Reconnecting Cities to the Biosphere: Stewardship of Green Infrastructure and Urban Ecosystem Services

TLDR

Within-city green infrastructure offers opportunities for people to steward ecosystem services, yet land‑use planning rarely incorporates their role, and the patchwork of urban land uses creates complex cross‑border interactions that are often overlooked. The study aims to analyze cities as social‑ecological systems, synthesize existing literature, and illustrate findings from over 15 years of research in the Stockholm region. The authors conduct a social‑ecological analysis of Stockholm’s urban region, synthesizing literature and drawing on more than 15 years of empirical research to illustrate how green infrastructure functions within cities. Urban ecosystem services arise from social‑ecological systems, with local stewards playing a critical role; stewardship of biodiversity and ecosystem services is complex and essential for effective planning and governance of urban green infrastructure.

Abstract

Within-city green infrastructure can offer opportunities and new contexts for people to become stewards of ecosystem services. We analyze cities as social-ecological systems, synthesize the literature, and provide examples from more than 15 years of research in the Stockholm urban region, Sweden. The social-ecological approach spans from investigating ecosystem properties to the social frameworks and personal values that drive and shape human interactions with nature. Key findings demonstrate that urban ecosystem services are generated by social-ecological systems and that local stewards are critically important. However, land-use planning and management seldom account for their role in the generation of urban ecosystem services. While the small scale patchwork of land uses in cities stimulates intense interactions across borders much focus is still on individual patches. The results highlight the importance and complexity of stewardship of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services and of the planning and governance of urban green infrastructure.