![]() ![]() This literature explicitly states that humans are an integral part of ecosystems. 108) define ecosystem services as “ecological characteristics, functions, or processes that directly or indirectly contribute to human well-being”. Ecosystems are also often referred to as “natural capital” or “those components of the natural environment that provide a long-term stream of benefits to individual people or to the society as a whole” (Liu et al., 2010). Peri-urban regional ecosystems are crucial for the healthiness and liveability of cities, a main concern for global human well-being as more and more people live in densely built urban areas (Elmqvist et al., 2013, MA, 2005, UNDESA, 2014).Įcosystem services have been defined by ecological economists as “the benefits of nature to households, communities and economies” or, more specifically, as “components of nature, directly enjoyed, consumed, or used to yield human well-being” (Boyd and Banzhaf, 2007). ![]() To understand how cities are made liveable, it is necessary to also look at the contribution of urban hinterlands (Baró et al., 2014, Depietri et al., 2013, Haase et al., 2012, Larondelle et al., 2014). (2001)) contribute only marginally to the demand for ecosystem services of densely built up areas (Baró et al., 2015, Niemelä et al., 2010). Strictly defined urban ecosystems (see for instance Pickett et al. Ecosystem services (ES) to cities are provided at the local level, but also at regional, national or global scales (Chiesura, 2004, Givoni, 1991, Tzoulas et al., 2007, van Kamp et al., 2003). These include regulating services, such as water regulation, urban cooling, and air purification, or cultural services that serve recreation or spiritual human needs (Bolund and Hunhammar, 1999, Chiesura, 2004, Gómez-Baggethun and Barton, 2013, Haase et al., 2014, Luederitz et al., 2015, Muhamad et al., 2014, Niemelä et al., 2010, Trzyna, 2014). Urban areas depend on ecosystems for the provision of a range of services that contribute to human well-being. Whereas the social production of ecosystem services may seem an obvious and intuitive idea, it certainly challenges the foundational aspects of monetary valuation. If ecosystem services are co-produced by human action, and social struggles, as we argue is the case of Collserola, then this has implications for the ways ecological economists think about ecosystem services, their value and valuation. ![]() Second, that Collserola was not originally a pristine forest it became one after agricultural abandonment institutional interventions and the action of social movements. Through an inter-disciplinary project combining biophysical, historical, and archival research, interviews and activist research we show that, first, the liveability of Barcelona highly improves because of the services provided by the ecosystem of Collserola. We support our case with a study of the city of Barcelona and the adjacent Collserola Natural Park. Ecosystem services, in other words, are not just natural they are also the outcome of historical, political, economic and social endeavours. Second, these services are not only a gift of nature, but co-produced by human labour. First, the liveability of modern cities depends to a large extent upon urban and peri-urban ecosystems and their services. ![]()
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