Critical Sustainability Studies

Urban ecosystem services were first described in the seminal paper by Bolund and Hunhammar in 1999 and can be defined as the benefits humans derive from urban green and blue infrastructure. Urban ecosystem services, such as food provision, air quality regulation, and outdoor recreation, have been highlighted as essential for human health and well-being in cities. Therefore, urban ecosystem services are increasingly gaining momentum in planning and management. However, this trend demands a critical understanding of human values related to these services as well as the spatial and social distribution of their benefits. Several studies conducted by BCNUEJ members have contributed to addressing this challenge with the final goal of enabling better green infrastructure planning and decision-making.

• Mapping the intangible: Using geolocated social media data to examine landscape aesthetics (Land Use Policy, 2018)

• When we cannot have it all: Ecosystem services trade-offs in the context of spatial planning (Ecosyst. Serv., 2017)

• Assessing the Potential of Regulating Ecosystem Services as Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Areas, in: Kabisch, N., Korn, H., Stadler, J., Bonn, A. (Eds.), Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Areas: Linkages between Science, Policy and Practice. (Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2017)

• Greening cities – To be socially inclusive? About the alleged paradox of society and ecology in cities (Habitat Int., 2017)

• The urban political ecology of ecosystem services: The case of Barcelona (Ecol. Econ., 2016)

• Contrasting values of cultural ecosystem services in urban areas: The case of park Montjuïc in Barcelona. (Ecosystem Services, 2014)

• Contribution of Ecosystem Services to Air Quality and Climate Change Mitigation Policies: The Case of Urban Forests in Barcelona, Spain (Ambio 43, 2014)

• Urban Ecosystem Services. In Elmqvist T. (Ed.): Urbanization, biodiversity and ecosystem services (Springer Netherlands, 2013)