Climate change adaptation is essential to mitigate risks, such as extreme weather events triggered by global warming and amplified in dense urban environments. Ecosystem-based adaptation measures, such as urban greening, are promoted in cities because of their flexibility and their positive side effects, such as human health benefits, ecological effects, climate mitigation and a range of social benefits. While individual co-benefits of greening measures are well studied, often in public green spaces, few studies quantify co-benefits comprehensively, leaving social benefits particularly understudied. In this study, we perform biophysical and socio-cultural assessments of co-benefits provided by semi-public, residential greening in four courtyards with varying green structures. We quantify effects on thermal comfort, biodiversity, carbon storage and social interaction. We further assess the importance of these co-benefits to people in the neighbourhood. Subsequently, we weight the results from the biophysical assessments with the socio-cultural values to evaluate how even small differences in green structures result in differences in the provision of co-benefits. Results show that, despite relatively small differences in green structures, the residential courtyards with a higher green volume clearly generate more co-benefits than the residential yards with less green, particularly for thermal comfort. Despite differences in the valuation of co-benefits in the neighbourhood, socio-cultural weights did not change the outcome of the comparative assessment. Our results highlight that a deliberate management strategy, possibly on neighbourhood-scale, could enhance co-benefits and contribute to a more sustainable urban development.
Schmidt, K; Walz, A
Ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change through residential urban green structures: co-benefits to thermal comfort, biodiversity, carbon storage and social interaction
One Ecosystem