The routes to fruit: Governance of urban food trees in Canada

Interest in planting urban food trees (UFTs) in public spaces is growing in popularity as a form of urban greening and a potential food source. Currently there is minimal research on the governance and policy aspects of integrating food trees into cities. To fill this gap, we investigated the characteristics of UFT site governance and how it compares to current urban forest governance. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with relevant municipal officials in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Victoria about their perspectives and involvement with UFT sites in their city. A scan of policy documents was completed to supplement the interviews. The interviews were analyzed using a deductive coding framework based on the Policy Arrangement Approach. We found that key actors at the UFT sites were local organizations and site champions, with minimal municipal engagement. Most site resources provided by municipalities were in-kind. There are also basic knowledge gaps about how to care for UFTs. Currently municipal by-laws prohibit the harvesting and removal of plant material, and are at odds with the purpose of UFT sites, with few municipalities fully integrating UFTs in policies. The primary discussion around UFTs centre concerns for public health and safety, management, and use of public space with limited discussions of benefits. This research demonstrates the value of co-governance models to support UFTs, while a shift in focus from risks to benefits could encourage additional resources and policy integration. Further, including UFTs into policy would also support foraging and food tree maintenance in public spaces, and more fully reflect the plurality of urban forest engagement.     

Synergy of urban green space planning and ecosystem services provision: A longitudinal exploration of China’s development

Ecosystem services (ES) concepts and approaches have become more appealing to practice, such as municipal/urban planning, environmental policies and governance to address sustainable development. Inclusion of this concept in the planning or policy discourses is the first step for further implementation on the ground. Using China’s capital, Beijing, as the case study, this article analyzes how ES (or similar concepts) have permeated China’s urban development history since 1949 when the New China was established and how this has to be with China’s urban green space development. The results show: (1) There were no explicit references to “ecosystem services” per se, but overlapping concepts such as “functions”, “values” and “benefits” can be found in planning documents and, importantly, the lack of the concept per se has not affected the detailed services that emerged in all plans. (2) Among the three ES sections, only cultural services run from the beginning to end although the included services kept changing. Other sections show considerable variation and less continuity – the focal services of each stage changed over time. (3) Through the ES lens, some general patterns regarding China’s urban development can be found such as regulation services gradually become valued for their own sake. The patterns found in Chinese planning documents are then compared with some western regions. This study reveals limitations of the past and opportunities for the future to inform urban development decision-making. Adaptation of old and incorporating new ES concepts can improve the quality of plans and foster cities’ ability to learn from past patterns for future sustainability.     

Critical upscaling. How citizens’ initiatives can contribute to a transition in governance and quality of urban greenspace

Studies show that municipalities often develop a type of urban greenspace that is rather uniform in its shape and use. Citizens’ initiatives develop different types of greenspace. This article uses concepts from transition studies and identifies what happens during a citizens’ initiative in urban greenspace in the Netherlands in terms of transition of municipal management and development and how these initiatives can lead to a change of practices of the municipality. A single, qualitative study of Diepenheim Inside-Out-Forest in the Netherlands as a critical case is presented, based on 8 semi-open interviews. The study gives insight in how the municipality has changed in relation to this one case, and how such transition of ‘regime’ takes place. The study explains how the different benefits that arise in a greenspace development and management initiative relate to the ‘critical knowledge’ and ‘situated knowledge’ of the actors involved and that the quality of urban greenspace is very much the result of that knowledge. ‘Fit and conform’ and ‘stretch and transform’ are usable strategies for the empowerment of such initiatives through sharing of resources, and policy advocacy by ‘critical niche’ innovators.‘Regime’ is not uniquely a feature of the local state but also of market parties and citizens themselves with their own values and routines. A change among all parties seems needed if greenspace is to be developed, managed and used differently.     

