Cited by 126Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesUrban Green Space and HealthUrban Planning and Governance

The Incremental Demise of Urban Green Spaces

Open access
Colding, Johan, Gren, Åsa, Barthel, Stephan·2020·Land

Abstract

More precise explanations are needed to better understand why public green spaces are diminishing in cities, leading to the loss of ecosystem services that humans receive from natural systems. This paper is devoted to the incremental change of green spaces—a fate that is largely undetectable by urban residents. The paper elucidates a set of drivers resulting in the subtle loss of urban green spaces and elaborates on the consequences of this for resilience planning of ecosystem services. Incremental changes of greenspace trigger baseline shifts, where each generation of humans tends to take the current condition of an ecosystem as the normal state, disregarding its previous states. Even well-intended political land-use decisions, such as current privatization schemes, can cumulatively result in undesirable societal outcomes, leading to a gradual loss of opportunities for nature experience. Alfred E. Kahn referred to such decision making as ‘the tyranny of small decisions.’ This is mirrored in urban planning as problems that are dealt with in an ad hoc manner with no officially formulated vision for long-term spatial planning. Urban common property systems could provide interim solutions for local governments to survive periods of fiscal shortfalls. Transfer of proprietor rights to civil society groups can enhance the resilience of ecosystem services in cities.

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Crossref · 10.3390/land9050162

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Ostrom, E. Governing the Commons; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2015; ISBN 9781316423936.
  2. Hanna, S.; Folke, C.; Mäler, K.-G. Property Rights and the Natural Environment. In Rights to Nature: Ecological, Economic, Cultural, and Political Principles of Institutions for the Environment; Island Press: Washington, DC, USA, 1996.
  3. Anderson, L. A business improvement district for a park? Hey, it just might work. Villager 2008, 78, 14.
  4. Boyd, E., Folke, C., Eds.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2011; pp. 101-124, ISBN 9781139017237.
  5. Galaz, V., Ed.; Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, UK, 2019; pp. 166-187.

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Authors
Colding, J., Gren, Å., & Barthel, S.
Affiliations
  • Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (SE)
  • Stockholm Resilience Centre (SE)
Corresponding author
Colding, Johan
Venue
Land
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-05-20
Volume
9
Issue
5
Pages
162
ISSN
2073-445X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3028489775
Cited by
126
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 4
FWCI
6.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Land (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas (2017-00937, 2016-01193)
  • Stockholm County Council and the Stockholm University (SU-SLL Grant 2017: no. 20160884)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Urban Green Space and Health
  • Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Planning and Governance
Keywords
urban green space, incremental change, ecosystem services, baseline shift, urban planning, resilience planning, nature experience, civil society organizations, urban commons

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