Assessing Ecosystem Services Provision as a Support for Metropolitan Green Infrastructure Planning: the Case of Three Spanish Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic, spatially explicit approach to the analysis of the ecosystem services provided by the metropolitan landscape that can act as a support for green infrastructure planning. To achieve this, we have proposed a set of indicators to assess and map nine ecosystem services—including regulating, provisioning, habitat and cultural services. This methodology has been applied to three case studies in the south of Spain: the metropolitan areas of Seville, Malaga-Marbella and Cordoba. Despite the geographical proximity of these areas to one another, the indicators show that there are significant differences in their potentialities and available resources to form a multipurpose green space system. The results suggest that further reflection is needed on how the concept of green infrastructure can be applied to metropolitan areas, especially in the Mediterranean region and other similar geographical contexts. Instead of understanding green infrastructure strictly in terms of a network of interconnected green spaces and natural areas, planning initiatives should assign a more important role to the landscape matrix and, in particular, to the multifunctional cultivated space on the urban fringe. In addition, more thought needs to be given to how to create functional green corridors in the metropolitan landscape for public use and habitat conservation. From the perspective of spatial planning, the methodology proposed has been demonstrated to be a useful tool to identify key spaces for the provision of ecosystem services.