Search

One of the important features of cities is to provide high-quality outdoor environments for various groups of citizens. Although children are frequent users of green spaces, the knowledge and perspectives applied in planning and design of urban green spaces are mostly defined by adults. This results in spaces and practices that may limit the daily lives and creativity of urban children. Promoting child-friendly cities benefits from knowledge produced by children themselves, regarding their perceptions and experiences, as well as ideas and suggestions. This study provides empirical results concerning children's needs and mental images for urban green spaces in two urban areas in two countries (Chengdu, China, and Ruhr Region, Germany). 765 children, ages 8-10 were surveyed through the method of empathy-based stories (MEBS). Participants were asked to use their imagination to write stories according to given scenarios. Our study shows that MEBS can be used to gather meaningful data with children, and that children are an important stakeholder group in urban planning, landscape design and management with an ability to express their diverse needs and preferences towards green spaces. Both designed green spaces (e.g. gardens, parks) and wild nature (e.g. forests, meadows) can offer a range of activities and experiences for children in their everyday lives: opportunities for play, socializing, contact with nature, aesthetic and restorative experiences, learning and exploration. Our findings include indications of children's awareness of the diverse ecosystem services that green spaces provide, as well as of urban sustain ability and livability. While we found German and Chinese children to have corresponding needs and expectations regarding urban green spaces and nature, we also found some variation. We suggest that the use of, and experiences in green spaces are linked not only to the landscape but also to conceptual-cultural contexts.

As cities grow, urban greenspace assumes a more central role in the provision of ecosystem services (ESS). Many ecosystem services depend on the interactions of soil-plant systems, with the quantity and quality of services affected by plant type and age. The question, however, remains whether urban greenspace can be included in the same ecological framework as non-urban greenspace. Our previous studies have contributed towards filling this knowledge gap by investigating the effects of plant functional type (evergreen trees, deciduous trees and lawn) and plant age on soil characteristics and functionality in urban greenspace, offering also a comparison with non-urban greenspace. A total of 41 urban parks and five non-urban forest sites within and adjacent to the cities of Helsinki and Lahti (Finland) were included in this project. Path analyses presented in this contribution, combined with a synthesis of previous findings, offer strong evidence that urban greenspace functions similarly to non-urban greenspace. In particular, plant functional types lead to soil environmental modifications similar to those in non-urban ecosystems. Therefore, vegetation choice upon park construction/implementation can improve the quality and quantity of ESS provided by urban greenspace. However, although vegetation modifies urban greenspace soils with time in a fashion similar to non-urban greenspace, the vegetation type effect is greater in non-urban greenspaces. To conclude, our synthesis of previous studies provides science-based guidance for urban planners who aim to optimize ESS in urban greenspaces.

Within the context of enhancing sustainable and livable urban environments, one aim is to establish multifunctional green infrastructure (GI). We argue that in order to successfully plan and manage the development of GI, an inclusive and future-oriented stance concerning the needs and expectations of urbanites is required. By using green roofs as an example, the aim of this paper was to offer insights into how people envisage novel GI in urban environments and to reveal the scope of meanings and values people attach to these kinds of green infrastructure. We present results based on 149 stories collected with the method of empathy-based stories. Respondents were asked to use their imagination to produce mental images of not-yet-existing green roofs in different urban situations. Our results reflect a rich set of dimensions of green roofs that the respondents vividly imagined. Green roofs may contribute to the livability of urban areas in multiple ways, such as strengthening social cohesion, providing space for everyday renewal and restoration, offering interesting sceneries and multisensory experiences, softening the hard cityscape, showing ephemeral events and making experiences of "height" possible, as well as increasing the "contact with nature" experiences for residents, e.g. through biodiverse nature in the middle of built environments. Furthermore, the need for local, customized solutions that offer different benefits and experiences was expressed. Using both qualitative and quantitative analyses, we idealized four green roof meta-types for understanding the diverse expectations people may have for green roofs in urban area: Urban farm, Oasis, Urban hill and Meadow. Based on our results we suggest that comprehensive experiences and needs of people should be taken into account when designing urban green roofs or urban green in general not only, e.g. visual pleasure. Also, site- and user-specific solutions should be considered instead of generally applied ones. Our results offer tools for, e.g. urban planners to understand the value of diverse green roof solutions to the user. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Urban forests are usually not intensively managed and may provide suitable environments for species threatened by production forestry. Thus, urban forests could have the potential of enhancing biodiversity both within cities and at a larger landscape scale. In this study, we investigated stand structures of boreal urban forests to assess them in terms of naturalness and biodiversity conservation potential. We sampled two types of urban spruce-dominated stands: random urban stands as representatives of average urban forests, and valuable urban stands known to host high polypore richness and assumed to represent urban biodiversity hotspots. Urban forests were compared to rural forests with different levels of naturalness. Living and dead trees and cut stumps were measured from all studied stands. Urban forests had generally diverse living tree structures with abundant large-diameter trees. Random urban forests had more dead wood (median 10.1 m(3) ha(-1)) than production forests (2.7 m(3) ha(-1)) but still considerably less than protected, former production forests (53.9 m(3) ha(-1)) or semi-natural forests (115.6 m(3) ha(-1)). On the other hand, valuable urban forests had relatively high median volume of dead wood (88.2 m(3) ha(-1)). We conclude that the combination of diverse stand composition and the presence of old-growth characteristics in boreal urban forests form a strong baseline from which their biodiversity value can be further developed, e.g. by leaving more fallen or cut trees to form dead wood. We propose that urban forests could become significant habitats for biodiversity conservation in the future.

