Insights for the enhancement of urban biodiversity using nature-based solutions: The role of urban spaces in green infrastructures design

Abstract

Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) increase their efficacy if included in an overall framework such as Green Infrastructures (GI), maximising ecosystem benefits and avoiding possible negative externalities and trade-offs. Urban green spaces and NBS are components of GI that increase the quality of urban settings, enhancing territorial resilience, and improving the health and well-being of citizens. The research proposes a methodology, tested in the municipality of Settimo Torinese (North-west of Italy), for selecting urban green spaces with high performance in terms of biodiversity conservation, which can involve a GI strategy as a multifunctional structure that combines different Ecosystem Services (ES). The enhancement of natural capital and ES provision is reached identifying suitable NBS to protect and improve biodiversity based on the Habitat Quality (HQ) assessment, considered a key supporting service. HQ was derived testing two different sensitivity data: the first based on Land Use/Land Cover, while the second uses the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index. The latter was functional to overcome limits in representing the ecologic integrity of urban areas highlighting an important variety of green spaces and related ES, especially in compact cities. The results are useful for defining effective environmental policies and strategies in urban areas and addressing the decision-making process towards sustainable development goals. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.