Urban development diminishes the delivery of ecosystem services (ES), defined as benefits from ecological processes and functions critical to human health and well-being. Land-use planners and environmental managers are increasingly familiar with the concept of ES; however, methods for incorporating ES into urban planning are underdeveloped. While previous reports have identified the combination of ES quantification and stakeholder engagement as necessary for increasing the delivery of ES, methods of implementation remain unexplored. To address this disparity, this study combines ES quantification with perspectives from multiple stakeholders to identify specific land cover conversion scenarios that increase the delivery of ES in the Friendly Area Neighborhood of Eugene, Oregon and compares each conversion scenario using an informed weighting system. The result is a method, with potential for use by researchers and public officials, to quantify the delivery of ES, identify stakeholders’ ES priorities, and assess the benefits associated with green infrastructure development. / 2020-01-11

Under global urbanization backgrounds with physical population migrations and relocations, corresponding consequences in society developments, cultural transformations, technology inventions and interactions between regions and countries, etc. are considered as having a huge impact on normal urban dwellers. For human beings always have intentions towards managements and benefits from natural surroundings, urban dweller demands under the modern challenges and their interactions are necessary to be concerned about. Urban ecosystem is considered as a highly developed civilization, but also with features of resources and energy demands and pollution and distributional exports. As the only natural element in this ecosystem, UGI (urban green infrastructures) is considered as an important human-environment interaction provider with urban ecosystem services (UES) largely focused by academic scholars, urban planners and policy managers. As one of the fastest urbanizing cities in the world, Shanghai is considered as having huge cultural and social developments combined with socioeconomic acceleration. Under the unique background of policy planning and traditional Confucian culture transformation, the impacts to urban dweller demands, whether these newly developed modern demands can be satisfied by UES provided by UGI and how the understandings of these normal dwellers to UGI in Shanghai are necessary for academic researches. By considering the interactions with urban dwellers, six urban parks in the center of Shanghai are chosen as research sites in this study. Combined with factors of urbanization processes and observed patterns of visitor interactions, the indicator of “park age” is concerned with three old parks (older than 25 years old) and three new parks (younger than 25 years old). With methodologies of fieldwork mapping, questionnaires, indicator based evaluation system constructions, etc., the quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out to habitat diversity, cultural and regulation UES results, and the background reasons caused by political and financial influences are subject to further discussion. The visitors to urban parks of Shanghai are classified into four sorts: “retired dwellers”, “dwellers for children care”, “tourist visitors” and “other visitors”, we found out that related demands and interactions with urban parks have significant differences. After detailed discussions, it could be figured out that the visitors demands play a significant role, and the interactions between visitors and UES in Shanghai are comprehensively influenced by multiple factors of “visiting objectives”, “park cultures (ages, popularities, etc.)” and “personal identities (educations, incomes, etc.)”. Based on this, the detailed differences of policy, finance, Confucian culture, nature understanding, and community society between old and new parks were further discussed. With all aspects of physical, mental, psychological and other demand aspects especially focused on, the typical features in Shanghai are also highly concentrated on dominant activities. For China is suffering from national environmental and urbanization problems but lack in related concerns combined with dweller demands, this research work may make certain efforts on model assessment methodologies constructions and national implementations. Also, with a combined background of top-down policy systems and natural understandings under socioeconomic duress, this research could also make significant efforts in dweller-UES interactions researches in similar cases of other countries and newly developed urban ecosystems in the world.

