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8.5.4 Ecosystem Services and Urban Areas

Riccardo Santolini

In 2009, the percentage of the world population living in urban areas was
over 50% and the United Nations [1] estimate that this quota will be over
70% by 2050. Furthermore, in industrial countries, demographic growth is
not connected any longer to the availability of housing because this indus-
try was assigned a driving role in economic growth regardless of the con-
sumption of natural capital and of housing needs [2]. Indeed, different
countries are experiencing different and complex phenomena of urbaniza-
tion showing various degrees of degenerated peripheralization. In all of
them, however, this evolution bears consequences for the ecology of (nat-
ural and nonnatural) ecosystems concerning both land use transformation
and ecological functions loss, thus inducing dystrophy and increased vul-
nerability .
Irrespective of sunlight, urban areas are high energy-consuming entities
with respect to natural resources (e.g., the use of agricultural products and
water). All ecosystems are open systems powered by other ecosystems in a
number of forms, energy, and information. This flow of energy character-
izes the work of ecosystems, i.e., their capacity to provide goods and serv-
ices (water and air quality, CO 2 absorption, soil protection, raw materials,
recreational and cultural services, and so on) known as “ecosystem servic-
es” (ESS) [3].
Ecosystems, therefore, are mutually dependent, and urban areas are
largely dependent on natural capital . The objective of bringing cities to
less unbalanced and parasitic conditions can be a useful driver for the adop-
tion of best practices and interesting actions. Nowadays, innovation
involves understanding the need for the adoption of an ample and systemic
perspective when considering a landscape and its flows of energy and mate-
rials (i.e., food, water, energy), which feed a urban ecosystem. A systemic
perspective needs to include the ecosystem that receives the waste pro-