Ecosystem services and green infrastructure for resilient cities

A methodology to characterize a green infrastructure (GI) in urban and metropolitan (U/M) areas is identified which supports the supply of multiple ecosystem services (ESs), while also ensuring ecological connectivity among U/M landscape patches, to provide policy makers with recommendations to improve the quality of a GI. Multifunctionality relates to functions that the U/M landscape performs or should support (Hansen and Pauleit, 2014), whereas connectivity concerns the identification of ecological corridors (ECs), i.e., connected patches of habitats that support wildlife movement (D’Ambrogi and Nazzini, 2013). Building upon previous studies (Isola et al., 2022) and in-depth analyses of environmental, landscape and socio-cultural contexts, a set of criteria for defining the landscape suitability to support a GI and a set of criteria for identifying ECs will be selected. The first set of criteria accounts for the functions that a GI should perform and will be assessed through environmental indicators identified based on previous studies (Lai et al., 2018, 2021) that model and spatially assess provision of the following ESs: preserving levels of habitat quality suitable to support life cycles of wild plants and animals; micro and regional climate regulation through mitigation of land surface temperature; agricultural crop production and harvested wood; preservation of endangered species or habitats and areas relevant for conservation purposes; maintenance of elements that are attractive for nature-based recreation; maintenance of landscape characters that support local identity, cultural heritage, and tourism. Accordingly, the concept of cultural ESs can support the relevance of tangible and intangible heritage to urban regeneration. The second set of criteria accounts for aspects that characterize ECs. Each criterion and/or indicator will be mapped through geographical analyses and techniques. Once nodes and ECs are identified, the suitability of ECs to be part of the GI will be assessed. The deliverables offered by the activities could be as follows: a detailed report on the implementation of the methodological framework aimed at identifying the GIs located in U/M contexts, e.g., within the metropolitan area of Cagliari, and a spatially explicit (GIS-based) representation of such taxonomies and of the determinants of the spatial layout of the ESs supply and of the characteristics of the ECs.