Under global urbanization backgrounds with physical population migrations and relocations, corresponding consequences in society developments, cultural transformations, technology inventions and interactions between regions and countries, etc. are considered as having a huge impact on normal urban dwellers. For human beings always have intentions towards managements and benefits from natural surroundings, urban dweller demands under the modern challenges and their interactions are necessary to be concerned about. Urban ecosystem is considered as a highly developed civilization, but also with features of resources and energy demands and pollution and distributional exports. As the only natural element in this ecosystem, UGI (urban green infrastructures) is considered as an important human-environment interaction provider with urban ecosystem services (UES) largely focused by academic scholars, urban planners and policy managers. As one of the fastest urbanizing cities in the world, Shanghai is considered as having huge cultural and social developments combined with socioeconomic acceleration. Under the unique background of policy planning and traditional Confucian culture transformation, the impacts to urban dweller demands, whether these newly developed modern demands can be satisfied by UES provided by UGI and how the understandings of these normal dwellers to UGI in Shanghai are necessary for academic researches. By considering the interactions with urban dwellers, six urban parks in the center of Shanghai are chosen as research sites in this study. Combined with factors of urbanization processes and observed patterns of visitor interactions, the indicator of “park age” is concerned with three old parks (older than 25 years old) and three new parks (younger than 25 years old). With methodologies of fieldwork mapping, questionnaires, indicator based evaluation system constructions, etc., the quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out to habitat diversity, cultural and regulation UES results, and the background reasons caused by political and financial influences are subject to further discussion. The visitors to urban parks of Shanghai are classified into four sorts: “retired dwellers”, “dwellers for children care”, “tourist visitors” and “other visitors”, we found out that related demands and interactions with urban parks have significant differences. After detailed discussions, it could be figured out that the visitors demands play a significant role, and the interactions between visitors and UES in Shanghai are comprehensively influenced by multiple factors of “visiting objectives”, “park cultures (ages, popularities, etc.)” and “personal identities (educations, incomes, etc.)”. Based on this, the detailed differences of policy, finance, Confucian culture, nature understanding, and community society between old and new parks were further discussed. With all aspects of physical, mental, psychological and other demand aspects especially focused on, the typical features in Shanghai are also highly concentrated on dominant activities. For China is suffering from national environmental and urbanization problems but lack in related concerns combined with dweller demands, this research work may make certain efforts on model assessment methodologies constructions and national implementations. Also, with a combined background of top-down policy systems and natural understandings under socioeconomic duress, this research could also make significant efforts in dweller-UES interactions researches in similar cases of other countries and newly developed urban ecosystems in the world.

The ongoing urbanization leads to densification and growth of cities, which replaces natural areas with hard surfaces. Precipitation is then more likely to runoff as stormwater than to be detained locally. Also, precipitation is predicted to be increasing as an effect of climate change. Traditionally, stormwater has been handled by draining it in underground pipes. As a complement, blue-green infrastructure (BGI) can be used to take care of the increased amount of stormwater. BGI is vegetation and water-based systems that intend to restore the natural flows of water. It does, however, not only provide services for stormwater management but also other services that contribute to human welfare. These are provided for free by nature and are called ecosystem services. By illustrating the value of ecosystem services, the motivation of implementing more BGI can increase. The aim of this project was to provide guidance on how to value ecosystem services that BGI can provide at a district level. The valuation was to be semi-quantitative with the grades 1-5. To do so, ecosystem services were identified and given indicators that could illustrate the extent of the ecosystem services’ presence. Seven different BGI for stormwater management were studied, to determine which added values they can bring into urban settings. The BGI were green roofs, trees, rain gardens, swales, detention basin, detention ponds and attenuation storage tanks. Nine ecosystem services provided by these BGI were then identified. These were flood protection, water treatment, local climate regulation, air quality control, environmental noise control, erosion prevention, recreation, social relations and biodiversity.  