Green (i.e. vegetated) roofs are an increasingly popular measure to improve climate regulation in residential areas. However, there is limited knowledge on the effect of green roof characteristics (e.g. substrate depth and roof age, size and height), especially in northern climates, on plant species composition of the roofs, even though roof performance is mediated through the plants. We hypothesized that substrate depth and roof age, size and height shape the vegetation on green roofs. We inventoried vegetation on 51 green roofs in the metropolitan area of Helsinki in 2011 and found 230 plant species, of which seven are red-listed. We showed that substrate depth and roof age were predominant in structuring plant communities on green roofs. Thin substrates and young roofs maintained sedum and moss species, while thick substrates and older green roofs supported meadow plants. Roof size and height had variable effects on the vegetation. Our results provide knowledge on the dependence of plant species on roof parameters, which is useful in the planning for particular vegetation on roofs taking into account, e.g. load capacity and substrate depth, the wanted functional properties of the roof, and maintenance.

Recent studies have shown a considerable increase in the abundance of rowan ( Sorbus aucuparia ) saplings in urban forests in Finland, yet the reasons for this increase are not well understood. Here we investigated whether canopy cover or tree species composition, i.e., the basal areas of different tree species in Norway spruce dominated urban forests, affects the abundances of rowan seedlings, saplings and trees. Altogether 24 urban forest patches were investigated. We sampled the number of rowan and other saplings, and calculated the basal areas of trees. We showed that rowan abundance was affected by tree species composition. The basal area of rowan trees (≥5 cm in diameter at breast height, dbh) decreased with increasing basal area of Norway spruce, while the cover of rowan seedlings increased with an increase in Norway spruce basal area. However, a decrease in the abundance of birch ( Betula pendula ) and an increase in the broad-leaved tree group ( Acer platanoides , Alnus glutinosa , Alnus incana , Amelanchier spicata , Prunus padus , Quercus robur , Rhamnus frangula and Salix caprea ) coincided with a decreasing number of rowans. Furthermore, rowan saplings were scarce in the vicinity of mature rowan trees. Although it seems that tree species composition has an effect on rowan, the relationship between rowan saplings and mature trees is complex, and therefore we conclude that regulating tree species composition is not an easy way to keep rowan thickets under control in urban forests in Finland.

Decaying logs and other dead wood are ecologically important in boreal and hemi-boreal forests. However, allowing the creation of logs in forests, especially in urban settings, is difficult without the acceptance of residents. As aesthetic appreciation has been suggested to influence the acceptance of natural environments, understanding how dead wood affects forest visitors’ aesthetic experiences is important. This study involved an on-site survey where respondents observed three types of urban forest environments with old, fresh or no logs, and evaluated them in terms of their multisensory aesthetic experience and acceptability. Aesthetic experience and acceptability were measured using a multiple-scale questionnaire consisting of 27 statements that were hypothesized to load on different perceived components of aesthetic experience and acceptability. We tested the loading of statements on components by using factor analysis, and the effects of decaying logs on the aesthetic experience with ANOVA. Statements formed five aesthetic components that were termed coherence, aesthetic diversity, biodiversity, restorativeness and order, and one component reflecting acceptability of the site. Of these components, perceived coherence and order varied statistically significantly between sites with old, fresh and no logs. In general, sites with fresh logs were considered more aesthetically appealing than sites with old or no logs; however, the differences between sites were small. Furthermore, respondents also accepted logs as natural features in urban forests in general. We recommend that downed logs be left in urban forests in places where they do not disturb recreational use, e.g. act as barriers along cycling and walking trails.

We studied the restorative potential of fragmented urban forests in Helsinki, Finland. Our aim was to explore how perceived restorativeness (PR) in urban forests changes when exposed to different levels of urbanity observed through the forest vegetation from the viewpoint of the forest interior. The level of PR was measured in forests that bordered either housing or a road. Three sampling points were selected within each forest, which included (1) an open view (at the edge), (2) a semi-closed view (at the edge zone), and (3) a closed view (in the forest interior) to the urban matrix. We hypothesized that the less urban matrix is observed through the forest vegetation from within the forest, the higher PR would be, and that PR is higher in forests bordering housing than in forests bordering roads. Results supported our hypotheses, as PR was higher inside forests with a closed view to the urban matrix compared to semi-closed and open views. PR was also higher in forests bordering housing than forests bordering a road, albeit not statistically significantly so. We conclude that in order to enhance the restorative potential of an urban forest, planners and managers should preserve sufficiently large forest patches with forest interior habitats, or promote the growth of dense and multilayered vegetation to restrict visibility to the urban matrix.

