Speaker
Description
Urban areas are dynamic and complex landscapes where the effects of urbanization on vegetation are influenced by socio-ecological processes across multiple scales. Urbanization significantly impacts vegetation and land use, driving the fragmentation of green-blue areas and biodiversity loss. Understanding urban biodiversity is critical for protecting ecosystem services (ES); however, ecological assessments of land-use changes remain challenging due to urban complexity. There is renewed interest in reconnecting, restoring, and integrating nature into the built environment to provide a wide range of benefits for urban residents, infrastructure, and economies. These benefits include climate-change regulation, local food production, recreation, human health, and many others. In Norway, "Area neutrality" (Arealnøytralitet) is currently promoted as a municipal land-use management system that prioritizes nature protection in urban development and extends the net-zero philosophy to nature loss.This article aims to address the following questions: How does urbanization in Norway affect biodiversity and ES in urban areas? What planning strategies and tools can bridge the science-policy gap to address uncertainties in biodiversity loss, land-use change, and climate adaptation? The findings highlight the need to develop place-based empirical knowledge, promote citizen science, and define appropriate measures and policies for better integrating ES into decision-making and enhancing the quality of urban green-blue spaces.
| Keywords | ecosystem services ; decision making ; land use planning |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
