Defragmenting the fragmented urban landscape (DEFRAG)

英国政府承诺在城镇建设更多“绿色基础设施”（GI），这是一个令人兴奋的机会，可以从根本上改善城市环境。人们认识到，城市地理标志通过增加生物多样性，增强生态系统服务（如改善空气质量，从空气中去除二氧化碳，减少洪水风险），以及通过在生物多样性丰富的环境中生活和工作，改善城市居民的健康和福祉，为自然和社会带来多重效益。这延伸到河流、溪流、运河和其他水体的作用——“蓝色”基础设施，两者都受到已建成的“灰色”基础设施的严重限制。城市地理标志是由不同大小、形状和组成的碎片拼接而成的，这些碎片位于极其复杂和碎片化的景观中。这使得识别连接城市景观和多种生态功能的关键生物过程变得非常困难。绿色碎片之间的连通性对生态结构和功能之间的关系的影响比简单的斑块大小要大得多。因此，有必要了解斑块及其连通性如何改变生物群落和生态功能。规划人员在投资绿色和蓝色基础设施时面临的一个关键挑战是如何设计和配置这些基础设施，以便绿-蓝-灰基础设施之间的相互作用能够最有效地带来多重效益。在项目的整个生命周期内，我们将作为项目合作伙伴与公众、地方当局、非政府组织和当地企业密切合作。通过“共同设计”这类干预措施，提高对绿色空间的多重效益（改善空气质量和健康状况、生物多样性、碳储存等）的理解，有助于在地方范围内促进对地理标志解决方案的参与和吸收。该项目将有六个工作包：WP1选址和空间调查：确定城市空间结构、空气质量和土壤湿度之间的关系，以及生物多样性和当地气象对这些关系的影响，使用卢顿、贝德福德和米尔顿凯恩斯的站点。WP2城市观测站GI操纵：调查干预措施对空气质量、水和生物多样性影响的现实世界和对照实验。城市生态网络的机制建模：更好地理解城市碎片化和结构如何影响：i)空气净化服务；城市结构、空气污染和水资源供应对城市营养网络的级联效应。WP4综合建模以评估改变的绿地结构和管理的影响：发展贝叶斯分层模型以(i)允许“虚拟”情景评估改变的地理标志对空气质量、水调节和生物多样性的影响；（ii）为其他wp提供输入信息。有效地理标志干预措施的障碍：了解成功实施地理标志的障碍并确定促进机制。WP 6影响：与关键用户和利益相关方团体接触，了解他们的需求，从而将新知识传递给关键决策者。该项目旨在提供关于城市形态如何影响生物多样性、生物过程和由此产生的生态系统服务的新知识。这些信息可用于通过绿色、蓝色和灰色基础设施进行有针对性的干预，设计更健康、更有韧性的城市环境，同时提高我们对当前实施障碍的理解。这项工作将侧重于改善空气质量、加强水管理、保护和加强生物多样性的干预措施。

The UK has an exciting opportunity to radically improve the urban environment through the government's commitment to the creation of more "green infrastructure" (GI) in our town and cities. It is recognised that urban GI delivers multiple benefits to nature and society, by increasing biodiversity, enhancing those ecosystem services (such as air quality improvement, removing carbon dioxide from the air, and reducing flood risk) and improving the health and wellbeing of urban residents by living and working in a biodiverse rich environment. This extends to the role that rivers, streams, canals and other water bodies also play - the "blue" infrastructure and both are heavily constrained by the built, "grey" infrastructure. Urban GI exists as a patchwork of fragments of varying size, shape and composition within intensely complex and fragmented landscapes. This makes the identification of key biological processes linking urban landscapes to multiple ecological functions very difficult. Connectivity between green fragments can have much larger effects on the relationship between ecological structure and functioning than simple patch sizes. There is thus a need to understand how patches and their connectivity alter biological communities and ecological functioning. A key challenge faced by planners when investing in Green and Blue Infrastructure is how this should be designed and configured, so that the interactions between the green-blue-grey infrastructures will most effectively deliver multiple benefits. We shall be working closely with the general public, local authorities, NGOs and local businesses as Project Partners throughout the lifetime of the project. Improved understanding of multiple benefits from greenspace (improved air quality and health outcomes, biodiversity, carbon storage, etc.) can help stimulate engagement with, and uptake of GI solutions at a local scale, by "co-designing" such interventions.The project will have six work packages:WP1 Site selection and spatial survey: determining the relationship between urban spatial configuration, air quality and soil moisture, and the influence on these of biodiversity and local meteorology using sites in Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes.WP2 Urban Observatory GI manipulations: real world and controlled experiments to investigate the impact of interventions on air quality, water and biodiversity.WP3 Mechanistic Modelling of urban ecological networks: better understanding how urban fragmentation and structure influence: i) air purification services; and ii) cascading effects of urban structure, air pollution and water availability on urban trophic networks.WP4 Integrated Modelling to assess the effects of altered greenspace structure and management: development of Bayesian hierarchical models to (i) allow 'virtual' scenarios to assess to the effects of altered GI on air quality, water regulation and biodiversity; and (ii) provide information for inputs to other WPs.WP5 Barriers to effective GI interventions: understanding the barriers to successful implementation of GI and identifying enabling mechanisms.WP 6 Impact: engagement with key users and stakeholder groups to understand their requirements and so that new knowledge is transferred to critical decision makers.This project aims to deliver new knowledge on how urban form affects biodiversity, biological processes and ecosystem services derived from them. This information can be used to design healthier and more resilient urban environments through targeted interventions with green, blue, and grey infrastructures, while improving our understanding of current barriers to implementation. The work will focus on the interventions that improve air quality, enhance water management, and safeguard and enhance biodiversity.