NSCPHD1295 Bio-Cultural Diversity and Governance aspects of Urban Green Infrastructures

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Subject area

In a time of accelerating urbanization, the quality and amount of urban green and blue spaces can be understood as an indicator for urban quality of life. The quality of the urban green infrastructure - encompassing all green and blue natural elements - influences where people choose to live and work as well as the well-being of individuals, groups, society and the natural environment. Urban green infrastructure is under pressure from the dynamic demands of changing climate and population as well as the increasingly diverse urban populations using urban green spaces. One major challenge facing cities is how to prioritize the amount and quality of urban green infrastructure in the face of increased urban density, diversity and decreasing city budgets. Viewing urban green infrastructure through the lens of bio-cultural diversity is one such method of prioritizing access to nature in urban centers.

Scientific content

The concept of urban Bio-cultural diversity (BCD) investigates and describes the various ways that human cultures positively reflect on- and contribute to our urban green infrastructure. Innovative bio-cultural trends and ideas (conceptual or practical) that encourage engagement with urban nature and expand our understanding of it are important components of future urban green infrastructure development. The amount and quality of the urban green infrastructure depends on the way we (users, planners and decision-makers etc.) engage with, handle and prioritize this resource. Urban green areas and urban biodiversity are being developed and influenced by the many ways we use them, and by our motivation to protect or develop both. To ensure permanence and quality of our urban natural resource, it is crucially important to work across disciplines and share knowledge, experience and responsibility between existing and future practitioners, planners, users.

Modern green space governance is a field dealing with the complexity of this matter: the diversity of the green/blue resource, the wide range of interests and actors, the different sets of rules and institutions, as well as the links between sectors. Green space governance can be described as those efforts to direct human action towards common goals, and more formally as the setting, application and enforcement of generally agreed to rules. Governance takes place at different hierarchical levels, from city policy making and planning to place making and place keeping at the site level. From a tradition of public-authority led urban forestry and urban greening (governance by government), a shift has been occurring to shared decision making and involvement of a wide range of actors (governance with government, and in some cases even governance without government). Important changes have also been occurring in terms of discourses (such as the compact vs. the green city) and an increasing focus on green space quality and standards. These developments have gained increasing research attention, but it is not always easy to gain a sound overview of the emerging field.