Indicators were identified for each ecosystem service through a literature study. It was noted that to value the ecosystem service, it was not enough to only value the presence of the indicators but also necessary to estimate the demand or need for the ecosystem service. Therefore, questions were formed that could help determine the demand for the ecosystem service. The valuation was then based on how well the presence of the ecosystem service corresponded to the demand of it.  After using this valuation method on a case study, it was concluded that this type of valuation is useful for reconstruction projects in an early stage, to illustrate what functions and demands that need to be considered to obtain more ecosystem services. It can then be used for comparison of different proposals, to see which one provides the most ecosystem services. The valuation is conceptual rather than specific. It is useful as it can include any type of ecosystem service but lacks the perspective of costs. / Den pågående urbaniseringen leder till en ökad utbredning och förtätning av städer, vilket innebär att grönytor byts ut mot hårdgjorda. Detta leder till att nederbörd inte omhändertas lokalt utan avrinner istället på de hårdgjorda ytorna som dagvatten. Dessutom förutsägs nederbörden att öka i och med klimatförändringar, vilket ökar mängden dagvatten ytterligare. Traditionellt har dagvatten hanterats genom att avledas i ledningar under mark. Som ett möjligt komplement till denna infrastruktur finns blågrön infrastruktur (BGI). BGI är vegetations- och vattenbaserade system som avser att efterlikna det naturliga flödet av vatten för att minska översvämningsrisken men ger fler nyttor än så. Dessa nyttor benämns ekosystemtjänster. De ökar människors välbefinnande och förses av naturen gratis. Genom att synliggöra värdet av ekosystemtjänster kan motivation till att implementera BGI öka. Syftet med detta projekt var att sammanställa ett beslutsstöd för hur en värdering av ekosystemtjänster från BGI på stadsdelnivå kan gå till. Värderingen skulle vara semi-kvantitativ med en skala 1-5. För att möjliggöra detta identifierades först ekosystemtjänster som sedan tilldelades indikatorer som belyser i vilken utsträckning respektive ekosystemtjänst förekommer. Sju olika blågröna dagvattenlösningar studerades för att avgöra vilka mervärden i form av ekosystemtjänster dessa kan tillföra urbana miljöer. Dessa dagvattensystem var gröna tak, träd, växtbäddar, svackdiken, översvämningsytor, dagvattendammar och fördröjningsmagasin. Nio ekosystemtjänster identifierades kunna uppkomma av dessa blågröna lösningar. Dessa var översvämningsskydd, vattenrening, lokalklimatsreglering, luftrening, bullerreducering, erosionskontroll, rekreation, sociala relationer och biologisk mångfald. För att värdera i vilken utsträckning funktionerna hos ekosystemtjänsterna fanns närvarande togs indikationer fram genom en litteraturstudie. Det ansågs däremot att det inte räckte att enbart värdera förekomsten av ekosystemtjänsten för att bestämma dess värde, utan det var även nödvändigt att studera behovet av dem. Därmed inkluderades frågor som skulle besvara behovet av ekosystemtjänsterna. Värderingen av ekosystemtjänsten baserades då på hur väl förekomsten av ekosystemtjänsten svarade mot behovet. Efter att denna värdering använts på en fallstudie kunde det konstateras att denna typ av värdering är användbar i ett tidigare skede av ombyggnadsprojekt, för att belysa vilka funktioner och behov som behöver tas i beaktande för att erhålla olika ekosystemtjänster. Den kan även användas vid jämförelse av olika förslag, för att visa på vilket förslag som bidrar med mest ekosystemtjänster. Värderingen är konceptuell snarare än specifik och har fördelen att alla ekosystemtjänster kan värderas men belyser enbart nyttor och inte kostnader.

Um den wachsenden Herausforderungen, denen Städte weltweit gegenüberstehen, entgegenwirken zu können, bedarf es an Schutz und Förderung urbaner Ökosysteme (oder auch “Stadtnatur”). Urbane Ökosysteme stellen eine Vielfalt diverser Ökosystemleistungen bereit und sind damit elementar für den Erhalt der Lebensqualität und des Wohlergehens städtischer Bevölkerung. Zudem spielt die Förderung urbaner Ökosysteme eine bedeutende Rolle in der Anpassung an die Folgen des Klimawandels, da sie in der Lage sind, klimatische Extremereignisse abzumildern. In diesem Kontext ist es von hoher Bedeutung, die Position urbaner Ökosysteme in der Stadtentwicklung und im Rahmen von Entscheidungsprozessen zu stärken; denn gerade diese “Leistungserbringer” sind es, die stark gefährdet sind und durch zunehmende Bebauungen, Versiegelungen und klimatische Veränderungen in Städten negativ beeinflusst werden. Eine stärkere Einbindung des Ökosystemleistungskonzepts kann die Position urbaner Ökosysteme in Stadtplanungsprozessen stärken und deren Erhalt und Förderung evozieren. Hierzu werden standardisierte und praxisorientierte Methoden zur Erfassung und Bewertung urbaner Ökosystemleistungen benötigt. Die Betrachtung lokaler, kleinräumiger Skalen und Bereiche ist in diesem Zusammenhang von hoher Bedeutung, da diese einerseits die Planungsebene und andererseits auch die Nachfrage seitens der lokalen Bevölkerung direkt betreffen. Hier knüpft die vorliegende Dissertation