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Erschienen in:
2021 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel
Urban Habitats: Cities and Their Potential for Nature Protection
verfasst von : Jan Jansen, Carsten Hobohm
Erschienen in: Perspectives for Biodiversity and Ecosystems
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Abstract
What can cities do to harbour and promote wildlife, to support nature conservation and environmental sustainability, and also to improve people’s relationship to nature, both by direct interventions and by education/communication?
To answer this question a few main lines are followed and linked to each other. These include (1) natural history, (2) ecological aspects, (3) nature management, (4) attractiveness of nature and the affinity to nature, and (5) future perspectives. We reviewed publications relating to three broad scientific disciplines as applied in current urban ecology, namely: (1) natural sciences, (2) engineering/urban planning, and (3) social sciences.
The relationship to nature including urban climate, urban biodiversity and land use, is important for the whole urban life including health. To improve that relationship, it is necessary to have the support of citizens for policies of biodiversity management and protection. This is a promising development; however, in many cases the use of indigenous species and the acceptance of spontaneous developments in vegetation and wildlife within urban areas is hardly getting underway.
Cities are agglomerations of artificial constructions and humans tolerating little space for wildlife. Nevertheless, by use of horticulture, greening of roofs and walls, and species conservation programmes, cities and urban areas can play an important role for wildlife and the survival of rare species inside and outside urban regions. Because of the heterogeneity and the diversity of habitat types which they offer, cities—certainly in intensive farming regions—are regularly more species-rich than comparable rural areas in the surroundings.
Thus, spontaneous natural processes in urban areas should be allowed as much as possible, under conditions such as the safety of citizens and the control of invasive and exotic species. Then, evolution can progress even in urban environments at the interface between natural and cultural processes. In addition, spontaneous natural processes in urban areas give city dwellers the opportunity to experience nature from nearby and to feel connected to natural processes, as happened in the pre-urban past.
Meanwhile, botanical gardens, aquariums and zoos play a vital role for the survival of rare species. Most of the larger institutions are located in cities, where they have more visitors than the ones located in rural areas. Thus, such institutions in cities have a high value for the exchange of information, including education for schoolchildren, simply because of the proximity.