The Stockholm Sub-global Urban Assessment : Lessons learned

Transcription

1 The Stockholm Sub-global Urban Assessment : Lessons learned Thomas Elmqvist Stockholm Resilience Centre Dept of Systems Ecology Stockholm University

2 Urban Ecology Group at Dept of Systems Ecology and Beijer Institute Urban Theme at Stockholm Resilience Centre Urban Ecology Group in Stockholm Thomas Elmqvist, Johan Colding, Sara Borgström, Stephan Barthel, Henrik Ernstson, Cathy Wilkinson, Jeff Ranara, Jakob Lundberg, Erik Andersson, Karin Ahrné Urban Theme 12 research groups in 12 cities Address urban landscapes as socialecological systems in an urbanizing and globalizing world. Stockholm group: 6 years of field studies, 4 PhD-theses, > 25 papers, 2 books

3 Why study urban ecosystems? Green areas provide ecosystem services and support biodiversity Urban green areas provide e.g. shade, recreation, filtering of aerosols and absorbing CO2 emissions, Support pollination, pest regulation and seed dispersal that support biodiversity and the ability to maintain ecological function Stockholm 50% of the world live in urban areas and depend on functioning ecosystems - 2 billion more in cities by 2030 We need ecological theory for humandominated ecosystems!

4 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment www. MAweb.org Synthesis Reports Board Statement MA Conceptual Framework Technical Assessment Volumes

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6 Theoretical framework Social-ecological system approach Sustaining ecosystem functioning under uncertainty and change - increasing the ability for ecosystems to regenerate through ecological processes and structures at multiple scales Create and maintain flexibility, i.e. the ability to switch between (i) preparing for change, and (ii)respond to change. (e.g. Berkes et al 2003)

7 Urban ecology has mainly focused on spatial pattern of urban ecosystems (Alberti 2005; but see Pickett et al 2008 that also engage in urban design). Humans has mostly entered as passive groups or as anonymous forces behind urban development and pollution. FOCUS OF OUR ASSESSMENT has been to view humans as agents in FOCUS OF OUR ASSESSMENT has been to view humans as agents in social-ecological processes (Folke et al 2003).

8 Social-ecological system social ecological Ecosystem services Equity, wealth and access rights Migration Institutions Jurisdictional scales Health indices Social trust Diversity of professions Innovation...? Diversity Redundancy Landscape configuration Disturbances...

9 Biophysical, social, economic drivers Global Urban ecosystems Knowledge Social institutions and practice Management of Ecosystem services

10 I. Current states and trends

11 Urbanisation in Stockholm temporal scale 2030? Ca 0,6 mil. Ca 0,9 mil. Ca 1,8 mil. 2,3 2,5 mil.

12 Urbanization in Stockholm spatial scale Water Forest, arable, grasslands Multi-dwelling, industrial areas Allotment areas Residential gardens Golf courses Protected areas

13 National Urban Park Stockholm, Sweden A ha area of mixed forests and grassland in central Stockholm No other area in Sweden (of same size) have similar high species richness (>1.000 sp. of butterflies, beetles, 250 bird species) 112 red-listed species Largest population of large oak trees (Quercus robur), in Europe Biodiversity dependent on continuous management 5/24/

14 Results of empirical research Mobile Links Lundberg et al (2008): birds and pollinators link spatially separated habitats and green areas, especially in times of crises; there is ecological memory. (i) the Eurasian Jay serves to functionally spread one of the keystone species in Stockholm the oak tree and sustain its gene and population diversity and (ii) bumblebees associated with allotment gardens link across space through their forage distance.

15 Land use and property rights Colding et al (2006): allotment gardens, domestic gardens and golf courses make up 18 % of metropolitan space, TWICE that of protected areas! non-protected areas, held under different property rights regimes and management practices, also host great biodiversity and are not acknowledged by authorities

16 History and cultural dimension Barthel et al (2005): slowly changing institutional arrangements influence urban ecologies and biodiversity the positive effects of humans-inthe-landscape that through time, and through human practices of management generate and sustain a greater variety of habitats and thus biodiversity (coevolution argument).