an und verfolgt das übergeordnete Ziel, einen anwendungsorientierten methodischen Ansatz für die Erfassung und Bewertung urbaner Ökosystemleistungen auf kleinräumiger Skala zu entwickeln und zu erproben. Die vorliegende Dissertation ist in drei aufeinanderfolgende Untersuchungsstufen aufgeteilt: (1) „Review”, (2) „Development” und (3) „Transfer”. Jeder Artikel dieser kumulativen Dissertation adressiert jeweils eine dieser Stufen und befasst sich mit jeweiligen Untersuchungszielen sowie Fragestellungen. Der erste Artikel stellt eine systematische Literaturübersicht über den aktuellen Wissensstand zu Bewertungsmethoden urbaner Ökosystemleistungen unterschiedlicher Grüninfrastrukturtypen und Raumskalen vor. Es konnte aufgezeigt werden, dass ein Großteil der Methoden generalisierender Art ist und damit nur wenige Ansätze auch einzelne, kleinskalige Raumstrukturen (z.B. Einzelbäume, kleine Grünflächen) untersuchen. Vielmehr werden Grüninfrastrukturen aggregiert und zusammengefasst bewertet. Mit der ersten Stufe dieser Dissertation („Review”) konnte eine Übersicht über den Wissensstand gegeben und bestehender Forschungsbedarf aufgezeigt werden. In dem zweiten Artikel wurde die Entwicklung sowie Anwendung eines praxisorientierten methodischen Ansatzes zur Erfassung und Bewertung urbaner Ökosystemleistungen kleinskaliger Raumstrukturen präsentiert. Mittels dieses Ansatzes, welcher die zweite Stufe „Development” adressiert, können Potenziale urbaner Ökosystemtypen hinsichtlich der Bereitstellung von drei ausgewählten Ökosystemleistungen bewertet werden. Darüber hinaus können gezielte Maßnahmenvorschläge abgeleitet werden, die z.B. den Zustand und folglich das Leistungsvermögen dieser Ökosystemtypen verbessern können. Der dritte Artikel dieser Dissertation ist der Untersuchungsstufe „Transfer” zugehörig und befasst sich mit digitalen Tools, die die Planung und Umsetzung von Klimaanpassungsmaßnahmen auf kleinen, urbanen Raumskalen erleichtern. Der erste Teil des Artikels analysiert bestehende Tools und identifiziert optimale Tooleigenschaften sowie Forschungslücken, welche für die Entwicklung entsprechender anwendungsfreundlicher Planungstools von Bedeutung sind. Im zweiten Teil dieses Artikels werden diese Ergebnisse aufgegriffen und ein sich in Entwicklung befindliches, webbasiertes Tool zur Ableitung kleinskaliger Hitzeanpassungsmaßnahmen für die Planungspraxis vorgestellt. Der zuvor entwickelte und präsentierte methodische Ansatz der „Development”-Stufe stellt dabei einen integrierten Bestandteil des Tools dar und kann zur Förderung von Ökosystemleistungen bei der Planung kleinräumiger Hitzeanpassungsmaßnahmen beitragen. Die Dissertation leistet einen Beitrag für das Forschungsfeld urbaner Ökosystemleistungen, insbesondere deren Erfassung und Bewertung auf kleinräumigen Skalen. Mit den aufeinander aufbauenden Untersuchungsstufen und damit verbundenen wissenschaftlichen Artikeln konnten zum einen der Stand der Wissenschaft sowie bestehende Forschungslücken aufgezeigt werden. Zum anderen konnten diese Erkenntnisse in der Folge im Rahmen der Entwicklung eines methodischen Ansatzes zur Erfassung und Bewertung urbaner Ökosystemleistungen aufgegriffen werden. Die Anwendung dieses Ansatzes wurde ebenfalls an zwei deutschen Stadtteilen (Dresden-Gorbitz, Erfurt-Oststadt) demonstriert. Die praxisorientierte Ansatzentwicklung stellt eine Basis für einen Transfer in die Planungspraxis in Form eines Webtools dar, wodurch die Dissertation zudem zur Entwicklung eines Hilfsinstrumentes für eine nachhaltige Stadtentwicklung beitragen kann. Aus den drei Artikeln dieser kumulativen Dissertation können einerseits im Rahmen der Synthese Potenziale für weitere Forschungen sichtbar gemacht werden, wie beispielsweise einer Erweiterung des Ansatzes um Zustands- und Bewertungsparameter sowie Möglichkeiten zur digitalen Generierung der benötigten Datengrundlage. Andererseits werden im Syntheseteil auch methodische Schwächen aufgezeigt und reflektiert, wie z.B. sich potenziell ergebende Verzerrungen durch den Einbezug von Fachexpertise in den Bewertungsschlüssel. Zusammenfassend ist hervorzuheben, dass das Ökosystemleistungskonzept durch eine gezielte Darstellung und Vermittlung von Werten urbaner Ökosysteme einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur nachhaltigen Stadtplanung leisten kann. Die Entwicklung von Methoden zur Erfassung und Bewertung dieser Leistungen, welche bestenfalls standardisiert sowie praxisorientiert sind und kleinräumige Maßstäbe berücksichtigen, spielt dabei eine elementare Rolle. Der Einsatz solcher Methoden kann dazu beitragen, dass Ökosystemleistungen in urbanen Räumen erhalten und gar gefördert werden. Letztlich ergeben sich hierdurch Potenziale für nachhaltige Stadtentwicklungen und den dazugehörigen Entscheidungsprozessen. / In order for cities to withstand or even counteract the growing challenges they face, it is vital to protect and promote urban ecosystems (or “urban nature”). Providing a variety of diverse ecosystem services, urban ecosystems are fundamental to maintaining the quality of life and well-being of city residents. In addition, the promotion of urban ecosystems plays an important role in the task of adapting to the repercussions of climate change and can help mitigate extreme climatic events. In this