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Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment

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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 (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 22342

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Allen Hao Zhang

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Design and Environment, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: urban horticulture; urban forestry and urban greening; landscape ecology; restoration ecology

Dr. Louis Shing Him Lee

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Design and Environment, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: building-integrated vegetation; microclimate; urban forestry

Dr. Livia Min Pan

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Design and Environment, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: environmental pollution; PPCPs; bioaccumulation in plants; environmental health

Dr. Caroline Man Yee Law

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Design and Environment, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: utilizing native herbaceous plant and shrubs as urban greenery; renaturized green roofs and vertical greenery; land-scape management

Dr. Sissi Si Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Faculty of Design and Environment, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: applied GIS; quality of life; urban morphology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The scope of this Special Issue covers subjects arising from and/or affecting the management approaches of urban vegetation with a particular focus on sustainability. The purposes of this Special Issue are (1) to promote the exchange of research and practical experiences on sustainable urban planning and development and (2) to cultivate a sense of sustainability in common practices of sectors related to vegetation management.

Currently, a journal issue directly tackling the sustainability of vegetation management in urban areas is desperately needed. Manuscripts evaluating the sustainability of existing methods of vegetation management are welcome. Innovative approaches to various stages in the lifecycle of vegetation management such as production, planting, transplanting, the application of chemicals, and removal and disposal are welcome. However, research looking into vegetation management in natural settings such as national parks and forest reserves may be deemed inappropriate for this issue.

This Special Issue covers the following topics: (1) investigation of strategies for sustainable urban vegetation management; (2) solutions to the challenges of vegetation and landscape management in peculiar urban locations; (3) principles of vegetation management in urbanities and their difference from traditional practices used in natural areas; (4) management experiences and implications of urban green spaces; and (5) approaches to improve biodiversity and the composition of urban vegetation.

In order to handle the highly variable landscape qualities of different urban locations, frequent exchange of practical knowledge and insightful information is needed. This Special Issue deals specifically with sustainability in urban horticulture, arboriculture, and landscape management. Manuscripts that delve into related topics via controlled experiments, observational studies, systematic reviews and other methodologies are welcome. Practitioners and researchers are invited to submit their papers to this journal. Authors should comply with the formatting requirements specified by the journal editors.

Dr. Allen Hao Zhang
Dr. Louis Shing Him Lee
Dr. Livia Min Pan
Dr. Caroline Man Yee Law
Dr. Sissi Si Chen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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

urban sustainability
horticulture
arboriculture
landscape planning
urban vegetation

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3068 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structural Analysis of Self-Weight Loading Standing Trees to Determine Its Critical Buckling Height

by Lina Karlinasari, Effendi Tri Bahtiar, Adhelya Suci Apriyanti Kadir, Ulfa Adzkia, Naresworo Nugroho and Iskandar Z. Siregar

Sustainability 2023, 15(7), 6075; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15076075 - 31 Mar 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1942

Abstract

A tree may receive compression and flexure combination, and the structural analysis governed by the building code may be capable of estimating the tree’s safety in the built environment. This study proposed to refer to the building code to check the tree dimension adequacy resisting the load. This study simplified the case by focusing only on the self-weight and ignoring the external loads; therefore, the buckling analysis of a slender tapered round column subjected to compression is advocated. Buckling occurs when the tree’s structure can no longer maintain its original shape. Euler and Ylinen’s buckling stress analysis (Method 1) calculated tree safety with a 95% confidence level. This study also applied the Greenhill formula (Method 2) to determine the critical height of a tree receiving the stem weight, then modified it to include the crown weight (Method 3). The three methods calculated the critical height to determine the safety factor (S_f), that is, the ratio of the actual tree height (H) to the 95% confidence level estimated critical height (H_cr). The safety factors were then categorized as unsafe (S_f < 1.00), safe (1.00 < S_f < 1.645), and very safe (1.645 < S_f). This study demonstrated that Method 1 is the most reliable and applicable among other methods. Method 1 resulted in no unsafe trees, 10 safe trees, and 13 very safe trees among the observed excurrent agathis (Agathis dammara). Meanwhile, among the decurrent rain trees (Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr), 5, 31, and 14 were unsafe, safe, and very safe, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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15 pages, 1855 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Potential of Co-Application of Sewage Sludge, Chinese Medicinal Herbal Residues and Biochar in Minimizing Human Exposure to Antibiotics Contamination in Edible Crops

by Min Pan, Hao Zhang, Li-Wen Luo and Pui-Ching Yau

Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 2980; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15042980 - 7 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1243

