ULTRA-Ex: Exploring Linkages Among Ecosystem Services, Public Health, and the Green Area Factor in New York City

在人类历史上，首次有超过50%的世界人口居住在城市中心。到2015年，这一比例预计将上升10%以上。城市中心的日益扩大对生态系统服务和依赖这些服务的人类社区产生了重大影响，尤其是因为城市及其周围地区的生物地球物理环境与农村地区有很大不同。这种差异的影响可以在城市中心和郊区的水循环和气候改变、城市土壤属性和生态系统物种的改变以及城市航道和水道的污染中看到。在许多情况下，退化的城市生物地理环境也是造成城市人口严重健康问题的原因之一。对城市化的重大生态影响的担忧促使制定了许多改善城市生态服务的战略，其中许多战略侧重于自然景观特征的保护和/或再利用。一项在美国迅速获得关注的战略是城市绿地因素(GAF)计划的概念。GAF计划的目标是为城市不同地块开发中的“绿化”百分比设定目标，从而为城市环境中生态系统服务的恢复或扩展提供一种具有成本效益的分散方法。使用GAF作为一种城市规划工具，在改善城市生态和健康、改善城市环境的美感和宜居性以及让城市利益攸关方参与可持续发展战略方面具有多种潜在好处。但是，尽管有潜力，GAF指导方针和生态结果之间的科学联系仍然处于萌芽状态。此外，关于美国公众愿意为各种GAF战略提供支持和管理的信息有限。这项研究项目的目标是在纽约市密集的城市环境中对人、自然生态系统和绿色技术之间的动态互动进行跨学科研究。研究人员将在他们之前的研究以及与不同的当地社区团体和从业者的合作伙伴关系的基础上，监测和量化自然生态系统和不断发展的绿色技术干预在纽约市三个社区的生态和公共健康效益；建立利益相关者对此类系统和干预措施的接受度和价值；并开发基于GAF的工具，作为感兴趣于优化与不同城市绿化战略相关的生态和公共利益的城市利益相关者的共同规划平台。该项目将有助于为推进和完善GAF概念提供基本的科学基础，以便更有效地考虑人类与包括环境正义社区在内的城市绿化战略的互动。最理想的情况是，它可以应用于密集和多样化的城市环境，如纽约这样的特大城市。除了推进科学知识，该项目还将提供一个新的规划工具，为纽约市不同的利益攸关方提供一个共同平台，根据其不同的使命和目标探索各种绿化战略。该项目还将建立一支由科学家、社区组织和从业人员组成的团队，他们可以共同努力，创造关于城市生态系统可持续性和功能的新知识。将为博士后学者、研究生和本科生提供研究培训，教育、推广和教学活动将成为该项目的主要组成部分。该奖项是由美国国家科学基金会和美国农业部林业局联合支持的一项特别竞赛的结果，作为城市长期研究区域探索(ULTRA-EX)奖的资助。

For the first time in human history, more than 50 percent of the world's population resides in urban centers. By the year 2015, this fraction is expected to rise by more than 10 percent. The increasing expansion of urban centers is significantly impacting ecosystem services and the human communities dependent on these services, not least because the biogeophysical environments of urban regions and their surrounds are substantially different from those of rural areas. The effects of this difference can be seen in modified water cycles and climates within urban centers and exurban areas, amended urban soil properties and ecosystem species, and polluted urban airways and waterways. In many cases, degraded urban biogeophysical environments also are contributing to severe health problems among urban populations. Concern about the major ecological impact of urbanization has prompted the development of numerous strategies for improving ecological services within cities, many of which are focused on the preservation and/or recreation of natural landscape features. One strategy that is gaining rapid attention in the U.S. is the concept of an urban Green Area Factor (GAF) program. The goal of a GAF program is to provide a cost-effective, decentralized approach to the restoration or expansion of ecosystem services in urban environments, by setting targets for the percentage of "greening" to occur in the development of different parcels of urban land. The use of the GAF as an urban planning tool has multiple potential benefits from the perspectives of improving urban ecology and health, improving the aesthetics and habitability of urban environments, and engaging urban stakeholders in strategies for sustainable development. But despite its potential, scientific linkages between GAF guidelines and ecological outcomes remain nascent. Furthermore, information about U.S. public willingness to provide support and stewardship for various GAF strategies is limited. The goal of this research project is to conduct interdisciplinary research on the dynamic interactions between people, natural ecosystems, and green technologies in the dense urban environment of New York City. The investigators will build on their own prior research as well as partnerships with diverse local community groups and practitioners to monitor and quantify the ecological and public health benefits of natural ecosystems and evolving green technology interventions in three New York City neighborhoods; to establish the acceptance and value of such systems and interventions to stakeholders; and to develop a GAF-based tool that might work as a common planning platform for urban stakeholders interested in optimizing the ecological and public benefits associated with different urban greening strategies.This project will help provide the underlying scientific basis to advance and refine the GAF concept in order to more effectively take account of human interactions with urban greening strategies, including environmental justice communities. Optimally, it could be applied to dense and diverse urban environments such as the mega-city of New York. As well as advancing scientific knowledge, the project will deliver a new planning tool that can provide a common platform for different New York City stakeholders to explore various greening strategies in the context of their different missions and goals. The project also will build a team of scientists, community organizations, and practitioners who can work together to create new knowledge on urban ecosystem sustainability and functionality. Research training will be provided to post-doctoral scholars, graduate students, and undergraduate students, and educational, outreach, and teaching activities will form major components of the project. This award was funded as an Urban Long-Term Research Area Exploratory (ULTRA-Ex) award as the result of a special competition jointly supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.