context, it is hugely important to strengthen the position of urban ecosystems within urban development and decision-making processes, because it is precisely these “service providers” that are seriously endangered and negatively affected by the spread of built-up areas, the expansion of soil sealing and related changes in the urban climate. A stronger integration of the ecosystem services concept and thus the representation and communication of the various ecosystem services can ensure that greater account is taken of urban ecosystems in urban planning processes and at the same time secure their preservation. For this purpose, we need standardized and practice-oriented methods for mapping and assessing urban ecosystem services, in particular regarding local, small-scale sites and areas, as these are directly related to both the planning level and the needs of the local population. This is the point of departure for the present dissertation, which pursues the overall objective of developing and testing an application-oriented methodological approach for the mapping and assessment of urban ecosystem services at small spatial scales. The dissertation is divided into three successive stages of investigation: (1) Review, (2) Development and (3) Transfer. Each article in this cumulative dissertation addresses one of these stages by considering the respective research objectives as well as questions. The first article presents a systematic literature review of current methods to assess urban ecosystem services for different green infrastructure types and at various spatial scales. It is shown that most previous methods are rather generalized, i.e. only a few approaches allow the investigation of individual, small-scale spatial structures such as single trees or small green spaces. Instead, most standard methods assess green infrastructure in an aggregated manner. The opening Review stage of this dissertation provides an overview of the current state of knowledge and identifies existing research needs. In the second article, I present the development and application of a practice-oriented methodological approach for the mapping and assessment of urban ecosystem services provided by small-scale spatial structures. Through this approach, which addresses the second Development stage, the potentials of urban ecosystem types can be assessed with respect to the provision of three selected ecosystem services. Such assessments can then be used to identify proposals for targeted measures to improve the condition and consequently the capacity of these ecosystem types to deliver ecosystem services. The third article of this dissertation belongs to the Transfer stage and deals with digital tools to facilitate the planning and implementation of climate change adaptation measures at small (urban) spatial scales. The first part of the article analyzes existing tools and identifies optimal tool features as well as research gaps relevant to the development of appropriate user-friendly planning tools. The second part addresses these findings and presents a web-based tool currently under development aimed at deriving small-scale heat adaptation measures for planning practice. The previously developed and presented methodological approach of the Development stage represents an integrated component of the tool which can contribute to the promotion of ecosystem services in the planning of heat adaptation measures at small spatial sites. The dissertation contributes to the research field of urban ecosystem services, in particular their mapping and assessment at small spatial scales. Through the successive stages of investigation and the publishing of associated scientific articles, I was able to determine the state of the art and pinpoint existing research gaps. These findings could subsequently be exploited to develop a methodological approach for the mapping and assessment of urban ecosystem services. The application of this approach was demonstrated on two German city districts, namely Dresden-Gorbitz and Erfurt-Oststadt. The practice-oriented approach ultimately enabled a transfer to planning practice in the form of a web tool, whereby the dissertation also contributes to the development of a supporting tool for sustainable urban development. Potentials for further research can be drawn from the three articles of this dissertation, such as an extension of the methodological approach by condition and assessment parameters as well as possibilities for digital generation of the required data basis. Furthermore, methodological limitations are also identified and reflected on, such as potential biases due to the inclusion of expert opinions within the assessment key. In summary, it should be emphasized that the ecosystem services concept can make a significant contribution to sustainable urban planning through the targeted presentation and communication of urban ecosystem services. Here we require methods for mapping and assessing these services which are standardized, practice-oriented and take small-scale scales into account. The use of such methods can help to maintain and even promote ecosystem services in urban areas. Ultimately, this will lead to fresh potentials for sustainable urban development and improvements in the associated decision-making processes.

