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

ULTRA-Ex：探索纽约市生态系统服务、公共卫生和绿化面积因素之间的联系

• 批准号: 0949387
• 负责人: Kevin Griffin
• 金额: $ 29.9万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-01 至 2014-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0949387&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ULTRA; Ex; Exploring; Linkages; Among

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.

人类历史上第一次，世界人口的50%以上居住在城市中心。 到2015年，这一比例预计将上升10%以上。 城市中心的不断扩张正在显著影响生态系统服务和依赖这些服务的人类社区，尤其是因为城市地区及其周边地区的生态物理环境与农村地区有很大不同。 这种差异的影响可以从城市中心和郊区的水循环和气候变化、城市土壤性质和生态系统物种的改变以及城市空气和水道的污染中看出。 在许多情况下，退化的城市生态物理环境也造成了城市人口的严重健康问题。 对城市化的重大生态影响的关注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保护和/或恢复自然景观特征。 在美国，一个迅速受到关注的战略是城市绿色面积因子（GAF）计划的概念。 GAF计划的目标是通过设定城市不同地块开发中“绿化”百分比的目标，为恢复或扩大城市环境中的生态系统服务提供一种具有成本效益的分散方法。 使用GAF作为城市规划工具，从改善城市生态和健康、改善城市环境的美学和宜居性以及让城市利益相关者参与可持续发展战略的角度来看，具有多重潜在效益。 但是，尽管有潜力，GAF指南和生态结果之间的科学联系仍然处于萌芽状态。 此外，有关美国公众愿意为各种GAF战略提供支持和管理的信息有限。 该研究项目的目标是对纽约市密集的城市环境中人、自然生态系统和绿色技术之间的动态相互作用进行跨学科研究。 调查人员将建立在自己的先前研究以及与不同的当地社区团体和从业者的伙伴关系，以监测和量化自然生态系统的生态和公共卫生效益，并在三个纽约市社区不断发展的绿色技术干预;建立这样的系统和干预措施的利益相关者的接受和价值;并建立一个GAF-的工具，可以作为一个共同的规划平台，为城市利益相关者有兴趣优化与不同的城市绿化战略相关的生态和公共利益。该项目将有助于提供基本的科学基础，以推进和完善GAF概念，有效地考虑到人类与城市绿化战略的互动，包括环境正义社区。 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。除了增进科学知识外，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，以根据其不同的任务和目标探讨各种绿化战略。 该项目还将建立一个由科学家、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性的新知识。 将向博士后学者、研究生和本科生提供研究培训，教育、外联和教学活动将构成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务局联合支持的一项特别竞赛的结果，作为城市长期研究领域探索（ULTRA-Ex）奖获得资助。