Ecosystemic Services and Landscape Perspectives on Sustainable Urban Forest Planning

Dear Colleagues,

Ensuring that human communities, and particularly cities, live sustainably is a global goal, being part of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). It brings together other objectives such as health and well-being, climate action, and the reduction of inequalities, among others, evidencing the relevance of working for the better development of cities. To achieve this sustainable development of cities, valuing and promoting urban trees and their ecosystem services (ESs) is essential. In this sense, it is essential to improve the planning and management of urban trees, not only from the perspective of the landscape but from the provision of different ESs. Although work has been carried out on landscape design in cities, currently, the local management of the urban forest does not present clear and practical methods, tools, or policies that propose and encourage the integration and maximization of the ESs of urban trees as part of the variables and fundamental elements of city planning and the management of cities. In this sense, this Special Issue proposes to create an opportunity to showcase research that provides proposals for criteria, variables, tools, and methodologies applicable to local managers and those responsible for the design, planning, and management of urban trees, that allow them to consider the natural characteristics of the ES provision of urban trees in the planning of local green areas, in order to achieve sustainable cities based on the optimization of their ecosystem services from an environmental and economic viewpoint. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Definition and proposals of variables, criteria, and methods for measuring the ecosystem services of urban trees applicable by local managers.
• Characterization and assessment of the urban landscape, and methodology for its improvement.
• Application of technological tools (GIS, software, artificial intelligence, and others) for the evaluation and management of the landscape and the ESs of urban trees.
• Economic valuation methods of urban forest ESs based on specific structure and composition parameters, manageable at the local level.
• Current status and applicability of current urban tree management policies regarding the relevance of ESs worldwide.
• Proposals or guidelines for the development of new public policies that ensure the maximization of ecosystem services in the management of urban trees.
• Planning strategies to integrate the design of the urban landscape with the optimization of the ESs provided by trees in cities.
• Ecological services and landscape perspectives on sustainable urban forests.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Roberto Moreno-García
Prof. Dr. Carmen Galan
Prof. Dr. José M. Cansino
Guest Editors

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• urban forest
• neutral cities
• sustainability
• environmental services
• urban management