Qualities and functions ascribed to urban cemeteries across the capital cities of Scandinavia

Cemeteries are not only burial places that provide a public service. They are also green urban spaces with cultural and natural qualities and could be integrated into the green infrastructure planning system. In this study, we explore the extent to which environmental qualities and functions are ascribed to urban cemeteries in the municipal master plans, green infrastructure plans and websites of the capital cities of Scandinavia. In addition, we conduct a focus-group interview in Oslo with six municipal employees representing green space planning/management, cultural heritage and cemetery administration/management, focusing on a broad perspective of qualities ascribed to urban cemeteries. The document study shows that, across the Scandinavian countries, cemeteries are mainly included in the concept of green infrastructure but they are not ascribed qualities similar to those ascribed to public green spaces; instead, most qualities are related to cultural history. However, Copenhagen municipality has a more inclusive approach, describing the cemeteries as green spaces and inviting people to use them for recreational purposes. The municipality even has a policy document with a strategy on how to combine the primary function of a burial site with new needs for recreational space. In the focus-group interview, cemeteries are described as static places, peaceful and quiet places, green spaces, spaces in which to experience darkness, and places for all (multiple use). There is relatively high agreement among interviewees about the recreational qualities of cemeteries, even though the cemetery administration/management emphasizes several times that its main focus is on accommodating the bereaved and their relatives. In the discussion, we focus on differences between the different Scandinavian countries in the qualities and functions ascribed to cemeteries, and examine potential explanations for why cemeteries are mostly described as green spaces, part of the green infrastructure, but treated as private green spaces in the urban planning context.     

The discourses,opportunities, and constraints in Canberra’s Green Infrastructure planning

Nowadays, Australian state and local governments consider Green Infrastructure (GI) planning as a mitigation and adaptation approach to make cities more resilient. Moreover, decision-makers have acknowledged and addressed social values, biodiversity, and habitat connectivity in policy documents. Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), is a unique Australian city since it is totally designed as the National Capital of Australia and is built on a grassland plain, inspired by the Garden City concept. The green and open spaces have a symbolic value, representing Canberra as the national capital. However, Canberra is experiencing increasing urban development pressure, which threatens its green and open spaces. Thus, it is critical to explore the GI status in governance and decision-making in Canberra to guide its future planning. This research explores ten policy documents using a reflexive analysis to interpretatively critique policy documents and to diagnose the existing opportunities and constraints in Canberra’s GI planning. The documents were selected from 4 main defined scopes, Australian Government land-use responsibilities, ACT Government land-use planning and strategy, ACT Government greenspace planning, and Tree management regulations and mechanisms. This research identified dual governance (national/territory) and dual nature character (native/exotic) in the policy documents, which has intensified the complexity of GI planning. Another constraint was the lack of district level planning and a structured bottom-up approach. More flexibility in governance and collaboration between different governance levels and agencies is needed to make a more effective GI network, using the existing opportunities such as open space systems. Although GI principles have been addressed at Canberra’s strategic level, more comprehensive GI planning is needed to address all types of greenspaces.     

Cemeteries in transformation – A Swiss community conflict study

For the first time, this study presents a natural experiment describing and explaining selected stakeholders’ attitudes toward the transformation of cemeteries into urban green spaces. In 2020, a real-life community conflict unfolded in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, over plans to close the smallest of its three municipal cemeteries by 2023. This study analyzes a representative sample (N = 519) of the city’s adult population and that of the adjacent town, Ostermundigen, capturing the views of residents of the conflict district and contrasting them with those of people living outside the district. It also compares attitudes of cemetery visitors and non-visitors. Survey interviews were conducted via telephone and through an online panel. The study focuses on conflicts triggered by alternative land-use plans, highlighting the need to include groups that are both familiar and unfamiliar with cemeteries. Interestingly, the latter group proved to be more open to change. The local meaning of cemeteries and municipal green urban-space policies are crucial context parameters, as demonstrated by the strong opposition to cemetery transformation in affected areas. The underlying beliefs of opponents and proponents are explored qualitatively and found to be complex and multidimensional. Individual attitude predictors include age and personal emotional attributes. Finally, factor analysis is used to develop a typology of users. The four emerging user types are linked to different perceptions of “the nature of cemeteries” and attitudes toward innovative plans (e.g., whether to create burial spaces for pets or a restaurant within the cemetery grounds, both of which received significant support). The findings inform policy decisions related to urban green-space management while balancing the interests of various groups. User perspectives should be reconciled by focusing on “dialogues of values” and participatory approaches, which complement information-centered municipal policies.     

