水环境与城市可持续发展

一、水环境与城市可持续发展的关系水环境是以人类为主体的水生态系统,是水的自然因素和社会因素的统一体,也是人类赖以生存和发展的稀缺资源。水环境与水资源既密不可分又有不同的含义。如水取之于环境,作为资源用于发电,其中的一部分,在利用之后又回到了环境中,经过环境—资源—环境的循环,成为资源的水和环境的水,虽然自然形态相同,但经济意义不同:水资源在经济活动内部被当做经济财富利用,而水环境作为经济活动的基础,是间接的经济财富。当作为资源的水受到污染或因浪费而枯竭时,水环境又成为环境破坏或公害问题。水环境是历史的结晶,是…     

Positioning urban rivers within urban ecology

Rivers are important components of many urban systems, and research into urban rivers is increasing internationally, both in scope and intensity. As an introduction to a special section on urban rivers, this short article briefly highlights some key trends in urban river research based on a survey of published articles from Web of Knowledge, before summarising the contributions made by the special section papers. In particular, there has been a general increase in work on urban rivers since the 1990s, with a more dramatic increase from 2001. Most published research has concentrated on water quality and its wider environmental implications; ecologically, many studies have focused on autecology, community ecology or river restoration/rehabilitation, with the main emphasis on macroinvertebrates or fish. Geographically, most studies have taken place in North America (mainly the US) and Asia (mainly China). In the large majority of cases research has been on relatively small rivers within urbanised catchments rather than large, heavily urbanised systems within major towns or cities. Given the wide range of topics and studies relating to urban river research, a detailed meta-analysis of the urban river ecology literature would be a useful endeavour. The six papers included in the special section of this issue provide a sample of some of key and emerging themes within recent urban river research, and originate from a session on the understanding and management of urban rivers held at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Meeting in 2010, at Imperial College London.     

新时期城市生态和社会环境建设刍论

随着社会经济的发展和人们生活水平的提高．城市居民对生活质量提出了越来越高的要求。这些要求既包括城市生态环境质量的改善，又包括稳定有序的社会环境的建设。这是各城市政府贯彻落实党的十七大科学描绘的新阶段发展蓝图．全面建设富裕型小康社会．努力构建和谐社会的必要措施。     

Guarding for clean urban environment

The capital area of Finland is composed of an urban conglomerate, the original heart of which is the City of Helsinki, founded 1550. The population of this area, 800,000 at present is soaring towards 1 million people due to the rapid growth of the satellite towns Espoo (119,000 inhabitants), Vantaa (114,000) and Kauniainen 7000, while the population of Helsinki itself (500,000) is continuously diminishing. Within this region we already have substantion of growing social pressure due to urbanization. However, taken as a whole, the state of our technical and social environment is rather healthy.     

Toward a pragmatic program for critical urban ecology

Our essay responds to the critique of Dooling et al. (Urban Ecosystems in press, 2007) of our previously published article “Goal attainment in urban ecology research: a bibliometric review 1975-2004 (Young and Wolf, Urban Ecosystems, 9:179–193, 2006). We identify our critics’ concerns as rooted in a project of deconstruction of scientific inquiry and a redefinition of the boundaries separating academic disciplines from each other and science from society. While we identify important differences with our critics, we largely support this critical project, as evidenced by our previously published empirical research. In exploring the relationship between critical and positivist approaches to urban ecology research and how we might work toward an integration of nature and society in thought and action, we defend pragmatic approaches to empirical research as well as disciplinary projects as legitimate and essential elements of urban ecology research. We argue in favor of theoretical and methodological pluralism. Rather than define urban ecology through exclusionary projects that would limit the scope and significance of urban ecology research, we reaffirm our call for diverse sets of actors inside and outside university settings to engage and support each other in order to develop and strengthen analysis and pursuit of sustainability.

Interdisciplinary foundations of urban ecology

Researchers have identified urban ecology as a new field integrating social and ecological science. Critics have portrayed the field as under-theorized with negative implications for research and urban environmental planning. Unprecedented urbanization and historical bias against research integrating social and ecological systems are identified as driving this deficit. Researchers have called for new integrative approaches to address this issue. In response, this paper applies ecology’s analytic framework of “patch dynamics”, Kuhn’s concept of “normal science” and Mazoyer and Roudart’s “evolutionary series” to demographic data and historical texts to perform an analysis of interdisciplinary contributions to theory applicable in the field of urban ecology. The subsequent exploration reveals a rich history of interdisciplinary inquiry along the nature/society divide. The paper concludes that these “largely ignored” contributions offer urban ecology the opportunity to claim much broader depth as a field gaining access to precedents and innovations accomplished during the field’s early theoretical development. Drawing upon this history, a framework for ecological urban development is suggested to inform and assist contemporary research in urban ecology and planning.

