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Sustainability
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Urban Ecosystem Changes and Their Social-Ecological Drivers and Effects
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Urban Ecosystem Changes and Their Social-Ecological Drivers and Effects

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 31799

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Andrzej Mizgajski

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Guest Editor
Department of Integrated Geography, Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Ul. Bogumila Krygowskiego 10, 61-680 Poznań, Poland
Interests: environmental management; landscape research; ecosystem services; urban ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Jürgen H. Breuste

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Guest Editor
Chair Urban and Landscape Ecology, Department of Geography and Geology, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, A 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Interests: urban ecology; urban nature protection; urban ecosystem management; urban ecosystem services; urban biodiversity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The special​ issue will refer to the aims of The Third World Conference of the Society for Urban Ecology, which was postponed to 7-9 July 2021. The overlying title of the conference is “Cities as Social–Ecological Systems”. The Special Issue focuses on the ecological dimension of urban development in the view of sustainability. Among the particular objectives, the role of nature-based processes for humans’ life quality should be emphasized. Respecting the importance of ecosystems as structural elements of urban fabric is of high relevance. We highly welcome papers reflecting the values that humans apply to the green infrastructure in urban areas. We hope that the papers selected for this Special Issue will create an impactful set of publications linking the natural and social aspects of urban areas considered in light of sustainability.

Prof. Dr. Andrzej Mizgajski
Prof. Dr. Jürgen H. Breuste
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • The metabolism of urban ecosystems
  • Social awareness of urban ecosystems
  • Dynamics of urban landscapes
  • Urban development versus sustainability
  • Green infrastructure in the urban areas
  • Biodiversity in urban areas
  • Ecologically degraded urban areas