Greening urban road verges highlights diverse views of multiple stakeholders on ecosystem service provision,challenges and preferred form

Globally, there is growing recognition of the potential of road verges to contribute to urban greening and ecosystem service provision, beyond their original functions of utility provision and public access. Numerous, diverse stakeholders are involved in their management, yet their shared and diverging perspectives on verge greening are poorly understood. This research examined the perspectives on road verge greening by 30 respondents from eight stakeholder groups from the Perth Metropolitan Area, Australia. Stakeholders spanned local and state governments, developers, peak bodies, utility providers, environmental consultants, verge treatment providers and urban greening advocates. Semi-directed interviews and Likert scales were used to assess respondents' perspectives and perceived importance of urban verge functions and ecosystem services, risks and challenges associated with verge greening, and preferred verge vegetation composition. The most important ecosystem services for all stakeholders were temperature regulation (through the provision of street trees), those associated with water management and aesthetically interesting streetscapes. Perceived challenges included limited knowledge for the management of native species verges and streetscapes, organisational costs for verge managers and utility providers, and the need to engage with multiple local government authorities with widely varying management and financial valuation of verge vegetation. Stakeholders’ preferred verge reflected diverse uses, local characteristics, and was climate and water resilient (particularly ‘waterwise’). A majority of stakeholder groups felt greater attention to the ‘understorey’ of the ‘urban forest’ was warranted. An emerging perspective across four stakeholder groups identified the potential for verges to grow a local ‘sense of place’, through plantings emphasising local native species and highlighting local Whadjuk Noongar seasons. These findings support policies and programmes associated with urban greening, and assist in navigating the contestation often associated with new or transformative uses of land at the public-private interface.     

Greening plans as (re)presentation of the city: Toward an inclusive and gender-sensitive approach to urban greenspaces

Cities around the world are increasingly expanding their sustainability agendas and adopting urban green and blue infrastructure planning as a strategy to become more resilient, healthy and sustainable. However, the development of urban greening governance often lacks a holistic vision that considers social inequities within the planning, implementation and management of green and blue spaces. Further, gender inequities have been a specific dimension particularly overlooked in urban greening planning, despite gender concerns gaining increasing political relevance in recent years. In this research, we assessed the extento to which social and gender equity are being considered in urban greening plans and projects at the local level. We chose Barcelona (Spain) as main case study due to its pioneering role in implementing crosscutting equity and gender policies at the municipal level. Building on document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, we examined how social justice and gender are understood and operationalized in practice, from the design phase to implementation and maintenance of greening projects. Our findings suggest a shift in the role of urban greening which evolved from an ornamental role to a multifunctional vision of greening and is recently incorporating equity and inclusivity concerns. We identified three action areas of inclusive, gender-sensitive urban green planning practices: first, the incorporation of inclusivity and care as guiding visible values to recognize multiple needs of city residents; second, urban design for different uses and perceptions of greenspaces, particularly in relation to accessibility and autonomy; and third, the awareness and expertise from municipal staff vis-à-vis the consideration of social and gender equity in green planning and participatory approaches. Finally, we provide practical examples of the strategies that the City of Barcelona is implementing in each area and discuss some challenges and limitations, including what we identify as ad hoc intersectional greening.     

Importance of urban street tree policies: A Comparison of neighbouring Southern California cities

Research points to numerous benefits provided by urban street trees including qualitative and quantitative public health, economic, and environmental advantages for a city and its residents. As with other key aspects of city management that help develop municipal success, urban forestry requires foresight, commitment and planning that lead to effective policies and strategies. Good street tree management based on effective policies can maximise street tree benefits. Poorly conceived policies or the absence of effective policies can lead to the opposite result. A case study of the neighbouring cities of Loma Linda and Redlands, California illustrates this difference. The urban tree care and protection policies in these two cities have evolved differently. The differences may be attributable to contrasting municipal commitments to preservation and to best-practice management principles. Based on a comparative analysis of street tree policies of the two cities, it can be concluded that a local culture favouring tree protection and reflective guidelines and policies can result in proactive and successful management of an urban forest. Such policies also include provision for gathering data essential for strategic tree planting, care and removal.     

