Planning for Ecosystem Services in Cities

This book presents current knowledge about ecosystem services (ES) in urban planning, and discusses various urban ES topics such as spatial distribution of urban ecosystems, population distribution, and physical infrastructure properties. The book addresses all these issues by: i) investigating to what extent ecosystem services are currently included in urban plans, and discussing what is still needed to improve planning practice; ii) illustrating how to develop ecosystem services indicators and information that can be used by urban planners to enhance plan design; iii) demonstrating the application of ES assessments to support urban planning processes through case studies; and iv) reflecting on criteria for addressing equity in urban planning through ecosystem service assessments, by exploring issues associated with the supply of, the access to and demand for ES by citizens.
Through fully worked out case studies, from policy questions, to baseline analysis and indicators, and from option comparison to proposed solutions, the book offers readers detailed and accessible coverage of outstanding issues and proposed solutions to better integrate ES in city planning. The overall purpose of the book is to provide a compact reference that can be used by researchers as a key resource offering an updated perspective and overview on the field, as well as by practitioners and planners/decision makers as a source of inspiration for their activity. Additionally, the book will be a suitable resource for both undergraduate and post-graduate courses in planning and geography.

Davide Geneletti Associate Professor of Spatial Planning at the University of Trento. Specialised in impact assessment of projects, plans and policies; ecosystem services and urban green infrastructures; multi-criteria analysis. Formerly Research Fellow at Harvard University's Sustainability Science Program and Visiting Scholar at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment. He has consulted for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UN-HABITAT, and the European Commission. Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management and deputy Editor of the open access journal One Ecosystem. Founding member of the start-up company Skopia, specialized in anticipation services for environmental, social and economic planning.

Chiara Cortinovis (PhD), Post-doc fellow at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering of the University of Trento. Formerly visiting scholar at Humboldt University of Berlin, expert for the European Commission and planning consultant for public administrations.

Linda Zardo (PhD), Environmental expert for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in South-East Africa. Formerly research fellow at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering of the University of Trento.

Blal Adem Esmail (PhD), Post-doc fellow at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering of the University of Trento. Formerly, teaching assistant in water engineering and technical manager and consultant in the fields of building construction and oil & gas research.