Urbani izziv Volume 35, No. 1, June 2024
: 168-183
(Articles)
UDK: 911.372.7:502/504
doi: 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2024-35-01-06
Author
Vita Žlender
Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
vita.zlender@uirs.si
Title
Assessing cultural ecosystem service potential for green infrastructure planning in a peri-urban landscape:
An expert-based matrix approach
Abstract
With the encroachment of urban areas into peri-urban
landscapes, the requirement for effective green infrastruc
ture (GI) planning has become increasingly important for
maintaining ecological integrity and human wellbeing.
An expert-based matrix approach is proposed as a method
for evaluating the potential of cultural ecosystem services (CES) in making informed GI planning decisions in
a peri-urban landscape. Experts from various disciplines
and areas of work were consulted to systematically evaluate various types of land-use and land-cover classes, as
well as protection regimes characteristic of a peri-urban
landscape across the CES categories. In addition to CES
provision potential, experts also evaluated the possible
potential to cause cultural ecosystem disservices. These
scores are aggregated to generate spatially explicit maps
that highlight areas with high CES provision potential
and those with the potential to cause disservices. This
approach was then applied to three case study areas,
demonstrating its effectiveness in identifying priority
areas for GI planning and management interventions.
The results highlight the importance of integrating CES
considerations into GI planning processes to enhance
landscape resilience, social wellbeing, and cultural heritage preservation in dynamic peri-urban environments.
Using scoring, validation exercises, and spatially explicit
presentation on case studies, the utility and applicability
of the expert-based matrix approach as a valuable tool for
sustainable GI planning on a landscape scale is demonstrated.
Key Words
peri-urban landscape, spatial planning, eco system services, green infrastructure, matrix