Challenges to implementing the urban ecosystem service concept in green infrastructure planning: a view from practitione
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Challenges to implementing the urban ecosystem service concept in green infrastructure planning: a view from practitioners in Swedish municipalities Frederik Aagaard Hagemann1 · Thomas B. Randrup1 · Åsa Ode Sang1 Received: 2 December 2019 / Accepted: 11 June 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract In building a sustainable society, numerous ecosystem services have shown to play important roles for the benefit of urban residents. The distinct concept of Urban Ecosystem Services (UES) to accentuate and enhance the value of urban ecosystems has been proposed, primarily in research, with implementation in practice still at an early stage. This study examined challenges to future implementation of the UES concept in municipal planning and management of urban green spaces. Based on interviews in six Swedish municipalities, we identified four overall discourses challenging implementation of UES in municipal practice. These included (i) a need to prioritize UES in municipal planning in order to address the contemporary challenges of e.g., urbanization and biodiversity loss. This in turn creates (ii) a need for increased holistic thinking within the municipal organization, based on (iii) further documentation and standards, which should help (iv) initiate organizational transition and cross-sectorial approaches. These discourses provide interrelated challenges that could also act as opportunities for scientists and practitioners collaborations to advance integration of UES into planning and management, thereby increasing the sustainability of urban environments. This work provides a starting point for introduction of the UES concept into municipal planning. Keywords Green space governance · Strategic planning and management · Urban ecosystem services · Swedish municipalities
1 Urban ecosystem services within socio-ecological practice At international level, ecosystem services (ES) have become a central framework for interpreting social-ecological practices and interrelations. In particular, the International Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), two largescale reports (TEEB 2010; MEA 2005), and a plethora of scientific writings (e.g., Costanza et al. 1997; Vihervaara et al. 2010; Mascarenhas et al. 2015; Jaligot and Chenal 2019) have stressed the importance of ES for building sustainable societies. The ES concept has helped shift the conversation from nature conservation and natural resource * Frederik Aagaard Hagemann [email protected] 1
Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
management to the societal benefits of preserving functioning ecosystems (de Groot et al. 2010). It has also helped communicate and describe the significance of ecosystems to human health and wellbeing (van den Bosch and Sang 2017; Rojas-Rueda et al. 2019). Meanwhile, global urbanization trends and densification raise questions about urban ecosystems and their role in providing key services to urban residents. Urban
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