17 Andersson, Barthel and Ahrné (2007): how management practices sustain functional groups or ecosystem service providers - a comparative study of allotment gardens, cemeteries and urban parks demonstrating (i) the diversity of pollinators (bumblebees) and pest regulators (birds) are higher in allotment gardens based on voluntary associations; (ii) that allotment gardeners have more in-depth knowledge of local ecosystems,

18 II. Multiscale assessment

19 Scale-mismatches Borgström, Elmqvist et al (2006): comparing the management of 5 different urban protected areas, most areas are managed as an island, and thus managers fail to acknowledge that their piece of land is situated in a greater landscape. Undermines practices facilitating landscape ecological processes such as pollination, seed-dispersal and pest-regulation (through mobile links).

20 Borgström et al. 2006

21 Social Networks Ernstson, Sörlin and Elmqvist (2008, 2009): how landscape based ecosystem management can be established - protection of The National Urban Park by > 60 civil society organizations. Core (i) Organizations developed a core-periphery network structure that built legitimacy and generated social network mechanisms stopping exploitation plans. (ii) Through weaving a protective story, a narrative able to explain why these areas can be seen as linked into a holisitc whole worthy of protection (mainly using royal cultural history and conservation biology arguments with). Semi-core Periphery

22 III. Scenarios

23 Stockholm County Regional Land-use Plan 2030 polycentric structure with nine regional subcentres at important transport nodes green area development, strenthening weak sections of green wedges new cross-regional transport infrastructure Source: Stockholm regional planning office

24 Length of vegetation period in the Stockholm region days days days

25 Urban Futures Scenario Planning and Visioning Swedish Parliamentary Evaluation and Research Unit Baseline Trends and Projections Problem Areas

26 Urban Futures Scenario Planning and Visioning Swedish Parliamentary Evaluation and Research Unit Driving Forces and their Uncertainties Four Possible Future Scenarios

27 Urban Futures Scenario Planning and Visioning Swedish Parliamentary Evaluation and Research Unit Positive Aspects of All Four Scenarios Integrate Positive Aspects into a Vision

28 IV. Policy Responses

29 Some policy responses Address scale mis-matches Acknowledge local stewards and biodiversity outside public parks (private gardens, business parks, golf courses, allotments etc). Experiment with new property regimes urban commons Develop indicators for resilience of urban social-ecological systems

30 Resilience in urban landscapes While we are still far from an understanding that can be operationalized...we use as a proxy: the capacity to provide access to and sustain ecosystem services under uncertainty and change (involve understanding of governace, management and urban ecosystem dynamics)

31 New Orleans September 2005 Coping capacity Adaptive capacity Transformative capacity Photo credit: Associated Press

32 Urban Resilience Thinking in Practice: Enable high rates of innovations Maintain diversity Maintain modularity Restore lost ecological functions Tighten feedback loops Build social capital address equity Build overlap in governance

33 IV. Lessons learned

34 I. Need to develop the concept of cultural ecosystem services

35 II. Scale mismatches are common in urban landscapes Findings (based on reserach efforts from above): A. Current management is separated between actors that do not communicate and ecosystem processes are not in focus (cemetary managers have their networks, allotment gardens have their (homophiliy), and these are not connected to municipal civil servants) B. Valuable local user groups are neglected (allotment gardens, ornithological assocations etc.) There is a need to align management around ecological scales, network actors across physical sites in space, introduce city-green network managers, and introduce scale-crossing brokers. N Local green area scale (17 local study sites) Brokers - actors in a brokerage position Scale-crossing links

36 Stockholm Urban Assessment - Theoretical contributions Colding et al on urban green commons green areas managed through collective management rights (e.g. allotment gardens, urban forests and parks) Borgström et al (2006) on urban scale mismatch along spatial, temporal and functional dimensions. Barthel et al (2010) on social-ecological memory as studied through in-depth studies of allotment gardens Ernstson et al (2010) on scale-crossing brokers positions in-between actor groups that interact with ecosystems at different scales and physical sites. ( eco-scale brokers )

