RUI: The Multi-Dimensional Structure of Urban Landscapes and the Supply and Distribution of Ecosystem Services

该研究项目将解决城市组成部分的空间组织与城市生态系统服务（如空气过滤，当地气候调节和降噪）的交付和分布之间的关系。 为了更好地确定城市结构的空间组织如何与环境和生态现象相互作用，以产生和分配城市生态系统服务，本项目将通过测试城市结构类的常见组成之间的关系，包括建筑物的垂直维度的整合，以及生态系统服务指标，帮助建立理解城市结构-生态功能相互作用的科学基础。 在精细的空间尺度上对城市结构-生态功能关系进行建模，将为地理学家、城市规划者和工程师提供必要的科学基础，以规划有效的干预措施，促进城市的可持续发展和人类福祉。 项目的研究结果将有利于在城市规划和设计，环境健康，环境正义和环境建模领域工作的研究人员和政府官员。 为了补充该项目的基础研究部分，特别的教育推广活动将向来自不同城市背景的学生，包括在STEM中代表性不足的群体的成员，介绍与当地生态系统服务有关的概念和实践数据收集和分析活动。全球城市人口的迅速增长对城市居民的健康和福祉构成重大挑战，需要采取创新的城市规划办法。 研究人员将对美国七个城市的城市结构和地表温度之间的关系进行多维城市结构分类和比较分析。 在费城进行的一项重点更突出的案例研究将通过一项新的移动的数据收集和分析方案，解决空气污染和噪音缓解的城市生态系统服务问题。该项目将探索关于可持续城市设计的几个关键问题的答案：常见的多维城市结构类在城市之间是否相似，它们在聚合尺度上是否稳定？ 城市地表温度特征是否由这些城市类比由单个土地覆盖类更好地解释？ 城市结构如何与生态系统服务（如空气污染和噪音缓解）相关联？ 城市植被的不同配置如何帮助减轻费城等城市的空气和噪音污染？ 该项目将包括使用美国多个案例研究城市开发和验证多维功能城市土地覆盖分类研究活动将包括土地利用和土地覆盖，高程和其他遥感数据的空间和统计分析，以及一系列城市生态系统服务指标的细尺度，空间明确测量的分层抽样方案，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project will address the relationship between the spatial organization of urban components and the delivery and distribution of urban ecosystem services such as air filtration, local climate regulation, and noise reduction. To better identify how the spatial organization of urban structure interacts with environmental and ecological phenomena to produce and distribute urban ecosystem services, this project will help build the scientific foundation for understanding urban structure-ecological function interaction by testing the relationship between common compositions of urban structure classes, including the integration of the vertical dimension of building, and indicators of ecosystem services. Modeling of urban structure-ecological function relationships at a fine spatial scale-will provide geographers, urban planners, and engineers with the scientific foundation necessary for planning effective interventions to promote urban sustainability and human well-being. Project findings will benefit researchers and public officials working in the fields of urban planning and design, environmental health, environmental justice, and environmental modeling. To complement the basic research components of this project, special educational outreach activities will introduce students from a diverse set of urban backgrounds, including members of groups underrepresented in STEM, to concepts and hands-on data-collection and -analysis activities relating to ecosystems services in their localities. Rapid growth in the global urban population poses major challenges to the health and well-being of urban dwellers and requires innovative approaches to urban planning. The investigators will conduct a multi-dimensional urban structure classification and comparative analysis of the relationships between urban structure and surface temperature in seven U.S. cities. A more focused case study in Philadelphia will address the urban ecosystem services of air pollution and noise mitigation through a new mobile data-collection and analytic scheme. This project will explore answers to several critical questions regarding sustainable urban design: Are common multi-dimensional urban structure classes similar across cities, and are they stable across scales of aggregation? Are urban surface temperature signatures explained better by such urban classes than by individual land-cover classes? How is urban structure associated with ecosystem services such as air pollution and noise mitigation? How do different configurations of urban vegetation help mitigate air and noise pollution in cities such as Philadelphia? The project will include the development and verification of the multi-dimensional, functional urban land-cover classification using multiple case study cities in the U.S. Research activities will include spatial and statistical analysis of land use and land cover, elevation, and other remote sensing data as well as a stratified sampling scheme of fine-scale, spatially explicit measurements of a series of urban ecosystem service indicators, including surface and ambient temperature, air pollution, and noise.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.