67
© The Author(s) 2020
D. Geneletti et al., Planning for Ecosystem Services in Cities, SpringerBriefs
in Environmental Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20024-4_7
Chapter 7
Conclusions
7.1 Summary of the Main Messages
This book focused on the relation between urban planning and ecosystem services
(ES), acknowledging their potential role in addressing many challenges of todays’
cities. Planning decisions are one of the most influential factors determining the
amount and spatial distribution of both ES supply and demand in cities. Hence,
there is a need to integrate ES knowledge in planning processes, not only to measure
and possibly reduce the negative impacts of planning decision on ES provision, but
also to enable the proactive enhancement of ES through effective actions. To this
overall aim, the book reviewed the state of the art of ES integration in current planning practices (Chaps. 2 and 3), presented an exemplary model for ES assessment
specifically developed to support urban planning (Chap. 4), illustrated how ES
information can be applied to support real-life planning decisions (Chap. 5), and
discussed the design of ES assessments to analyse the equitable distribution of ES
in cities (Chap. 6).
Chapter 2 presented the results of a review of 22 comprehensive spatial plans of
Italian cities, while Chap. 3 focused on a more recent type of planning documents,
i.e. climate adaptation plans, reviewing a set of 14 plans of European cities. By
looking at how ES are actually addressed in the different plan components, disregarding the terminology used to refer to them, the reviews revealed what ES knowledge is already included in current plans and what gaps are still to be filled.
Interestingly, the two reviews present some common results that suggest an overall
trend in the way ES knowledge is being mainstreamed and taken-up among practitioners and decision-makers. Both reviews highlight a strong awareness of some ES
and of the benefits they provide in terms of climate change adaptation (e.g., heatwave mitigation and flood control), and human health and wellbeing (e.g., recreation, air pollution reduction, noise mitigation). A high number of ES-related actions
© The Author(s) 2020
D. Geneletti et al., Planning for Ecosystem Services in Cities, SpringerBriefs
in Environmental Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20024-4_7
Chapter 7
Conclusions
7.1 Summary of the Main Messages
This book focused on the relation between urban planning and ecosystem services
(ES), acknowledging their potential role in addressing many challenges of todays’
cities. Planning decisions are one of the most influential factors determining the
amount and spatial distribution of both ES supply and demand in cities. Hence,
there is a need to integrate ES knowledge in planning processes, not only to measure
and possibly reduce the negative impacts of planning decision on ES provision, but
also to enable the proactive enhancement of ES through effective actions. To this
overall aim, the book reviewed the state of the art of ES integration in current planning practices (Chaps. 2 and 3), presented an exemplary model for ES assessment
specifically developed to support urban planning (Chap. 4), illustrated how ES
information can be applied to support real-life planning decisions (Chap. 5), and
discussed the design of ES assessments to analyse the equitable distribution of ES
in cities (Chap. 6).
Chapter 2 presented the results of a review of 22 comprehensive spatial plans of
Italian cities, while Chap. 3 focused on a more recent type of planning documents,
i.e. climate adaptation plans, reviewing a set of 14 plans of European cities. By
looking at how ES are actually addressed in the different plan components, disregarding the terminology used to refer to them, the reviews revealed what ES knowledge is already included in current plans and what gaps are still to be filled.
Interestingly, the two reviews present some common results that suggest an overall
trend in the way ES knowledge is being mainstreamed and taken-up among practitioners and decision-makers. Both reviews highlight a strong awareness of some ES
and of the benefits they provide in terms of climate change adaptation (e.g., heatwave mitigation and flood control), and human health and wellbeing (e.g., recreation, air pollution reduction, noise mitigation). A high number of ES-related actions