Abstract

Agricultural practices such as wastewater irrigation and manure application may contaminate soils with antibiotics and, consequently, lead to human health risk. The co-application of three waste-derived materials, sewage sludge (SL), Chinese medicinal herbal residues (CMHR) and biochar (BC), as a soil amendment was proposed recently for minimizing the antibiotic amount in crop tissues. The fate of six antibiotics—amoxicillin, tetracycline, sulfamethazine, norfloxacin, erythromycin and chloramphenicol—were investigated in a greenhouse soil-plant system with a fruit crop species: tomato. The pots were mixed with 5%, 10% or 20% SL-BC and SL-CMHR-BC and irrigated with wastewater with 3 μg/L or 30 μg/L antibiotics. The pot containing 20% SL-CMHR-BC captured the lowest antibiotic concentration in soils and tomato tissues. Norfloxacin was the most abundant antibiotic in the fruits, followed by tetracycline. The pot containing 20% SL-CMHR-BC significantly lowered the bioconcentration factor of the fruit, while its effects on the translocation factor were more varied. Current and some previous data were used to assess the human health risk of consuming carrot, lettuce and tomato. The estimated daily intake suggested a negligible risk to human health in general compared with the acceptable daily intake, except for CAP. A concentration of 20% SL-CMHR-BC helps minimize the human exposure risk to antibiotics contamination in edible crops. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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23 pages, 10119 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Establishment of a Sustainable Management Model for Chinese Herbal Garden in an Urban City—Hong Kong

by Siu Kan Law, Dawn Ching Tung Au, Wesley Yeuk Lung Chow and Yanping Wang

Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15610; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315610 - 24 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2222

Abstract

Chinese medicinal herbs (CMHs) have been used for thousands of years because of their significant properties regarding the prevention and treatment of diseases, such as COVID-19. There is an increasingly diminishing supply of wild medicinal resources, and the demand is greater than the supply. Ecological balance and the conservation of natural Chinese medicinal herbs are serious issues in sustainable development, which requires the minimum requirements to be met without compromising the resources of future generations, especially with respect to the maintenance of production and consumption as well as the quality control of CMHs. Hong Kong is an urban business city, busy with work and the fast pace of life. The sustainable development of CMHs is difficult in a huge population situated in an area with very scarce land coverage. The conservation of CMHs in urban horticulture is extremely neglected because people lack living space; for example, Aquilaria Sinensis (the incense tree), also called “pak muk heung” in Cantonese, was an indigenous species that was illegally logged in the past. This led to detrimental effects on the population density and genetic diversity of the species. There is no doubt that Hong Kong is required to set up a management model in community facilities for these emerging modern social configurations, such as building a Chinese herbal garden for the conservation and promotion of a healthy urban environment and giving people a chance to gain more information on CMHs. The current study employed problem analysis and strategic decisions for the sustainable development of 62 kinds of CMHs in a Chinese herbal garden, which converged with some medicinal itineraries of Lingnan herbal medications, and implemented a theoretical framework of management models for ten secondary schools, e.g., the Aroma garden of the L’Occitane at the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) Tsing Yi campus and Land from the Far East Consortium International Limited in Sai Kung Pak Kong. In the present original article, we would like to establish a sustainable management model for Chinese herbal gardens in an urban city. The sustainable development model for the Chinese herbal gardens is based on five major aspects: (1) land resources, (2) manpower planning, (3) economy, (4) education or training, and (5) ecosystem (cultivation). These are the essential factors of management and are implemented in our Chinese herbal gardens. We aim to find a suitable management model for Chinese herbal gardens and to promote it in other urban cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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20 pages, 4446 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Importance of Urban Green Areas in the Context of Current and Future Global Changes: Lessons Learned from a Case Study in Bratislava (Slovakia)

by Ingrid Belčáková, Martina Slámová and Zuzana Demovičová

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14740; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214740 - 9 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2162

Abstract

As one of the largest cities in Slovakia, Bratislava needs to proceed with the greenery concept with regard to mechanisms for adapting to climate change. The potential of developing new areas can be seen in public, semi-public, and private spaces. In this sense, the aim of our research was to map the current situation of urban greenery in the city, identify the capacity for enhancement of small urban green spaces, and present the option of participating in the development of green areas in the selected places to the city’s inhabitants. The condition of urban greenery was analysed and described, with a special emphasis on the untapped potential of green areas on housing estates. Using examples from abroad, cases of successful revitalisation of urban greenery areas on housing estates are given, and the main problems faced by the selected region were assessed. Apart from the above-mentioned main aim, there was the intention to discover new trends for using greenery in the urban environment, to compare past and present conditions, or to present new options and possibilities for designing greenery. A proposal to set up a new system of private and semi-public green areas is viewed as a possible promising result. As another required step, we analysed the effect that different types of information media have on the strengthening of relationship between the city and its inhabitants, i.e., to improve the communication dialogue by establishing an online platform on greenery issues and to increase attention as well as inhabitants’ participation in public life. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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20 pages, 7597 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Association between Land Surface Temperature and Green Volume in Bochum, Germany

by Pauline Schmidt and Bryce T. Lawrence

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14642; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114642 - 7 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2220

