Sustainable Urbanscapes: The Role of Green Infrastructure on the Resilience of Ecosystem Services

Dear Colleagues,

Urban environments are increasingly important in building healthy, sustainable and resilient societies and ecosystems; disruptions to these ecosystems, such as urban heat islands, flooding, and drought, pose a threat to ecosystem service delivery and present challenges for urban planners. A nature-based solution (NBS) in urban development and planning decisions has been the adoption of green infrastructure; this concept refers to the provision and maintenance of natural and semi-natural green spaces within built “grey” infrastructure. Examples include urban parks, green walls and roofs, permeable pavements, green paths and streets, which each facilitate the mixing of human and natural systems with multiple ecosystem services in terms of provisioning, regulating, culture and support. The various environmental, ecological, and social benefits provided by urban green infrastructure to urban communities include beautifying the landscape, freshening the air, mitigating urban heat islands, lessening the effect of extreme climate change, providing urban carbon sinks, reducing carbon emissions, harboring biodiversity, boosting social and cultural cohesion, and promoting public health. Evaluating the ecosystem services of different green infrastructures has therefore become a key focus in urban ecosystem service assessments. In the rapid urbanization process, particularly in the face of climate change, exploring and optimizing urban green infrastructure for multiple ecosystem services would be helpful for sustainable city development. However, there are multiple uncertain questions we need to address where there is still incomplete knowledge.

For this Special Issue, we are interested in contributions that cover urban green infrastructure and ecosystem services through either empirical research or conceptual/theoretical work. Studies may examine any key processes, including but not limited to the following:

• Urban green infrastructures as solutions for urban disasters, including extreme events;
• Urban green infrastructure for urban resilience;
• Urban ecosystem service assessment at different scales;
• Urban green infrastructures for biodiversity conservation;
• Urban green infrastructures for regulating climate;
• Urban green infrastructures for public health;
• Social and economic benefits of urban green infrastructure;
• Urban green infrastructure and provisioning services.

Prof. Dr. Bo Hong
Dr. Alessio Russo
Dr. Wenxiao Jia
Guest Editors

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• urban green infrastructure
• ecosystem services
• climate change
• socio-ecological systems
• spatial resilience
• public health