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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18 pages, 5795 KiB  
Article
The Impacts of Urbanisation on Landscape and Environment: The Case of Slovakia
by Zita Izakovičová, František Petrovič and Eva Pauditšová
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010060 - 22 Dec 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 7298
Abstract
The development of urbanisation is linked to qualitative and quantitative changes in the landscape and its components aimed at strengthening economic, administrative and cultural-social functions, which are associated with ever-increasing pressures on ecosystems and their individual components. These pressures are subject to various [...] Read more.
The development of urbanisation is linked to qualitative and quantitative changes in the landscape and its components aimed at strengthening economic, administrative and cultural-social functions, which are associated with ever-increasing pressures on ecosystems and their individual components. These pressures are subject to various factors—socio-economic, political, environ-mental, etc. In this paper, we present an evaluation of the environmental impacts of the development of urbanisation in Slovakia. Independent Slovakia belongs to the young European states. The communist period lasted from 1948 to 1989. The character of landscape, the quality of the environment and also the degree of anthropisation of territory were dependent on a centrally managed economy. Urbanisation changes began to manifest themselves rapidly after 2000, when the economy was transformed and Slovakia was preparing to join the European Union (Slovakia joined the European Union in 2004). The transformation from central planning into a market economy was the basis of the changes, which was conditioned following strong pressure of investors on the landscape, the construction of technological parks, shopping and logistics centres and transport infrastructure and the construction of residential complexes. According to the European Environment Agency’s study on urban sprawl between the mid-1950s and the end of the 1990s, industry, commercial and transport services have grown at a significant rate and the residential areas at a moderate rate in Slovakia. On the other hand, Slovakia has areas where urbanisation has the opposite trend. Rural settlements are abandoned as well as large areas of agricultural land. The character of land use has fundamentally changed over the past 20 years. These changes not only have a spatial dimension but are associated with the emergence of various environmental problems. The paper deals with the impacts of anthropisation and industrialisation of Slovakia after 2000. The anthropisation process in Slovakia was determined through data processed in GIS and also through the statistical data representing land use. Based on the ecological significance of land use elements, the degree of anthropisation in Slovakiawas calculated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecosystem Changes and Their Social-Ecological Drivers and Effects)
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17 pages, 9002 KiB  
Article
The Hidden Potential of Informal Urban Greenspace: An Example of Two Former Landfills in Post-Socialist Cities (Central Poland)
by Andrzej Długoński and Diana Dushkova
Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 3691; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073691 - 26 Mar 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3455
Abstract
The present study described analyses of two similar informal recreational green areas (former constructional waste disposal landfills) in two large cities (Warsaw city and Łódź city). On the basis of local society’s opinions, the land use conditions related to current accessibility, management, safety, [...] Read more.
The present study described analyses of two similar informal recreational green areas (former constructional waste disposal landfills) in two large cities (Warsaw city and Łódź city). On the basis of local society’s opinions, the land use conditions related to current accessibility, management, safety, cleanliness, variety and diversity of facility and vegetation, neighbourhood and connections with the urban green infrastructure of the given sites were studied. Overall feedback posted by the site users indicated that, despite temporary land use, both sites are good leisure areas that provide cultural ecosystem services to the citizens. However, their undefined development makes them to varying degrees neglected and risky spaces, especially for the local community. The reflection of the results of the present study may help the local authorities to manage the spaces of former landfills in accordance with the needs of the local society as well as define new functions of informal urban green space in the sustainable spatial policy in post-socialist cities in Poland and Eastern Europe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecosystem Changes and Their Social-Ecological Drivers and Effects)
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15 pages, 3137 KiB  
Article
Effect of Urbanization on Ecosystem Service Values in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration of China from 2000 to 2014
by Shan Liu, Mingxia Yang, Yuling Mou, Yanrong Meng, Xiaolu Zhou and Changhui Peng
Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10233; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410233 - 8 Dec 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3142
Abstract
Rapid urbanization has led to the continuous deterioration of the surrounding natural ecosystem. It is important to identify the key urbanization factors that affect ecosystem services and analyze the potential effects of these factors on the ecosystem. We selected the Beijing, Tianjin, and [...] Read more.
Rapid urbanization has led to the continuous deterioration of the surrounding natural ecosystem. It is important to identify the key urbanization factors that affect ecosystem services and analyze the potential effects of these factors on the ecosystem. We selected the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration to investigate these effects, and designed three indicators to map the urbanization level: Population density, gross domestic product (GDP) density, and the construction land proportion. Four indicators were chosen to quantify ecosystem services: Food production, carbon sequestration and oxygen production, water conservation, and soil conservation. To handle the nonlinear interactions, we used a random forest (RF) method to assess the effect of urbanization on ecosystem services in the BTH area from 2000 to 2014. Our study demonstrated that population density and economic growth were the internal driving forces affecting ecosystem services. We observed changing trends in the effect of urbanization: The effect of population density on ecosystem services increased, the effect of the proportion of construction land was consistent with population density, and the effect of GDP density on ecosystem services decreased. Our results suggest that controlling the population and GDP would significantly influence the sustainable development in large urban areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecosystem Changes and Their Social-Ecological Drivers and Effects)
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17 pages, 7682 KiB  
Article
Urbanization Impacts on Natural Habitat and Ecosystem Services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao “Megacity”
by Wenjing Wang, Tong Wu, Yuanzheng Li, Shilin Xie, Baolong Han, Hua Zheng and Zhiyun Ouyang
Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6675; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166675 - 18 Aug 2020
Cited by 62 | Viewed by 10082
Abstract
The population aggregation and built-up area expansion caused by urbanization can have significant impacts on the supply and distribution of crucial ecosystem services. The correlation between urbanization and ecosystem services has been well-studied, but additional research is needed to better understand the spatiotemporal [...] Read more.
The population aggregation and built-up area expansion caused by urbanization can have significant impacts on the supply and distribution of crucial ecosystem services. The correlation between urbanization and ecosystem services has been well-studied, but additional research is needed to better understand the spatiotemporal interactions between ecosystem services and urbanization processes in highly urbanized areas as well as surrounding rural areas. In this paper, the relationships of urbanization with natural habitat and three key regulating ecosystem services—water retention, soil conservation, and carbon sequestration, were quantified and mapped for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), a rapidly developing urban agglomeration of over 70 million people, for the period of 2000–2018. Our results showed that urbanization caused a general decline in ecosystem services, and urbanization and ecosystem services exhibited a negative spatial correlation. However, this relationship varied along urban-rural gradients and weak decoupling was the overall trend during the course of the study period, indicating a greater need for the protection and improvement of ecosystem services. Our results provide instructive insights for new urbanization planning to maintain regional ecosystem services and sustainable development in the GBA and other large, rapidly urbanized agglomerations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecosystem Changes and Their Social-Ecological Drivers and Effects)
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16 pages, 9112 KiB  
Article
Construction of the Ecological Security Pattern of Urban Agglomeration under the Framework of Supply and Demand of Ecosystem Services Using Bayesian Network Machine Learning: Case Study of the Changsha–Zhuzhou–Xiangtan Urban Agglomeration, China
by Xiao Ouyang, Zhenbo Wang and Xiang Zhu
Sustainability 2019, 11(22), 6416; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226416 - 14 Nov 2019
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 4155
Abstract
Coordinating ecosystem service supply and demand equilibrium and utilizing machine learning to dynamically construct an ecological security pattern (ESP) can help better understand the impact of urban development on ecological processes, which can be used as a theoretical reference in coupling economic growth [...] Read more.
Coordinating ecosystem service supply and demand equilibrium and utilizing machine learning to dynamically construct an ecological security pattern (ESP) can help better understand the impact of urban development on ecological processes, which can be used as a theoretical reference in coupling economic growth and environmental protection. Here, the ESP of the Changsha–Zhuzhou–Xiangtan urban agglomeration was constructed, which made use of the Bayesian network model to dynamically identify the ecological sources. The ecological corridor and ecological strategy points were identified using the minimum cumulative resistance model and circuit theory. The ESP was constructed by combining seven ecological sources, “two horizontal and three vertical” ecological corridors, and 37 ecological strategy points. Our results found spatial decoupling between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES) and the degradation in areas with high demand for ES. The ecological sources and ecological corridors of the urban agglomeration were mainly situated in forestlands and water areas. The terrestrial ecological corridor was distributed along the outer periphery of the urban agglomeration, while the aquatic ecological corridor ran from north to south throughout the entire region. The ecological strategic points were mainly concentrated along the boundaries of the built-up area and the intersection between construction land and ecological land. Finally, the ecological sources were found primarily on existing ecological protection zones, which supports the usefulness of machine learning in predicting ecological sources and may provide new insights in developing urban ESP. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecosystem Changes and Their Social-Ecological Drivers and Effects)
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1 pages, 154 KiB  
Erratum
Erratum: Wang et al. Urbanization Impacts on Natural Habitat and Ecosystem Services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao “Megacity”. Sustainability 2020, 12, 6675
by Wenjing Wang, Tong Wu, Yuanzheng Li, Shilin Xie, Baolong Han, Hua Zheng and Zhiyun Ouyang
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4580; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084580 - 20 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1853
Abstract
The authors would like to make the following correction about the published paper [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecosystem Changes and Their Social-Ecological Drivers and Effects)
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