Emergent urban agricultural practices and attitudes in the residential area in China

This paper explores the emergence of urban agriculture and its changing nature and role in the urbanization process in China. With an increase in urban agricultural pursuits in both planned and unplanned residential areas, the focus of the paper is primarily on better understanding the nature of emerging ‘informal’ practices in built and unbuilt spaces. By using a planned residential area in Kunming, Yunnan Province as a case study, this paper identifies the physical and spatial expressions of urban agriculture practices as well as the motivations and attitudes of stakeholders. The results show that over half of the participants had experience in undertaking urban agricultural practices, with the predominant reason being to fulfill personal interests, including meeting household needs. When undertaking urban agricultural practices, local residents demonstrate their divergent abilities and skills in negotiating, adapting, and managing both private and increasingly incursions into the public domain. Analysis of the empirical results indicates that urban agricultural pursuits are a viable practice which supports the livelihoods and wellbeing of the residents by using innovative, creative and emergent forms in both private and public spaces.     

Values and beliefs about urban forests from diverse urban contexts and populations in the Greater Toronto area

Cities around the world are diverse. People’s perceptions of urban forests may vary according to urban contexts and people’s diverse identities. A better understanding of these diverse perceptions is critical to support stewardship initiatives, inform urban tree decisions, and guide community engagement, among other key management and governance processes in urban forestry. This study examines the values and beliefs that diverse people living in a variety of urban contexts associate with urban trees. Using an urban gradient approach, 2009 responses were collected through an online panel survey conducted in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to understand variations in values and beliefs of urban forests across municipal types (inner core, suburban, peri-urban, and regional cities). The GTA has an ethnoculturally diverse population, allowing us to also explore perceptions held by people with various identities. The study uses analytical techniques, such as means differences and linear regression models, to segment the diverse meanings people attribute to urban trees by municipal types and people’s identities. The results show that, while people value the urban forest very highly, people’s value orientations vary depending on their context and identities. For example, respondents who speak European or South Asian languages tend to hold value orientations related to cultural, social, and identity issues. Respondents living in inner municipal types tend to hold values related to identity issues, whereas respondents living in outer municipal types and regional cities tend to hold values related to natural issues. The results also show that people’s beliefs about urban forests are primarily positive. Urban forests managers and stewardship initiatives should recognize the diverse set of values and beliefs that people associate with urban forests, incorporating these perceptions into policy and programs. Additionally, since specific value and belief orientations may depend on personal identity and urban contexts, tailored messaging may also help generate support for policy or stewardship initiatives across different communities and in varied urban contexts.     

From explanation to application: introducing a practice-oriented ecosystem services evaluation (PRESET) model adapted to the context of landscape planning and management

The development and use of the conceptual framework of ecosystem services (ES) has been very successful in supporting the broad diffusion and application of ES within science and policy communities. However, most of the currently proposed interpretations of the framework neither correlate to environmental planning nor to decision-making contexts at the local and regional scale, which is a potential reason for the slow adoption and practice of the ES conceptual framework. This paper proposes a practice-oriented ES evaluation (PRESET) model specifically adapted to the requirements of local and regional planning and decision-making contexts, and discusses its potential benefits and implications for practice. Through the usage of PRESET we suggest making a distinction between ‘offered ES’, ‘utilized ES’, ‘human input’, and ‘ES benefits’ as relevant information for decision-making. Furthermore, we consider it important to link these decision-support categories to different value dimensions relevant in planning and management practice. PRESET provides guidance to inject the ES concept into planning, but needs to be implemented together with concrete assessment methods, indicators and data. The planning strategic benefits of using PRESET include its reference to existing legislative objectives, avoiding the risk that monetized ES values might dominate decision-making, clarification of human contributions, and easier identification of land use conflicts and synergies. Examples are given for offered and utilized ES, as well as for respective evaluation approaches and instruments of implementation.     