Denna rapport behandlar utvärdering av urbana ekosystemtjänster på stadsdelsnivå. Eftersom ökad urbanisering leder till ökad belastning på urbana ekosystem är det viktigt att både exploatering och etablering av grönområden sker på ett hållbart sätt där ekologiska, sociala och ekonomiska faktorer inkluderas. Detta kan delvis uppnås genom att villkor i verktyg och certifieringssystem inkluderar aspekter för urbana ekosystemtjänster. Det undersökts hur certifieringssystemen BREEAM Communities och CASBEE for Urban Development samt verktyget Grönytefaktormetoden behandlar sådana urbana ekosystemtjänster. Analysen utgår från en föreslagen kategorisering av urbana ekosystemtjänster. Detta kompletteras med ett eget ramverk som utvidgar och förtydligar otillräckligt hanterade ekosystemtjänster och närliggande aspekter. Resultatet visar att ytterligare ekosystemtjänster kan inkluderas i de undersökta metoderna och en kategorisering av urbana ekosystemtjänster förslås. / This report discusses assessment of urban ecosystems services in the scale of city districts. Since intensified urbanisation increases the pressure on urban ecosystems it is of importance that development projects in green areas is sustainable with inclusion of ecological, social and economic aspects. This can in part be achieved through requirements in tools and certification systems that include aspects for urban ecosystem services. An investigation of how the certification systems BREEAM Communities and CASBEE for Urban Development as well as the tool Grönytefaktormetoden deal with such urban ecosystem services is made. The analysis is based on a suggested categorisation of urban ecosystem services. This is complemented by an own framework that expands and clarifies insufficiently treated ecosystem services and adjacent aspects. The result shows that further ecosystem services can be included in the investigated methods and a categorisation of urban ecosystems services is suggested.

[pt] Os serviços ecossistêmicos (SE) são os benefícios que a sociedade obtém dos ecossistemas e que são fundamentais para o seu bem-estar. Para que este framework possa ser utilizado na tomada de decisão, o primeiro passo é o seu mapeamento. Esta dissertação mapeou qualitativamente o potencial de provisão de oito SE para a cidade do Rio de Janeiro – controle de inundações, manutenção da qualidade do ar, regulação climática, mitigação de tempestades e eventos extremos, beleza cênica, religião e espiritualidade, recreação e turismo, e saúde física e mental. O mapeamento foi realizado através de reclassificação de dados de uso e cobertura do solo, definição de SE prioritários e entrevistas com especialistas. O estudo constatou que houve aumento do percentual de área urbana e diminuição da provisão de cinco SE em todas as regiões da cidade. O estudo também mapeou a oferta e demanda de serviços ecossistêmicos culturais (SEC), com o objetivo de identificar a relação dos habitantes da cidade com os ecossistemas locais a partir da aplicação de questionário eletrônico. Verificou-se que os habitantes da Zona Sul e Zona Oeste frequentam, preferencialmente, áreas próximas aos bairros onde moram e, prioritariamente, praias. A Zona Norte é a região com maior percentual de área urbana (82 por cento) e menor oferta de áreas naturais. Apesar da cidade contar com uma enorme diversidade de ecossistemas, estes não estão distribuídos de maneira equânime no território e há diferenças significativas tanto na oferta de áreas naturais, quanto nas características socioeconômicas quando comparamos as cinco grandes Áreas de Planejamento municipais. / [en] Ecosystem services (ES) are the benefits that society obtains from ecosystems and are fundamental to human well-being. For this framework to be used in decision making, the first step is mapping ES. This study mapped the provision of eight ES for the city of Rio de Janeiro - flood control, air quality maintenance, climate regulation, mitigation of storms and extreme events, scenic beauty, religion and spirituality, recreation and tourism, and physical and mental health. Mapping was accomplished through reclassification of land use and land cover data, definition of priority ESs, and interviews with experts. The study found that there was an increase in the percentage of urban area and a decrease in the provision of five SEs in all regions of the city. The study also mapped the supply and demand of cultural ecosystem services (CES), to identifying the relationship of the city s inhabitants with local ecosystems through the application of an electronic questionnaire. It was found that the inhabitants of the South Zone and West Zone preferably frequent areas close to the neighborhoods and, as a priority, the beaches. The North Zone is the region with the highest percentage of urban area (82 percent) and the lowest offer of natural areas. Although the city has an enormous diversity of ecosystems, these are not equally distributed in the territory and there are significant differences both in the supply of natural areas and in socioeconomic characteristics when we compare the five large municipal Planning Areas.

