Urban Biodiversity and Social Equity: Challenges for Planning Sustainable Cities

Dell’Ovo Marta (Polytechnic of Milan), Ronchi Silvia (Polytechnic of Milan), Maiullari Daniela (Delft University of Technology), and Schretzenmayr Martina (ETH Zurich)

The “New Urban Agenda,” which was adopted at the Habitat III conference in 2016, underscores the necessity of sustainable urban development. Urban areas are confronted with significant challenges, including rapid urbanization processes, increasing social inequalities, high pollution levels, biodiversity loss, and growing demands on natural resources. To effectively address these imminent challenges with urban transformation, cities and city regions must strategically align their urban planning initiatives with the emerging trends that are shaping the future of urban landscapes. Green and Blue Infrastructures (GBI) and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are pivotal tools in this effort. However, access to green spaces is often inequitable, mirroring social inequality, with affluent neighborhoods benefiting from better-managed green spaces while economically disadvantaged areas have deficits in these essential resources. This phenomenon is often referred to as the “luxury effect.”
Urban planning must address these disparities by incorporating strategies that protect the existing and create new green spaces, ensure biodiversity conservation, distribute ecosystem services (ES) equitably, and foster climate resilience by providing cost-effective solutions. It is imperative to acknowledge that the effective integration of GBI and NbS into urban planning, in alignment with broader sustainability objectives, necessitates a comprehensive understanding of the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of urban transformation. This session seeks innovative research on the intersection of ecosystem services (ES) and socio-economic equity in the context of global ecological, social, and economic transition.

Contributions may include case studies, exemplary applications of planning tools, and theoretical frameworks regarding:

• The role of GBI and NbS in fostering urban biodiversity and climate resilience;
• The assessment of GBI, NbS and equitable ecosystem services (ES) distribution in urban planning processes;
• Innovative strategies for aligning ecological and socio-economic goals in cities and city-regions undergoing transitions.

Keywords: luxury effect, ecosystem services, spatial planning, green gentrification, multi-methodological evaluation