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URBES - Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

The URBES project bridges the knowledge gap on the role of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services for human well-being. The aim is to collaborate with and inform decision-makers on how to best integrate the natural environment together with human needs.

Mistra Urban Futures is one of several partners in this international project funded by the Biodiversa network, with support from the Swedish partner Formas and the project partners.

What will URBES do?

The aim is to translate science into action for cities. The project is organised in four specialised and mutually supporting project components:

  • The relationship between urban biodiversity, ecosystem services and land use Change.
  • The monetary and non-monetary values of biodiversity and ecosystem services for cities.
  • Possible integration of biodiversity and ecosystem services into planning and Management.
  • Study on how can knowledge be translated into local action.

Mistra Urban Futures role

Mistra Urban Futures focus is on the first component, Urban Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Land Use. Emphasis is on developing land use change scenarios and conditions for change for urban areas. Scenarios will be developed for Stockholm and Rotterdam and possibly Berlin and Salzburg during a workshop series. The scenarios will show the current state and snap shots at year 2025 and 2050. The aim is to develop scenarios that show desirable but realistic and viable urban futures. 

URBES film: Rotterdam - the transition to urban resilience
 

Publications

Kaczorowska, A. (2014). Ecosystem services and urban resilience: case of Stockholm. In Water and Citites: Managing a Vital Relationship. Proceedings from the 50th ISOCARP Congress, Gdynia, Poland, 23-26 September, 2014, Urban Transformations - Cities and Water, A. Brandeis (ed.). The Hague, The Netherlands: ISOCARP.
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Type: Conference paper (peer-reviewed)
Brief. 2015
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Type: Report/Paper/Working paper/Brief
Frantzeskaki, N., Kain, J.H., Kaczorowska, A. & Schewenius, M. (2013). Rotterdam’s Transition to Urban Resilience: Workshop Series Rotterdam City. Rotterdam: Drift, Erasmus University.
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Type: Report/Paper/Working paper/Brief
Kaczorowska, A., Kain, J-H., Frantzeskaki, N., Haase, D. & Kronenberg, J. (2013). Ecosystem services in urban land-use planning: integration challenges in complex urban settings - case of Stockholm. Conference abstract presented at the 1st Congress of the Society for Urban Ecology, The Society for Urban Ecology (SURE). Berlin, Germany, 25-27 July 2013.
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Type: Conference paper (peer-reviewed)
Hansen, R., Frantzeskaki, N., McPhearson, T., Rall, E., Kabisch, N., Kaczorowska, A., … Pauleit, S. (2015). The uptake of the ecosystem services concept in planning discourses of European and American cities. Ecosystem Services, 12, 228–246. doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.11.013
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Type: Scientific article (peer-reviewed)

Files