| 1. |
- Frantzeskaki, Niki, et al.
(author)
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Socio-ecological transitions of cities: Exploring spatial, ecological and governance dynamics in European cities
- 2013
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In: 4rth International Conference on Sustainability Transitions, 19-21 June 2013, Zurich, Switzerland.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Europe is in general in a good position for examining dynamics and potential for realizing a positive transition to resilient and sustainable urban areas. Compared to most other continents, the living standards are good, the decision making processes are fairly open and transparent, and the level of knowledge including environmental knowledge is relatively high. We examine five compact cities to unravel what drives their social-ecological transition to resilient urban futures. A meta-analysis of spatial, ecological and governance dynamics reveals that in the face of slow urbanization the European compact cities under study undergo a transition towards eco-city that is the result of five co-evolving drivers: (a) the presence and implantation of strong environmental policy at local and regional level that promotes the preservation of existing green spaces; (b) the capitalizing of governance capacity for urban sustainability in the form of setting urban green plans and deals; (c) the restoration and re-establishment of green urban spaces of different sizes in the cities or simply, creating more green spaces (d) the put forth of green strategies and actions from multiple policy centers and (e) the emerging social niches of community gardens and urban agriculture that restore green in the cities and take over empty or unused spaces. These drivers do not play alone but are stressed with challenges of fair distribution of green in the city and of slow responding policy and governance.
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| 2. |
- Haase, Dagmar, et al.
(author)
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Ecosystem Services in Urban Landscapes: Practical Applications and Governance Implications – The URBES Approach
- 2014
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In: UGEC Viewpoints. - : Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC). - 9780988867598 ; , s. 21-26:10, s. 21-26
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Urban landscapes are the everyday environment for the majority of the global population and almost 80 per cent of Europeans live in urban areas. The continuous growth in the number and size of urban areas along with an increasing demand on resources and energy pose great challenges for ensuring human welfare in cities while preventing an increasing loss of biodiversity. The understanding of how urban ecosystems function, provide goods and services for urban dwellers, how they change and what allows and limits their performance, can add to the understanding of ecosystem change and governance in an ever more human-dominated world. This contribution aims at presenting results from the European biodiversa project, "Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - URBES", that bridges the knowledge gap between urbanization, demand, creation and provisioning of ecosystem services in urban regions, and urban governance and planning. First, we highlight new, highly interdisciplinary concepts for characterizing need and provisioning of ecosystem services (and biodiversity) in urban landscapes and along rural-urban gradients. Second, we introduce new empirical results and integrated analytical tools for investigating urban environments, particularly urban green spaces, for different European cities. Third, we show the implications of both new concepts and analytical tools for urban governance and planning policy currently and in the future.
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| 4. |
- Kaczorowska, Anna, 1971, et al.
(author)
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Ecosystem Services in Urban Land-Use Planning: Integration Challenges in Complex Urban Settings - Case of Stockholm
- 2013
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In: 1st Congress of the Society for Urban Ecology 25-27 July 2013, Berlin, Germany.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Ecosystem services depend on spatial structure of ecosystems. It is acknowledged the benefits humans can derive from biophysical processes depend on generation, distribution and articulation of ecosystem services through day-to-day management and urban development patterns. On the other hand the benefits from nature may place constraints on the choices how to use the land. The future capability of ecosystems to generate services is determined by changes in socio-economic structures, land use, biodiversity, and climate. Land use change has been recognized among many aspects of global changes as the key human-induced effect on ecosystems. Increased urbanisation in Europe in the recent decades led to development of new settlements, growing transport networks. New aspirations of citizens have resulted in higher use of land for recreation and leisure. These land-use changes have directly influenced the provision of ecosystem services. However, even if much has been written about ecosystem services and theirs multiple relationships in space, impact of ecosystem services approach on urban planning, policy making is still limited. Growing degradation and declining resilience of ecosystems along with escalation of impacts of natural hazards is assigned to the non-integration of ecosystem services in land-use planning. A framework of this paper is constructed to identify what kind of knowledge is currently missing in relation to ecosystem services, as well as challenges linked to integrating ecosystem services into land-use planning. Answering the question requires knowledge about relationship between land-use change and ecosystem services in urban regions. The first part of the paper reviewed the literature on the connections between ecosystem services and land use planning. The second part of the paper analysed material from interviews and workshop organized in Stockholm. The important outcomes of the study include identified uncertainties revealing particular challenges and knowledge gaps indicated and ranked by stakeholders to implement concept of ecosystem services in spatial planning in Stockholm but also proposed recommendations how to deal with recognized uncertainties.
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| 5. |
- Yarime, Masaru, et al.
(author)
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Establishing sustainability science in higher education institutions: towards an integration of academic development, institutionalization, and stakeholder collaborations
- 2012
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In: Sustainability Science. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1862-4057 .- 1862-4065. ; 7, s. 101-113
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The field of sustainability science aims to understand the complex and dynamic interactions between natural and human systems in order to transform and develop these in a sustainable manner. As sustainability problems cut across diverse academic disciplines, ranging from the natural sciences to the social sciences and humanities, interdisciplinarity has become a central idea to the realm of sustainability science. Yet, for addressing complicated, real-world sustainability problems, interdisciplinarity per se does not suffice. Active collaboration with various stakeholders throughout society-transdisciplinarity-must form another critical component of sustainability science. In addition to implementing interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in practice, higher education institutions also need to deal with the challenges of institutionalization. In this article, drawing on the experiences of selected higher education academic programs on sustainability, we discuss academic, institutional, and societal challenges in sustainability science and explore the potential of uniting education, research and societal contributions to form a systematic and integrated response to the sustainability crisis.
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