16 Integrating Ecosystem Services, Green Infrastructure and Nature-Based …
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disease, as well as “lifestyle diseases”, such as obesity and diabetes (very frequent
in cities with a high poverty rate), and mental disease, such as depression or anxiety
disorders (Gruebner and McCay 2019; Gruebner et al. 2017).
Thus, the major research question guiding this chapter of the book will be: How
we can make use of urban nature and knowledge about nature to protect human
life and, at the same time, protect nature from severe and hazardous conditions and
events? Are there forms of urban land management that allow us to effectively and
sensibly harness nature for human benefits, leading to more sustainable urban land
use?
This chapter provides novel insights by discussing various concepts and the
potential to integrate them into cities.
16.2 Three Concepts for One Goal
The next few pages will introduce three different approaches and concepts dealing
with urban nature for sustainable cities:
• Urban ecosystem services (demand, flow, supply; Haase et al. 2014),
• Green infrastructure and green infrastructure types (Pauleit et al. 2018) and
• Nature-based solutions (Nesshoever et al. 2017).
All three concepts are interrelated and have a complementary character to a certain
degree (Table 16.1 and Fig. 16.1). Urban ecosystem services (ES) focus on the
processes and structure of urban nature and the beneficial effects of ecosystem process
outcomes for people—in the case of this chapter, urban residents and urban society as
a whole (Haase et al. 2014). Urban green infrastructure (UGI) can be understood as a
strategic planning approach that takes these functional benefits of ES for “granted”;
it thus aims to develop networks of green and blue spaces in urban areas, designed
and managed to deliver a wide range of ES and other benefits at all spatial scales
(Pauleit et al. 2018; EEA website). Finally, the concept of nature-based solutions
(NBS) focuses on problems and challenges of an environmental or a social nature.
NBS harnesses the ES functional approach and the design concept of green (blue)
infrastructure to adapt both ES and UGI to the distinct and specific needs of cities.
NBS, therefore, can be defined as living solutions that are inspired and supported
by nature, which are cost-effective, whilst simultaneously providing environmental,
social and economic benefits and helping to increase resilience and adaptation to
climate change (Kabisch et al. 2017).
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disease, as well as “lifestyle diseases”, such as obesity and diabetes (very frequent
in cities with a high poverty rate), and mental disease, such as depression or anxiety
disorders (Gruebner and McCay 2019; Gruebner et al. 2017).
Thus, the major research question guiding this chapter of the book will be: How
we can make use of urban nature and knowledge about nature to protect human
life and, at the same time, protect nature from severe and hazardous conditions and
events? Are there forms of urban land management that allow us to effectively and
sensibly harness nature for human benefits, leading to more sustainable urban land
use?
This chapter provides novel insights by discussing various concepts and the
potential to integrate them into cities.
16.2 Three Concepts for One Goal
The next few pages will introduce three different approaches and concepts dealing
with urban nature for sustainable cities:
• Urban ecosystem services (demand, flow, supply; Haase et al. 2014),
• Green infrastructure and green infrastructure types (Pauleit et al. 2018) and
• Nature-based solutions (Nesshoever et al. 2017).
All three concepts are interrelated and have a complementary character to a certain
degree (Table 16.1 and Fig. 16.1). Urban ecosystem services (ES) focus on the
processes and structure of urban nature and the beneficial effects of ecosystem process
outcomes for people—in the case of this chapter, urban residents and urban society as
a whole (Haase et al. 2014). Urban green infrastructure (UGI) can be understood as a
strategic planning approach that takes these functional benefits of ES for “granted”;
it thus aims to develop networks of green and blue spaces in urban areas, designed
and managed to deliver a wide range of ES and other benefits at all spatial scales
(Pauleit et al. 2018; EEA website). Finally, the concept of nature-based solutions
(NBS) focuses on problems and challenges of an environmental or a social nature.
NBS harnesses the ES functional approach and the design concept of green (blue)
infrastructure to adapt both ES and UGI to the distinct and specific needs of cities.
NBS, therefore, can be defined as living solutions that are inspired and supported
by nature, which are cost-effective, whilst simultaneously providing environmental,
social and economic benefits and helping to increase resilience and adaptation to
climate change (Kabisch et al. 2017).