Welcome to the ECOCITY 2022 Interactive Programme

Abstract Body

Managing biodiversity in urban landscape involves complex interactions among stakeholders, environment, and wildlife. There has been increasing attention drawn on the potential of urban ecosystem as important habitat for wildlife as well as providing climate regulating, recreational and aesthetical services to human. With the fast urbanization, urban greenspace and parks are established in a high speed but without enough biodiversity consideration.

Beijing, one of the world’s biggest and most populated capital cities, is home to rich biodiversity and an important flyway for migratory birds in the world, such as Beijing swifts and multiple species of cranes. It also provides habitats for small mammals like leopard cats and badgers. However, in creating and managing green spaces, biodiversity and ecosystem services are usually not sufficiently considered, which causes a significant decline of wildlife habitats and overall biodiversity. Specifically, birds and carnivores are losing shelter and food resource with the loss of mixed landscapes such as cropland, bushes, and natural meadow.

This project, supported by Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau and Beijing Forestry Carbon Administration, is a pilot to show what ecological principles and measures are needed in managing greenspaces in urban areas to maintain or increase biodiversity. For example, in Wild Duck Lake Wetland Park, the cropland was restored as a food resource for the great bustard and the common crane; in Beijing Olympic Forest Park, under-canopy enrichment for small carnivores and insects was experimented; in Beijing Jingxi Forestry Farm, gaps were opened in planted monoculture forests allowing under canopy plants to regrow naturally. Through stratifying vegetation types and maintaining natural successions without too much intervention in greenspace management, the biodiversity and ecosystem services could be enhanced, and our monitoring data indicated such improvement. In the meantime, citizens were engaged in the monitoring, field surveys, and habitat-restoration activities to increase general awareness and understanding of urban biodiversity. Based on the pilot project, a guideline will be developed for greenspace management in Beijing. Similar measures could also be applied in other cities.

Abstract Body

As cities expand, peri-urban areas experience the greatest intensity of development due to the infrastructure demands of growing urban populations. The rapid land use change in peri-urban areas often result in the loss of urban ecosystem services (UES). A worthwhile objective for peri-urban areas is to avoid the loss of natural ecosystems through the consideration of UES in planning. In this study, we used process-based models to spatially quantify and analyse the distribution of six UES in a rapidly developing, peri-urban catchment: heat mitigation, runoff retention, sediment retention, scenic quality, recreation and crop production. We analysed hotspots, identified synergies and tradeoffs between services and assessed the cooccurrence and overlap of hotspots between multiples services. Our assessment revealed that there was a stark spatial mismatch between the distribution of multiple services and population, where densely built areas lacked the provision of UES. Headwater catchment areas had the highest number of cooccurring services and greatest overlap of hotspots. There were also varying degrees of synergies and tradeoffs between provisioning, regulating and cultural services, which are key considerations for planning multifunctional peri-urban landscapes. Using the findings of our assessment, we conducted suitability analyses to identify opportunities to conserve and plan for four green infrastructures. The resulting suitability maps can be used to guide sustainable land use planning through the development of new urban parks and green walls/roofs as well as to identify conservation priority areas within the catchment. The parameterised models and methods applied in our multiple UES assessment can be adapted for conducting ES-based land use management in other urbanising areas of Southeast Asia.

Abstract Body

Literature indicates that African cities are losing the battle to safeguard rapidly deteriorating urban green space (UGS) amidst growing vulnerability to global health and environmental change crises particularly climate change and rapid urbanization. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) strongly emphasize the creation of UGS via strong land governance protocols. Yet, little is known about the influence of land governance regimes. It is in response to this knowledge gap that this study inquires: could land governance protocols underlie the rapid UGS management problems in African cities? Using Kumasi (Ghana) – a city modelled on the garden city concept – as a case study, multiple data collection techniques were used involving spatial data, secondary data, and agency interviews. Findings indicate over 80% loss of Kumasi’s UGS between 1991 and 2019 producing a breathless cityscape. Although unplanned urbanisation, limited resources, poor urban planning and political interference were frequently mentioned as contributory factors, the foundational cause lies in the complex dual land governance regime lacking coordinated approach to urban development and encouraging non-adherence to land use requirements. Recommendations to improve the situation are proffered.

Abstract Body

Since the settlement of the first cities, humans have selected trees to provide natural resources and beautify urban landscapes. Ancient and modern trade facilitated species movement, often far from native habitats and climates. At the same time, advances in horticultural technology enabled breeding species into new cultivars and varieties suitable for myriad uses.

After millennia of urbanization, with urban areas covering 2% of land mass yet hosting half of humanity, it is reasonable to ask: how many tree species have humans successfully retained and introduced into the world’s urban areas? how can we transform the world’s cities into biodiverse havens for trees?

We collated public tree species data from 473 urban areas in 73 countries, and 21 Koppen-Geiger climate zones. Tree species data was consolidated from 13 million occurrence records from tree inventories and the scientific literature, and complemented with data on their conservation status (IUCN) and invasion potential (GRIIS).

The global urban areas investigated contained a diverse tree flora (n=4,734 species) which represent about 8% of all known tree species, 29% of genera and 68% of families that contain trees. Extrapolation of observed species richness further suggests that an additional 3,738 tree species might be present in other urban areas, making up to 14% of the known global tree flora.

Around 8% of tree species recorded (n=372) are listed as invasive in at least one country, thus signaling their potential for biological invasion if spreading from cities to rural areas. On the other hand, conservation status data highlighted 179 species as “vulnerable” in the wild, 122 species “endangered”, 62 species “critically endangered”. Six tree species found in the world’s urban areas are thought to be “extinct in the wild”.

Cities are often consider foci of species extinctions, yet our analysis shows that the world’s cities can host a diverse tree flora. Whilst trade in ornamental plants has facilitated the spread of invasive species in the past, we also suggest that urban environments offer untapped opportunities to advance global biological conservation efforts for wild tree species and other plants in the future.

Abstract Body

Nowadays, there is an increasing public awareness of the negative impacts that accelerating urbanization has on the environment. Green facade is an ecological architecture design strategy in the intense urbanization process that can respond to the environmental challenges.

The aim of this paper is to define ecological niches for green facades in a high-density residential neighbourhood through urban microclimate analysis. This study attempts to simulate the most accurate microclimates on the building facades and road pavement from two spatial scales—community and individual building through data organization and visualization using the software of Ladybug Tools and ENVI-met combination. The main parameters are daylighting, wind speed, relative humidity and surface temperature of the building facade. These parameters are derived from EnergyPlus Weather Data in the hottest week of summer.

This study compares the impact on the thermal environment of various building facades in high-density living conditions. Moreover, greening of facades provides a cooling mechanism on building elevations, it can minimize the heat island effect during summer. The potential of green facades is reviewed. The method is demonstrated by a case study in Baishizhou, which is one of the communities that has the highest density in Shenzhen, China. The results of these simulations show that 1. there is a big difference between the thermal environment of different building facades in the same climate condition; 2. green facades can contribute positively to the cooling effect on buildings.