Ecosystem services of urban amenity greenspace and the impact of future climate and socio-economic change

Urban greenspaces make a positive contribution to climate change mitigation,sustainability, and the wellbeing of urban inhabitants. Global and National efforts areunderway to communicate the value of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning withinpolitical and economic agendas. However, there is a lack of information regardingecosystem services associated with urban environments. This research measures nineecosystem services delivered by urban amenity greenspace and projects responses to futurechallenges.Botanical and environmental data relating to five regulating services and fourcultural services were collected in Runcorn, the case study area. The impacts of humanintervention were evaluated from interviews with three managers of open space in Runcorn,from 303 service requests received by the Local Authority, and a questionnaire sent to1,751 residents. Regulating services were quantified by using the i-Tree Streetsprogramme, hi consultation with Local Authority Officers, five future scenarios weredesigned and described: Business As Usual; Money Matters; The Good Life; Going Green;and I-Future. Changes to the regulating and cultural services assessed under each scenariowere predicted for 2030 and 2060.The current annual value ascribed to the five regulating services by the i-TreeStreets programme was £11,000 per hectare: this value exceeds the costs in maintenance.Spiritual properties, noise buffering, and recreational opportunities were positivelycorrelated with physical features of these greenspaces: allowing impacts of land use changeto be predicted. The economy currently determines human intervention on Runcorn'samenity greenspaces. Two tree species in the amenity greenspaces are vulnerable to climatechange and six are expected to experience increased productivity. The projections ofRuncorn's amenity greenspaces for the future demonstrate that the degree of change to eachecosystem service differs within each scenario. These findings inform land owners withrespect to future management strategies for urban amenity greenspaces and can ensure thatthe desired ecosystem services are delivered.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral (Level 8)

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Wallbank, NJ

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1337825

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1337825