风水环境生态

风水,是中国传统建筑文化中不可或缺的一个组成部分.中华民族几千年的文明史,它一直贯穿在其中,小到宅院的选择、树木的栽植,大到城市、宫苑的建设,乃至道路、桥梁等等,无不深刻体现这一古老的理论.风水又称堪舆,自商周或更早已有论述,中国最早的文献如<尚书>、<诗经>等若干篇章中,都有关于古代先民选址和规划经营城邑、宫宅活动的史实性记述.分析有关文献及后人分析文章可知,"风水"之要旨为审慎、周密地考察地理环境,包括地质、水文、生态、小气候及环境景观等,然后顺应自然,有节制地利用和改造自然,创造良好的居住环境,协调天时、地利、人和诸多关系,达到天人合一的至善境界.     

A cloud-based spatial-temporal inventory for sustainable urban soil management

Spatial and temporal databases that integrate urban tree inventories and soil quality information are needed for modern-day sustainable urban forest management. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the usefulness of low-cost and widely-available technology, such as global positioning system (GPS)–enabled cameras to photo-document sites and cloud-based products and services (Google Picasa and Fusion Tables), to aid in developing sustainable street tree management programs. Google Fusion Tables provide a cloud platform to store, share and map urban tree and soil data over time using internet connected computers, tablets or mobile devices. Although indicators of urban soil quality and best methods to assess it are not yet standardized, we demonstrate here promising indicators that are both useful and easy to incorporate into spatial and temporal databases of trees managed in urban environments. By utilizing technology, we demonstrate that site-specific urban soil quality indicators can be used together with readily-available soil rating systems specific to different plant types as a means to better evaluate and manage conditions for optimal street tree growth and health.     

Structuring institutional analysis for urban ecosystems: A key to sustainable urban forest management

A decline in urban forest structure and function in the United States jeopardizes the current focus on developing sustainable cities. A number of social dilemmas—for example, free-rider problems—restrict the sustainable production of ecosystem services and the stock of urban trees from which they flow. However, institutions, or the rules, norms, and strategies that affect human decision-making, resolve many such social dilemmas, and thus, institutional analysis is imperative for understanding urban forest management outcomes. Unfortunately, we find that the definition of institutions varies greatly across and within disciplines, and conceptual frameworks in urban forest management and urban ecosystems research often embed institutions as minor variables. Given the significance of institutional analysis to understanding sustainable rural resource management, this paper attempts to bring clarity to defining, conceptually framing, and operationally analyzing institutions in urban settings with a specific focus on sustainable urban forest management. We conclude that urban ecologists and urban forest management researchers could benefit from applying a working definition of institutions that uniquely defines rules, norms, and strategies, by recognizing the nested nature of operational, collective choice, and constitutional institutions, and by applying the Institutional Analysis and Development framework for analysis of urban social-ecological systems (SESs). Such work promises to spur the desired policy-based research agenda of urban forestry and urban ecology and provide cross-disciplinary fertilization of institutional analysis between rural SESs and urban ecosystems.     

Exploring structural habitat heterogeneity in sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) for urban biodiversity support

Implementation of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) as part of cities’ transition towards climate resilience encompasses unique opportunities to enhance urban nature qualities. SUDS include individual elements integrated in the urban landscape, e.g. rain gardens or wet basins, which are usually constructed with low structural heterogeneity. Structural heterogeneity of habitats is, however, associated with a high degree of biodiversity. This study explored potentials of habitat heterogeneity enhancement in SUDS using structural heterogeneity as a proxy for biodiversity potential. In an interdisciplinary workshop, landscape architects and urban ecologists designed individual SUDS elements with enhanced structural habitat heterogeneity, hereafter bio-SUDS. The redesigned SUDS elements were infiltration trench, curb extension, rain garden, swale, wet basin, and dry basin. To evaluate the bio-SUDS designs, we developed an index of habitat heterogeneity in SUDS based on registration of 45 structurally important components. The conversion from standard SUDS to bio-SUDS entailed substantial increases in structural heterogeneity ranging from 4 to 18 additional components within elements. Larger bio-SUDS elements returned higher index scores, but the relative score increases were substantial for all bio-SUDS and in the range of a factor of 2–5.5. Increased terrain differences, meandering edges, stones, gravel, boulders, deadwood, and brown roof-like vegetation were the components most often employed in the bio-SUDS designs. In conclusion, implementation of bio-SUDS has potential to increase structural habitat heterogeneity thereby providing habitat for biodiversity in urban green areas. The developed bio-SUDS index can assist in future assessments of ecological qualities in designs and real-world SUDS elements.     

