BADP2005 CITY DESIGN & URBAN ECOLOGY
CITY DESIGN & URBAN ECOLOGY
Hello, dear friend, you can consult us at any time if you have any questions, add WeChat: THEend8_
BADP2005
CITY DESIGN & URBAN
ECOLOGY
Assessment 1
Ecosystem Services:
Strategic Planning Analysis
Scenario
Environment Victoria is interested in developing a program that will promote
sustainability and encourage local governments to improve the health of urban
ecosystems. They have recently become aware of the concept of ecosystem services.
They would like to better understand the concept, and the potential value and
application of ecosystem services to urban planning in Victoria.
You have been commissioned by Environment Victoria to provide a report on the
emerging use of ecosystem services in urban planning. The report will include an in-
depth analysis of the first plan in Victoria to explicitly engage with ecosystem services:
the City of Melbourne’s Nature in the City strategy.
Your report will be used by Environment Victoria to enhance their understanding of
ecosystem services in urban planning, and to determine how it might be better used
by local governments to promote sustainability and healthy urban ecosystems.
Guidance
Your client has set the following objectives for the report to meet:
1. Describe the concept of ecosystem services. Explain why they’re important to
achieving social and environmental policy goals (e.g. sustainability, liveability).
2. Review the literature on the use of ecosystem services in urban planning.
Explain why ecosystem services could be a valuable planning tool for local
governments (i.e. what benefits or improvements are expected from using the
concept to plan and manage cities).
3. Provide an in-depth analysis of how the Nature in the City strategy uses or
engages with the concept of ecosystem services. Summarise the plan’s
3
strengths and weaknesses.
4. Draw a conclusion about the value of ecosystem services for urban planning
and make recommendations about how future plans in Victoria could learn
from, or improve on, the Nature in the City Strategy.
The in-depth analysis of Nature in the City should consider the three major
components of an ecosystem services plan: the information or fact base, the vision
and goals, and the policies or actions proposed (see Week 4-5). A set of questions for
the analysis to answer can be found in Box 1.
Further resources to support the development of your assignment will be discussed in
class and posted on Canvas.
4
BOX 1. QUESTIONS FOR IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF NATURE IN THE CITY
Adapted from Woodruff & Bendor (2016) and Geneletti et al (2020)
1. Information/Fact Base
a. Explain how the strategy defines ecosystem services and understands the
different types of benefits provided by urban ecosystems.
b. Explain how the threats to, or challenges for, the provision of ecosystem services
are identified and described.
2. Vision and Goals
a. Does the strategy link ecosystem health, or ecosystem services, to broader
community goals (e.g. resilience, wellbeing, indigenous representation)?
b. Does the strategy have specific goals or targets for the provision of ecosystem
services? If no, would the goals or targets still have a positive effect on the
provision of ecosystem services?
3. Policies/Actions
a. What actions are proposed to improve the council’s knowledge of ecosystem
health, services, and/or ecological connectivity in the City of Melbourne?
b. How does the strategy propose to use new plans or guidelines to achieve the
first goal (i.e. what do they believe the new plans will help them do)?