Abstract

Average temperatures continue to rise throughout the world due to climate change and, thus, also in Europe, often occurring as heat waves. The negative effects of climate change-related heat waves can be observed, especially in urban areas where land sealing is the greatest and so is population density. Past studies have indicated that green volume can provide climate improvement by balancing humidity and regulating temperature. This study aims to estimate the distribution of surface heat islands and green volume and test the relationship between these variables in a case study of Bochum, Germany. A method to develop a temporally longitudinal 30-m Landsat 8-based land surface temperature (LST) analysis and 30-m LiDAR-based green volume dataset are presented, and their relationship is tested using Pearson’s correlation (n = 148,204). The results show that heat islands are moderately negatively correlated with green volume (r = −0.482; p < 0.05), LST can vary as much as 28 degrees °C between heat islands and densely vegetated areas, and the distribution is heterogeneous across Bochum. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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13 pages, 1186 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Composting Yard Waste Temperature on Seed Germination of a Major Tropical Invasive Weed, Leucaena leucocephala

by Min Pan, Ling Chui Hui, Caroline Man Yee Law and Sen Mei Auyeung

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13638; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013638 - 21 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1630

Abstract

Composting is an environmental-friendly option for yard waste management, and produces products for improving soil quality. However, there is a weed dispersal risk if the compost contains many active weed seeds. This study assessed the potential of composting in minimizing the seed germination of a major tropical invasive weed, Leucaena leucocephala. The germination of the species was tested after two different sets of thermal treatments, i.e., (1) different constant temperatures (20 °C, 30 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C, and 70 °C) for 5 days, and (2) composting temperature (simulating the temperature profile of a typical composting process) for 60 days. A three-month growth test was further conducted for the seeds treated with the composting temperature. The seeds were present either alone (N-seeds) or mixed with wood chips (W-seeds) when thermally treated. A constant temperature treatment of 70 °C suppressed the seed germination to a low rate. For the composting temperature treatment, the germination percentage of the N-seeds and W-seeds were reduced from around 60% to 22.7% and 12.7%, respectively. This preliminary study suggested that the temperature should reach as high as 70 °C in the composting process to guarantee the suppression of the germination of the seeds of L. leucocephala, particularly when the seeds are contained within seed pods during composting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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12 pages, 1067 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Evaluation of Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) as a Preliminary Diagnostic Tool for Brown Root Rot Disease Caused by Phellinus noxius (Corner) G. H. Cunningham in Hong Kong Urban Tree Management

by Hao Zhang, Tze Kwun Ng, Kai Chun Lee, Zoen Wing Leung, Wai Fu Yau and Wai Shing Wong

Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9708; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159708 - 7 Aug 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2212

Abstract

Brown Root Rot Disease (BRRD) is one of the most devastating urban tree diseases in tropical and subtropical areas, including Hong Kong. It can result in tree death in a few months and is difficult to detect in the early stages of development. Fungal isolation and PCR methods are currently the most widely adopted methods to diagnose the disease. However, they are both time and technically demanding. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a superior molecular-based diagnostic method with great specificity, accessibility, and effectivity. In this study, 15 BRRD-positive and 15 BRRD-negative trees were sampled from 19 roadside slopes in Hong Kong from the end of 2020 to the middle of 2021. The wood tissues were isolated and cultivated in PN3 and PDA agars for the disease diagnosis. The mycelium samples in PDA were directly conducted in LAMP kits (mLAMP) to substitute the purified DNA materials. Wood tissues were also used in LAMP kits (wLAMP) as impurified and highly contaminated samples. The results of mLAMP and wLAMP were compared with the results of isolation to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of LAMP method. The results showed that mLAMP had 100% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity. For wLAMP, both the sensitivity and specificity were 73.3%. For symptomless trees, 85.7% and 64.3% congruencies were found in mLAMP and wLAMP, respectively. Based on the results of this study, the co-application of LAMP in the current tree management work was also discussed. We envisaged LAMP is a sensitive, prompt, and user-friendly method to diagnose BRRD and it could favor the BRRD diagnosis in fields by accelerating and promoting large-scale screening. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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18 pages, 2062 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Digital Experiential Learning for Sustainable Horticulture and Landscape Management Education

by Tris Kee and Hao Zhang

Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9116; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159116 - 25 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2398