Vorliegende Arbeit zeigt die jüngsten Möglichkeiten hochauflösender Fernerkundung am Beispiel von Stadtbäumen in Berlin, Deutschland. Es wurden neuste methodische Ansätze eingesetzt, wie beispielsweise maschinelles Lernens und individuelle Baumdetektion. Sie erwiesen sich von großem Vorteil für die detaillierte Analyse urbaner Ökosystemdienstleistungen in einer heterogenen Umwelt. Neueste Fernerkundung von hoher zeitlicher Auflösung hat Möglichkeiten gezeigt, Veränderungen des Stadtwaldes präziser zu untersuchen. Diesbezüglich konnten Baumspezies klassifiziert werden auf Grundlage saisonaler Veränderungen, die mittels Fernerkundungsdaten aufgenommen wurden. Dies ist für den urbanen Bereich einmalig und über große Flächen noch nicht durchgeführt worden. Darüber hinaus haben diese Baumarten einzelnen Bäumen zugeordnet werden können, deren Abmessung fernerkundlich erfasst worden ist. Diese neu erzeugten Umweltinformationen einzelner Bäume können damit verbundene urbane Ökosystemdienstleistungen präzise aktualisieren. Zum Beispiel haben so Unsicherheiten in der Schätzung zur Kohlenstoffspeicherung städtischer Wälder reduziert werden können. Es ist zudem von Vorteil gewesen, den gegenwärtigen Mangel an räumlich expliziten dreidimensionalen Informationen über Stadtwälder anzusprechen. Allerdings ist die Rolle städtischen Wälder, das Treibhausgas CO2 langfristig auszugleichen, immer noch wenig untersucht. Gerade der Mangel an präzisen, konsistenten und aktuellen Details führt zu großen Unsicherheiten im Rahmen von Lebenszyklus-Analysen. Auf Grund des aktuellen Fortschritts in hochauflösender Fernerkundung könnten diese Unsicherheiten reduziert werden. Dazu werden Möglichkeiten ausgiebig kritisch bewertet und anhand einer Lebenszyklus-Analyse am Beispiel Berlin andiskutiert, inwieweit sie präzisere langfristige Prognosen zum Stadtwald als Kohlenstoffspeicher liefern. / This work shows recent options for implementing high resolution remote sensing in assessing urban trees in Berlin, Germany. State-of-the-art methodological approaches like machine learning and individual tree detection proved to be highly advantageous for analyzing details of urban ecosystem services within a heterogeneous urban environment. Recent remote sensing of high temporal resolution offers new options for more precisely addressing urban forest dynamics. This successfully shows that tree species could be identified from seasonal changes of remotely sensed imagery, though this has not yet been applied across cities. Furthermore, these tree species results could be combined with remotely sensed individual tree dimensions. This newly generated data can be suggested to update spatially explicit information on related urban ecosystem services. For example, this could reduce the uncertainties of such estimates as urban forest carbon storage, and also address the present lack of spatially explicit three-dimensional information on urban forests. However, few studies have considered the local scale of urban forests to effectively evaluate their potential long-term carbon offset. The lack of precise, consistent and up-to-date forest details is challenging within the scope of life cycle assessments. This can cause high uncertainties in urban forest carbon offset. Although, recent progress in high resolution remote sensing is promising to reduce these uncertainties. For this purpose, remote sensing options are extensively reviewed and briefly discussed using an example of life cycle assessment for Berlin, which allow more precise long-term prognoses of urban forest carbon offset.