend that future research shift its focus from creating instruments for universal application and standardized measurement to developing an inventory or list of park quality indicators that researchers and practitioners can selectively choose for their unique park contexts. Second, through our multidisciplinary examination, we identify five limitations in existing park quality instruments: (1) lack of attention to the histories of marginalized communities, (2) overemphasis on physical activities and public health, (3) lack of attention to ecological function and biodiversity, (4) lack of subjective measurements, and (5) insufficient consideration of multiple parks or a park system. Overall, a more flexible and site-specific approach to park quality measurement and the adoption of new indicators of park quality are expected to accomplish a more comprehensive and fairer assessment of park quality, contributing to park equity research and practice.

The benefits of urban green spaces (UGSs) for human health have been extensively documented. Nevertheless, few studies have incorporated multidimensional UGS exposure indicators, and little is known about the effectiveness of different metrics that should be prioritized as nature-based solutions for improving mental well-being. This study aimed to investigate the associations between various UGS exposure metrics and residents’ expressed happiness (EH) as well as to determine the prioritization of metrics in Nanjing, China, a megacity with 9.5 million inhabitants. The study region was divided into 500 m × 500 m grids, and 330,000 geotagged posts from social media (Sina Weibo) were retrieved for sentiment analysis using the Natural Language Processing (NLP). We developed a systematic UGS exposure framework using satellite, land-cover, and street view-derived data, encompassing 17 indicators of composition and configuration at overhead level as well as street green space visibility and perceived quality at eye level. A regression model and Likelihood Ratio Test were used to examine the associations between various UGS indicators and EH and determine the prioritization of indicators. The results indicated that UGS size had the greatest potential for promoting residents’ EH, followed by overall greenness in the surrounding area, aggregated UGS, perceived quality, and visibility of street green spaces. This study also found that overhead-level metrics may be more effective than eye-level metrics in enhancing residents’ EH, although both perspectives showed significant associations with EH. These findings provide valuable insights into health-oriented landscapes and urban planning to promote the development of a “happy city,” particularly in low-green resource settings in low- and middle-income countries.

Land use planning directly governs the location, size, and shape of urban parks, which can act as habitat refuges for wildlife. Thus, land use planning decisions made decades, or even centuries, ago likely affects modern day habitat availability for wildlife in cities. We sought to understand the role of these historical decisions on avian diversity between 1900 and 2020 to inform future biophilic urban planning efforts. We digitized historical maps of three mid-sized temperate U.S cities — Washington (DC), Minneapolis (MN) and Pittsburg (PA) — in five-year increments between 1900 and 2020, and calculated landscape metrics of each city’s park system over time. Historical Christmas Bird Count data in each city were used to estimate species and functional diversity metrics over the same 120-year period as a function of historical landscape metrics. Our results lend further support to the species-area relationship, as total greenspace area had the greatest positive relationship with species richness, functional divergence, and observations of species in different functional groups. Greenspace shape and connectivity also influenced some biodiversity metrics, but to a lesser degree than greenspace area. These findings demonstrate that historical land use decisions have a strong influence on the modern-day patterns of avian diversity in urban areas, which may help explain apparent differences in species assemblages across otherwise similar cities. As such, we suggest cities prioritize the establishment and protection of greenspaces to ensure lasting conservation of species across urban landscapes.

As urbanization pressures continue to intensify globally, the implementation of green infrastructure (GI) has emerged as a critical intervention for enhancing the resilience of our communities. However, literature exploring the integration of GI planning and design within the complex mechanisms of urban systems is limited. This study posits that the sensible deployment of GI should consider place-based supply along with locational demand. This research proposes a novel and integrated approach to GI planning that responds to evolving urban contexts and encompasses the operational mechanisms of services at multiple scales. We first assess the spatial mismatch between GI service supply and demand using standard spatial analytical approaches. We then project scenario-based futures to highlight future mismatch or exacerbated mismatch issues. Our results find that GI services are a significant growth driver that impacts development patterns, and the results also reveal a potential spatial shift in the service mismatches in the future. Our approach involves a dynamic spatial simulation of urban growth and the quantification of GI services over space and time. The ultimate goal is to provide reliable place-based information on optimal GI locations for planning and design purposes. We hope that this study will make a meaningful contribution to the broader discourse surrounding the resilience of urban places and the role of GI.