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, horticulture and landscape management programmes in higher education experienced a huge drawback because of the impossibility of organising field studies and conducting site research. To pursue a more sustainable method of teaching, immersive technology such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly adopted as an effective approach for multimodal experiential learning. This study examines student perceptions on the use of digital technology in team-based hybrid learning to achieve sustainability in tree management using data collected from students of horticulture and landscape management in a higher education institute in Hong Kong. Key theoretical principles on Kolb’s experiential learning cycle as an interactive process are discussed, followed by an empirical analysis of student survey results. This research deepens the understanding of how immersive technology enhances both environmental sustainability and learning innovation. The results demonstrate that innovative ideas in instructional methods such as ARVR simulation can enhance the environmental sustainability of how tree management can be conducted, promoting a more environmentally conscious, experiential, collaborative and digital learning experience in higher education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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13 pages, 283 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hong Kong Citizens’ Socio-Demographic Dynamics of Urban Yard Waste Facilities Siting and Legislation Preferences

by Caroline M. Y. Law, Ernest K. S. Lee and K. L. Au

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6555; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116555 - 27 May 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1722

Abstract

The public opinions on yard waste (YW) facility siting and legislation reflect public needs and anticipations on the ways they perceive and deal with such urban yard waste, which aid to ascertain why and how people participate in YW treatment activities and support future urban yard waste policy development. However, such relevant and specific social survey on above issues remains limited, thereby scant attention has been given to the related socio-demographic explorations. This study focuses on the YW facility siting and legislation public opinions, and relevant associations across socio-demographic groups in Hong Kong, China. Data were obtained from 202 mostly cultured respondents randomly gleaned by online questionnaire survey. More than half of respondents did not reject to having the YW treatment facilities in their neighborhood. The statistical association between the opposing opinion toward having YW treatment facility near home and education level was rather strong. The majority of the tertiary-educated group expressed the strongest counter-opposition view towards YW facility within the community, while those with secondary education background had no comment. Nearly 62% of respondents supported the outlawing of direct dumping of YW to landfill, and the majority of them were cultured citizens. Decision makers should prudently consider the expressed needs and hopes of the socio-demographically differentiated subpopulations, and factor in their public opinions into the decision-making process for progressing local urban yard waste governance and overall environmental sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

14 pages, 1012 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Are Trees Planted along the Roads Sustainable? A Large-Scale Study in the Czech Republic

by Kateřina Mácová, Andrea Szórádová and Jaroslav Kolařík

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5026; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095026 - 22 Apr 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2324

Abstract

Trees provide a wide variety of ecosystem services to society and form the character of the environment and landscape. The analyses of tree populations and their resistance to changing conditions related to climate change typically focus on urban tree communities or forest trees. Similar studies on non-forest trees in the open landscape are largely missing; even the evidence on tree species abundance and distribution is sporadic. The article aims to expand the current evidence by a large-scale study on roadside trees in the Czech Republic. Using an extensive dataset that covers 91.2% of the total tree population along roads in nine NUTS3 regions, we assess the state and observed practices in selecting tree genera for roadside planting and discuss the implications for sustainable tree planning and management. Our survey documented 133,169 tree individuals belonging to 116 species and 40 genera. The results show that 75% of the total roadside plantings along second-class motorways and first-class roads are represented by seven main genera of deciduous trees (Acer, Fraxinus, Tilia, Malus, Betula, Populus, and Quercus), the distribution of which is similar across most Czech regions. New plantings have shifted only a little from the original species distribution. Traditional roadside species are becoming a more popular choice among new plantings, and the effort not to let the invasive trees outgrow into the mature stage is apparent. Most of the original and newly planted species are relatively suitable for emerging risks related to climate change. To achieve more sustainable patterns in roadside tree species composition in the future, especially the susceptibility of some commonly planted roadside tree species to emerging pests and diseases (e.g., Fraxinus excelsior) and to unfavorable site conditions typical for roadside tree stands (Tilia cordata) is of relevance to tree managers. The relative abundance of tree genera was proven to be similar in most studied regions, which makes the recommendations equally relevant for roadside tree managers across the country. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Horticulture, Arboriculture, Landscape Management in Urban Environment)

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