Envisioning the future—Creating sustainable,healthy and resilient BioCities

Numerous challenges – from population increase to climate change – threaten the sustainable development of cities and call for a fundamental change of urban development and green-blue resource management. Urban forests are vital in this transition, as they provide various ecosystem services and allow to re-shape and re-think cities. Based on a Europe-wide community effort with diverse experts centered around urban forests and urban greening, we propose five key research fields to generate the knowledge required to unlock fundamental changes in urban development and green-blue resource management: circular bioeconomy, climate resilience, governance, social and human environment, and biodiversity. To support the design of greener, cooler, more inclusive and resilient cities, all these research fields require inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, engaging stakeholders in transforming urban engagement and functioning. We summarise main inter-, trans- und multi-disciplinary research paths for each field and the cross-cutting knowledge areas that can help to address the challenges many cities face (e.g., modelling and assessment of the urban microclimate). For transforming cities further knowledge is needed on e.g., urban innovation, transition, participation, and more. Finally, we address how the identified research gaps can be implemented (e.g., international coordinated research effort, interdisciplinary networks).     

From borders to ecotones – Private-public co-management of urban woodland edges bordering private housing

This paper conceptualises and evaluates so-called co-management zones as an approach for user participation in urban forestry, specifically in the management of public woodland edges bordering residential areas. Co-management zones can metaphorically be viewed as ‘ecotone-like’ spaces, i.e. zones where overlapping interest – in this case residents’ and municipal authorities’ – can be used to create richness and meetings rather than boundaries. Building on the perspectives of ecotone thinking and governance arrangements, co-management zones in the Danish residential area of Sletten in Holstebro were evaluated. The presented case study combined interviews with residents and interviews with three key green space professionals who had led the planning, design, establishment and management of the woodland and the implementation of co-management. The resident participation in the co-management zone was also assessed and photo documented in a field survey, categorising individual households according to type and degree of physical signs of participation. Findings illustrate the potential of co-management zones to initiate collaboration between residents and public woodland managers in creating recreationally valuable and varied meetings between private gardens and urban woodlands. Challenges with establishing co-management zones were also highlighted, especially the need for clear guidelines and continuous communication between residents and the municipality. Perspectives and implications related to residents, managers and green space quality are discussed.     

Contemporary interpretation of the meaning and heritage of early 20th century private gardens: From an historical reflection to a future outlook in planning

This article examines the strategic role played by private gardens in meeting societal challenges in urbanized environments in the late 19th-early 20th century. These gardens represented a means to provide food, a healthier living environment and, by implication, improved living conditions for the growing urban population. This strategic role was embedded in spatial and urban planning policies, as exemplified here in two case studies: the residential area Rostorp, Malmö (Sweden) and the region of Flanders (Belgium). With the case studies’ results as starting point their historical narratives were written. These narratives were then confronted and the cases were qualitatively compared to demonstrate how, over time, the idea and materiality of the private garden have created value and meaning. These values include the strengthening of family values, establishing and maintaining social coherence, sense of place and identity, and creating social space which enabled an exchange of knowledge. We argue that these values have been gradually lost over the past half-century, particularly the understanding of private gardens as strategic spaces in which social challenges can be met. Due to lack of documentation, current knowledge of their meaning and heritage is poor. Their physical space is declining through urban densification. We add to the densification debate by arguing the potential for reinvigoration of the private garden and its values, to meet and plan for sustainable urban futures. Based on historical reflections and a presentation of the significance and meaning of private gardens in Belgium and Sweden, the main contributions of this article are general insights on the heritage and meaning of private gardens and a future outlook on the strategic role of private gardens in planning.     