We investigated the effects of edge structure (i.e. side-canopy openness based on tree, sapling and shrub characteristics, and the composition of tree species) on the understorey vegetation at mesic urban conifer-dominated forest edges in southern Finland. Forest edge structure had an effect on understorey vegetation, and on the spatial extent of the edge effect into the forests. At open edges the edge effect (in terms of the abundances of understorey vegetation) penetrated at least up to 30 m into the forest patches whereas closed edges may prevent these effects. A multilayered canopy with saplings and shrubs at the edge is important to alleviate the effects of the edge. We found that 225–250 m 3 ha −1 of trees (diameter at breast height (dbh) > 5 cm) is adequate to restrict the edge effect near the edge. However, the number of broad-leaved trees may be high at edges which, in turn, diminishes the abundance of mosses and favours herb species, thus changing the original natural understorey vegetation composition. Therefore we recommend that conifers be favoured at the edges of mesic conifer-dominated forest patches if the purpose is to restrict the extent of the effects of habitat edges. The appropriate proportion of conifers at these edges should be 80% or more.

Fragmentation of forest ecosystems increases the proportion of edge habitat and is accompanied by a change in plant species composition. The recreational use of urban forests leads to decreased vegetation cover and the formation of paths, and thus, to fragmentation at small scales. We studied the impacts of forest and path edge effects on the soil microbial community structure (by using the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) method) and microbial activity (measured as basal respiration) in 34 mesic boreal urban forest fragments in Finland. We sampled the humus layer 1) from the forest edge into the interior (0–80 m), and 2) at different distances from paths. Microbial community structure was only slightly affected by the forest edge but differences were found between distances of 0–10 m and over 50 m from the edge. These changes correlated with changes in soil pH. Although changes in the microbial community structure were not pronounced, microbial biomass and activity were 30–45% lower at the first 20 m into the forest fragments, due to a low moisture content of the humus near the edge. The decreased microbial activity detected at forest edges implies decreased litter decomposition rates, and thus, a change in ecosystem nutrient cycling. The microbial community structure differed between paths and surrounding areas and correlated with changes in soil pH. Paths also supported approximately 25–30% higher microbial biomass with a transition zone of at least 1 m from the path edge. Path associated disturbances (mainly alterations in vegetation and soil pH) were reflected in the soil microbial community structure up to 1.5 m from the paths.

We studied the responses of carabid beetles to Pinus sylvestris ageing in four plantations aged 2–3, 10–12, 40–45 and 80 years, and one mature natural pine forest – in NW Spain. In 2003, a total of 16,866 carabid individuals (50 species) were collected using pitfall traps. Overall carabid abundance and species richness differed significantly among the five age classes with the highest values occurring in the youngest age class. The carabid assemblages of the initial stages of the ageing sequence differed considerably from the later stages that were relatively similar to each other – a consequence of differences in species dominance at specific age classes. Yet, the carabid assemblage of the 80-year-old stage did not approach that of the natural pine forest, but, unexpectedly, the 40–45-year-old age class did. Canopy cover and soil pH were the main environmental variables that affected the carabid distribution. We also detected species-level responses to the ageing process, with open habitat species more abundantly collected at the youngest stages and forest specialists at the older stages. We conclude that carabid beetles responded predictably to the pine plantation ageing process, and that although pine forests in NW Spain do not seem to provide habitat for unique species, they act as secondary habitats for forest specialist species.

We studied the effects of traditional forest management practices (i.e. forest exploitation activities such as burning, cutting and livestock grazing) on carabid beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) assemblages in Pyrenean oak forests of NW Spain. A total of 11 370 carabid individuals representing 61 species were collected by pitfall trapping from May to October 2004 in four types of traditionally managed oak ecosystems: “dehesa”, “mature open”, “mature closed” and “young”. These four management types experienced a variety of anthropogenic activities, resulting in differences in the structure and composition of the tree and understorey vegetation layers. We showed that the four management types were quite similar at the carabid assemblage level, mainly supporting open habitat and generalist species. The “dehesa” system was most distinct with a higher species richness (not significantly) and with several unique species, probably travelling from the adjacent grassland. However, many species responded significantly to the type of management, depending on the habitat associations of the species. We also found strong responses of some of the species to one type of management, either positive (exclusively collected from one management type) or negatively (completely absent). Shrub cover and soil organic matter content were the main environmental variables determining the carabid assemblage structure. At the regional scale, the four management types accounted for a high carabid beetle diversity. This diversity appears to be threatened by landscape homogenization, since traditional management practices are disappearing due to recent land-use changes in the area.