37 Publications (selection) Ahrne K, Bengtsson J, Elmqvist T (2009) Bumble Bees (Bombus spp) along a Gradient of Increasing Urbanization. PLoS ONE 4(5): e5574. doi: /journal.pone Andersson, E., Ahrné, K. Pykkönen, M. and Elmqvist, T Patterns among urbanization measures in Stockholm, Sweden, and their ecological implications. Landscape Ecology doi: /s Barthel, S., J. Colding, T. Elmqvist and C. Folke History and Local Management of a Biodiversity-rich, Urban, Cultural Landscape. Ecology and Society 10 (2): 10. Borgström, S., T. Elmqvist, P. Angelstam, and C. Alfsen-Norodom Scale Mismatches in management of Urban Landscapes. Ecology and Society 11(2):16. Elmqvist, T., J. Colding, S. Barthel, S. Borgström, A. Duit, J. Lundberg, E. Andersson, K. Ahrné, H. Ernstson, C. Folke, and J. Bengtsson (2004) The Dynamics of Social- Ecological Systems in Urban Landscapes: Stockholm and the National Urban Park, Sweden. Annual New York Academy of Science 1023: Elmqvist T, Alfsen C, and Colding J Urban Systems. In Sven Erik Jørgensen and Brian D. Fath (Editors), Ecosystems. Vol. [5] of Encyclopedia of Ecology, 5 vols. pp. [ ] Oxford: Elsevier. Elmqvist, T., and E. Maltby (Coordinating Lead Authors) Relationships among Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services. Chapter 2 In: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB).Earthscan, Cambridge UK. Ernstson H., Barthel S., Andersson E., and Borgström S. T. (2010) Scale-crossing brokers and network governance of urban ecosystem services: The case of Stockholm, Sweden. Ecology and Society. In press. Ernstson H., van der Leeuw S. E., Redman C. L., Meffert D. J., Davis G., Alfsen C., and Elmqvist T. (2010). Urban transitions: on urban resilience and human-dominated landscapes. Ambio. In press. Ernstson H., and Sörlin S. (2009) Weaving protective stories: connective practices to articulate holistic values in Stockholm National Urban Park. Environment and Planning A advance online publication (doi: /a40349) Ernstson, H., S. Sörlin, and T. Elmqvist (2008) Social movements and ecosystem services - the role of social network structure in protecting and managing urban green areas in Stockholm. Ecology and Society 13(2):39. [online] URL:

38 Fischer, J., G.D. Peterson, T.A. Gardner, L.J. Gordon, I. Fazey, T. Elmqvist, A. Felton, C. Folke, and S. Dovers Integrating Resilience Thinking and Optimisation for Conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. doi: /j.tree Janssen, M. A., Ö. Bodin, J. M. Anderies, T. Elmqvist, H. Ernstson, R. R. J. McAllister, P. Olsson, and P. Ryan (2006) A network perspective on the resilience of social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 11(1):15. James P, K.et al Towards an integrated understanding of green space in the European built environment. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 8: Lundberg, J., Andersson, E. Cleary, G. and Elmqvist, T Linkages beyond borders: targeting spatial processes in fragmented urban landscapes. Landscape Ecology. DOI /s McGranahan, G., Peter Marcotullio Xuemei Bai, Deborah Balk, Tania Braga, Ian Douglas, Thomas Elmqvist, William Rees, David Satterthwaite, Jacob Songsore, Hania Zlotnik Urban Systems. Vol. 27. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Current State and Trends. pp Washington, DC: Island Press. Niemelä, J., T. Elmqvist et al. (eds.) Urban Ecology: From theory to practice, Oxford University Press

39 Exploring ecosystem services in cities through the lens of resilience (Springer ) The overall objective of this book is to explore how capacity can be built to improve governance of ecosystem services (ES) in urban areas. Three parts: -Perspectives on ecosystem services and their role in building resilience in cities -Case studies: Urban dependency on ecosystem services for human well being -Adaptation and transformation Among the contributing authors are: Elinor Ostrom, Steve Polasky, Fikret Berkes

40 IV. Next steps

41 Understanding resilience in urban landscapes (PI: H. Ernstson, T. Elmqvist & K. Frank) Pockets of social-ecological innovation - driving changes in urban landscapes and may form connections to governance at larger scales so as to potentially produce institutional innovation, Methods - use social network analysis in combination with other frameworks, i.e. both quantitative and qualitative methods. Participants - New Orleans - wetland restoration, Cape Town - greening the slums, New York tree plantation Funding Formas, VR

42 Urban social-ecological systems and globalization

43 Largest exhibition ever 242 countries and organizations 70 million visitors expected

44 Cities Biodiversity Index Assist national governments and local authorities in benchmarking their biodiversity conservation efforts in the urban context Help evaluate progressin reducing the rate of biodiversity loss in urban ecosystems Proposed index: Proposed index: a self-assessment tool easy to apply scientifically credible objective and fair

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