Urban Green Infrastructure Planning and Its Effect on Land and Climate Change

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land–Climate Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (4 February 2024) | Viewed by 4302

Special Issue Editor

Department of Landscape Architecture, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea
Interests: urban ecology; urban forestry; green infrastructure; climate change; ecosystem services; resilient landscapes; landscape urbanism; urban social-ecological system; ecosystem service assessment; landscape ecology; ecological and sustainable design/planning; urban regeneration and renewal; nature and human
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There are a lot of issues nowadays in urban areas, and various people are trying to find suitable solutions to them. Green infrastructure typically functions as an adaptation tool, such as in flood plain restoration or urban green infrastructure to combat the urban heat island effect, greenhouse effect, or gas emissions; hence, climate change adaptation efforts are strongly related to green infrastructure. This is a network of connected green spaces known to preserve the values and functions of natural ecosystems while also benefiting human populations. As we are currently living in an age of urbanization, when most people prefer to live in an urban environment, various types of solutions must be found in order to fulfill the general population’s needs, while at the same time addressing these types of issues. When developing multifunctional green space systems to solve relevant aspects of urbanization, such as supporting social cohesion, encouraging the transition to a green economy, adaptation to climate change, conservation of land and biodiversity, and addressing harmful emissions, urban green infrastructure is indeed a promising concept.

Adaptation to these urban issues, such as urban emissions or urban land pollution, foresees their negative effects and takes the steps required to limit or prevent these harmful effects. One of the most frequently used, practical, and efficient methods for reducing the negative consequences of harmful human activities is green infrastructure initiatives. Using scarce water resources more effectively, restoring natural flood defenses, utilizing tree species and forestry techniques that are less susceptible to storms and fires, putting in place natural water retention measures, lowering heat islands or carbon emissions in urban areas, reserving land corridors to aid in species migration, and restoring natural ecosystems that provide a suite of ecosystem services and human welfare are some examples of how it can help. This Special Issue aims to gather various articles regarding green infrastructure and its usage in addressing environmental destruction issues in urban contexts. Original research articles and reviews are encouraged to be submitted. The research topics may include (but are not limited to):

  • The performance of urban green systems;
  • Urban land planning and the integration of urban green infrastructure;
  • The impact of green infrastructure on the general population’s well-being;
  • The effectiveness of green infrastructure and its provision of ecosystem services;
  • The impact that urban green infrastructure has on addressing various climate change issues;
  • Studies that compare and contrast the best methods for designing urban green infrastructure to ensure urban sustainability.

Dr. Gunwoo Kim
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • urban planning
  • urban green infrastructure
  • urban sustainability
  • land cover and use changes
  • climate change adaptation
  • ecosystem services

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 6336 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Evaluation of Ecosystem Services Provided by Street Trees in Seoul for the Suggestion of Social Equity
by Yongwan Choi, Jessica Machado and Gunwoo Kim
Land 2024, 13(2), 235; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13020235 - 14 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1223
Abstract
Cities must overcome their limitations on quantitative growth by pursuing sustainable development. Road-centered development leads to social problems, including inequality, during urban expansion. This study focuses on quantifying the ecosystem services provided by street trees in the Gangnam and Gangbuk Districts of Seoul, [...] Read more.
Cities must overcome their limitations on quantitative growth by pursuing sustainable development. Road-centered development leads to social problems, including inequality, during urban expansion. This study focuses on quantifying the ecosystem services provided by street trees in the Gangnam and Gangbuk Districts of Seoul, South Korea. This research utilized public data and field surveys conducted between April and August 2023, which is the best time to grow coniferous and deciduous trees. The results helped quantify the improvement in the air quality and ecological economic value from the perspective of plant species structure and carbon storage. The street trees in Gangnam stored 3691.61 t (metric tons) and sequestered 359.45 t of carbon; removed 2.28 t of air pollutants; and reduced 3977.46 m3 of rainwater runoff annually. In contrast, the street trees in Gangbuk stored 831.61 t and sequestered 74.97 t of carbon; removed 0.4 t of air pollutants; and annually reduced rainwater runoff by 1491.74 m3. By quantifying the ecosystem services of street trees, this study showed a gap in the supply of ecosystem services, which are relatively poor in economically poor areas, thus contributing to a more holistic understanding of urban growth and advocating for inclusive and socially equitable development strategies and management policies in Seoul. Full article
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18 pages, 486 KiB  
Article
Can Green Infrastructure Investment Reduce Urban Carbon Emissions:Empirical Evidence from China
by Kunpeng Ai and Xiangwu Yan
Land 2024, 13(2), 226; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13020226 - 12 Feb 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2615
Abstract
Green infrastructure (GI) plays a pivotal role in contemporary urban infrastructure. Green infrastructure investment (GII) provides a fresh perspective for controlling urban carbon emissions in the context of global climate change. Based on theoretical analysis, we employed panel data from Chinese cities to [...] Read more.
Green infrastructure (GI) plays a pivotal role in contemporary urban infrastructure. Green infrastructure investment (GII) provides a fresh perspective for controlling urban carbon emissions in the context of global climate change. Based on theoretical analysis, we employed panel data from Chinese cities to examine the effects and operating mechanisms of GII on urban carbon emissions. The research reveals that the incremental GII can notably decrease urban carbon emissions, and various robustness tests and endogeneity checks corroborate this finding. However, when considering the cumulative effect, the GII stocks do not appear to influence urban carbon emissions; GII mitigates urban carbon emissions by drawing in pollution control talents, improving the efficiency of household waste treatment, increasing urban green spaces, and heightening public attention to the environment. Relative to cities in the central-western region, northern cities, smaller cities, resource-based cities, smart pilot cities, and cities with a lesser environmental emphasis, GII is more effective in curbing carbon emissions in eastern cities, southern cities, larger cities, non-resource-intensive cities, cities not in the smart pilot initiative, and cities with a stronger environmental focus. This research enhances the understanding of GI’s environmental outcomes and the determinants of urban carbon emissions from an investment viewpoint. It also dissects the four operative mechanisms through which GII lowers urban carbon emissions, offering a novel interpretation of GII for the variance in carbon emission levels across cities with diverse traits. Full article
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