略论城市人文环境

一、旧城改造类型因人文环境保护对策不同,可以将城市分为不同类型。保护对策集中体现在旧城改造对策上。无论建筑物使用什么材质,建筑物寿命总是有期限的,不可能长生不老。对待悠久历史传统的态度,反映了对人文环境的不同理解。总的说,西方大城市中,尚未出现一例“毁旧建新”的个案。绝大多数历史名城都保持住了原貌。综观世界,算上“毁旧建新”,旧城改造存在以下四种模式:第一种是全盘改变,“毁旧建新”,大刀阔斧地改变城市的宏观布局与城市风格。这种旧城改造接近于建一座新城,惟一不同的是,建新城是全面铺开,旧城改造是一个局部一个局部…     

Habitat structure: A fundamental concept and framework for urban soil ecology

Habitat structure is defined as the composition and arrangement of physical matter at a location. Although habitat structure is the physical template underlying ecological patterns and processes, the concept is relatively unappreciated and underdeveloped in ecology. However, it provides a fundamental concept for urban ecology because human activities in urban ecosystems are often targeted toward management of habitat structure. In addition, the concept emphasizes the fine-scale, on-the-ground perspective needed in the study of urban soil ecology. To illustrate this, urban soil ecology research is summarized from the perspective of habitat structure effects. Among the key conclusions emerging from the literature review are: (1) habitat structure provides a unifying theme for multivariate research about urban soil ecology; (2) heterogeneous urban habitat structures influence soil ecological variables in different ways; (3) more research is needed to understand relationships among sociological variables, habitat structure patterns and urban soil ecology. To stimulate urban soil ecology research, a conceptual framework is presented to show the direct and indirect relationships among habitat structure and ecological variables. Because habitat structure serves as a physical link between sociocultural and ecological systems, it can be used as a focus for interdisciplinary and applied research (e.g., pest management) about the multiple, interactive effects of urbanization on the ecology of soils.     

A sustainable urban regeneration project to protect biodiversity

Urban Ecosystems - The sustainable urban redevelopment project to protect biodiversity was developed to regenerate the external spaces of an ancient rural farmhouse, Villa Framarino, in the...     

改善城巿环境面貌的思考

城市环境面貌是诸多物化和非物化因素的综合外在表征,是城市竞争力的外在表现.近年来,随着天津市城市建设的快速发展,市政公用设施综合承载能力显著提高.特别是2007年7月1日以来,以协办奥运会、举办达沃斯论坛为契机,实施了20项民心工程建设,经过全市上下一年的奋力拼搏,天津站改扩建工程完工、海河上游区域基础设施建设基本完成.     

Nesting ecology of mourning doves in an urban landscape

The expansion of urban areas into native habitat can have profound effects on avian populations and communities, yet little is known regarding the effects of urban features on avian reproductive success. The objective of this study was to examine the reproduction of an urban-enhanced species, the mourning dove, to determine how tree and urban landscape features affect nest-site selection and nest success. Mourning dove nests were located by systematically searching potential nest sites on a weekly basis from late-March through mid-September in 2003 and 2004. A total of 1,288 mourning dove nests were located and monitored on the Texas A&M University Campus. Of these nests, 337 (26.6%) were successful (fledged, ≥1). An equal number of potential nest sites were randomly generated in ArcGIS and assigned to non-nest trees to evaluate habitat variables associated with nest-site selection. Mourning dove nests were located in trees with a larger canopy diameter and diameter at breast height (DBH) than the computer generated potential nests and nest trees were located closer to roads and farther from buildings than non-nest trees. Within the study area, nest success was predominately influenced by the proximity of urban features with successful nests being located closer to roads and farther from buildings than unsuccessful nests.     

The ecology of social networks in four urban neighborhoods

This paper re-examines the question of the social “fabric” of urban neighborhoods on the basis of residents' personal networks. Data were collected on the number, relative intimacy, and spatial distribution of social relationships among residents of two ethnically homogenous and two ethnically heterogenous neighborhoods in a medium-sized city in the midwestern United States. The analysis focused on spatial distributions and variables associated with differences in the average number or intimacy of neighborhood network ties. Herbert Gans had predicted that in heterogenous neighborhoods residential proximity would be a less important factor in social network formation than has previously been reported for socially homogeneous residential settings (especially Festinger et al. 1950). The results from this study indicated that the effects of proximity were more, rather than less, reflected in the spatial distribution of social relationships in the ethnically heterogenous neighborhoods. The face-block was identified as an important socio-spatial unit in all four neighborhoods.     

Pollinating animals in the urban environment

Urban environments contain habitats for flowering plants and their pollinating animal species. It is, however, unclear how the urban matrix influences plant-pollinator processes. We recorded plant diversity, floral abundance, flower visitor diversity and plot visits at 89 plant patches within the city of Zürich. The urban matrix surrounding each site was analyzed for the landscape metrics edge density and the extent of green area up to 200 m radius. The correlation between edge density and bee diversity and visitation frequency varied over the entire spatial range, while the correlation for syrphid diversity and visitation frequency levelled off at 80 m radius. In contrast, the correlations with green area were more consistent, with bee diversity levelling off after 100 m, while syrphid diversity and visits continued to increase. The variation in the correlation of bee visits was partly accounted for by the large contribution of honeybees. Plant diversity significantly affected bee diversity and visits, and syrphid visits. Floral abundance had a positive effect on bee visits and bee diversity. Syrphid diversity had a negative interaction with floral abundance and green area. The extent of green area increased bee diversity and visits, and syrphid visits, while edge density reduced visitation by bees. This study showed that plant diversity and floral abundance in urban environments promote pollinating flower visitors. The extent of green area and edge density are important urban mosaic attributes that affect pollinator abundance and visitation frequency at multiple scales.