A decision-making framework for promoting the optimum design and planning of Nature-based Solutions at local scale

Urbanization is a key driver of land use/land cover changes climate change. It produces a reduction in natural capital with alteration to the energy budget of land, air ventilation and land surface temperature. The urban morphology derived from the combination of natural capital and human-derived capital is important in urban ecosystem services (UESs) provisioning to mitigate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Here we report a decision-making framework starting from an applicative case study to assess UESs and promote the best design and planning of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) at local scale. The human thermal comfort has been chosen here as a surrogate to estimate climate regulation as a priority UES in mitigating UHI. The analysis of human thermal comfort in different urban neighbourhood planning scenarios of a city located in Southern Italy has been carried out using the microclimate model ENVI-met. The analysis has been developed to highlight the variation in human thermal comfort in terms of Physiological Equivalent Temperature index (PET) between past agricultural scenarios (no longer more present), current state and several proposed urban scenarios. Such new scenarios have been developed by considering different building arrangements according to municipal planning rules of the city and choosing different types of NbS composition and structure. The analysis has allowed to identify the best scenario characterized by the presence of a community garden with olive groves and estimate the capacity of NbS to reduce the human thermal comfort by about 3.5ºC and improve the PET in selected locations within the current state. In accordance with the aim and topics of the Special Issue, this study shows how such a framework can be useful to support decision-making processes in choosing the best strategy in terms of urban plans and thus making the urban transformation process more sustainable, contributing to assessing the global targets of the 2030 Agenda at local scale.     

Land use, land cover changes and coastal lagoon surface reduction associated with urban growth in northwest Mexico

Coastal land use and land cover changes, emphasizing the alterations of coastal lagoons, were assessed in northwest Mexico using satellite imagery processing. Supervised classifications of a Landsat series (1973–1997) and the coefficients Kappa (K) and Tau (τ), were used to assess the area and verify the accuracy of the classification of six informational classes (urban area, aquatic systems, mangrove, agriculture, natural vegetation, and aquaculture). Pixel-by-pixel change detection among dates was evaluated using the Kappa Index of Agreement (KIA). Besides the overall estimation of the aquatic systems class, variations in the three lagoons present in the study area were analyzed individually. Measures of agreement between the classification and reference data indicate that the accuracy for the classification ranked from moderate to high (K = 0.76 ± 0.07; τ = 0.77 ± 0.06). From 1973 to 1997 urban area has doubled, growing to the north and the northeast, extending mainly over natural vegetation and agricultural land. La Escopama and El Sabalo, two of the lagoons studied, reduced their size to less than half that estimated in 1973, but the main estuarine system in the study area, Estero de Urias - El Infiernillo, has maintained its area without noticeable changes. However, the surrounding landscape in Estero de Urias - Infiernillo is changing from natural vegetation and agriculture to urban land use. Consequently, to limit as much as possible changes in the area to natural causes, some management measures must be considered to design urban development plans and to recover and preserve the natural areas, on a broad scale rather than a local spatial scale. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Uptake and use of biodiversity offsetting in urban planning – The case of Sweden

Globally, biodiversity offsetting is used to balance negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services caused by exploitation. In Sweden, there is an increasing interest in biodiversity offsetting in urban planning. However, there is limited understanding about the use of the concept in a municipal context. This study aims to examine and critically reflect on the uptake and use of biodiversity offsetting at a strategic level in urban planning in Sweden. We study urban planning documents, and included Sweden’s 290 municipalities in the study. The result shows that more than 50% of Sweden’s municipalities mention biodiversity offsetting in their planning documents, targeting both regulatory offsetting of protected areas and voluntary offsetting of urban green space. The uptake is highest in urban areas experiencing high exploitation pressure, and many municipalities include both biodiversity and ecosystem services in their strategic work with offsetting. Most municipalities do not relate to the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimize, restore, offset), nor the goal of no net loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. There is an ambiguity in the translation between losses and offsets, i.e. what type of offsetting (like-for-(un)like), what replacement ratios, and where to place the offsets. Few municipalities have developed processes, guidelines, strategic plans, etc., to integrate offsetting into the planning process. We conclude that the uptake of biodiversity offsetting is substantial, but with a fragmented, and often immature use in relation to ecological knowledge, and the planning process. We argue that, to develop biodiversity offsetting into an approach that delivers sound outcomes for nature and people in urban planning, municipalities must have a capacity in terms of organisational structures and resources.