Abstract
Urban green space provides multiple benefits to city dwellers—both human and non-human. These ‘nature-based solutions’ include mitigating urban heat and stormwater runoff, providing biodiversity habitat and contributing to human health and wellbeing, and social and cultural processes, which are key elements in creating ecological cities. In the transition to eco-cities, public policies for urban green space provision can make substantial contributions. However, in the transition from existing mono-functional, mechanistic policy approaches, there are challenges in creating a vision for urban green space that navigates beyond the splintered narratives of single-function priorities. This chapter investigates how urban green space policies in Melbourne, Australia address these challenges, and the roles that communication, engagement and narrative play.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Benedict, Mark A., and Edward T. McMahon. 2006. Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Birkeland, Janis. 2008. Positive Development: From Vicious Circles to Virtuous Cycles Through Built Environment Design. London: Earthscan.
Bosomworth, Karyn, Alexei Trundle, and Darryn McEvoy. 2013. Responding to the Urban Heat Island: A Policy and Institutional Analysis. Melbourne: Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research.
Clabby, G. 2016. Delivering Green Infrastructure Through Planning: Insights from Practice in Fingal, Ireland. Planning Theory and Practice 17 (2): 289–295.
Cohen-Shacham, E., G. Walters, C. Janzen, and S. Maginnis. 2016. Nature-Based Solutions to Address Global Societal Challenges. Gland: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Colding, Johan. 2011. The Role of Ecosystem Services in Contemporary Urban Planning. In Urban Ecology: Patterns, Processes, and Applications, ed. Jari Niemelä, Jürgen H. Breuste, and Glenn Guntenspergen, 228–237. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
CoM. 2012. Urban Forest Strategy. Making a Great City Greener. 2012–2032. Melbourne: City of Melbourne.
———. 2017. Nature in the City. Thriving Biodiversity and Healthy Ecosystems. Melbourne: City of Melbourne.
Davern, M., A. Farrar, D. Kendal, and B. Giles-Corti. 2017. Quality Green Public Open Space Supporting Health, Wellbeing and Biodiversity: A Literature Review. Report prepared for the Heart Foundation, SA Health, Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, Office for Recreation and Sport, and Local Government Association (SA). Victoria: University of Melbourne.
Douglas, Ian, and Philip James. 2015. Urban Ecology: An Introduction. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
EC. 2015. Nature-Based Solutions and Re-Naturing Cities. Final report of the Horizon 2020 Expert Group, Edited by European Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. Brussels: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission.
Elmqvist, Thomas, Michail Fragkias, Julie Goodness, Burak Güneralp, Peter J. Marcotullio, Robert I. McDonald, Susan Parnell, Maria Schewenius, Marte Sendstad, Karen C. Seto, Cathy Wilkinson, Marina Alberti, Carl Folke, Niki Frantzeskaki, Dagmar Haase, Madhusudan Katti, Harini Nagendra, Jari Niemelä, Steward T.A. Pickett, Charles L. Redman, and Keith Tidball. 2013. Stewardship of the Biosphere in the Urban Era. In Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities. A Global Assessment, ed. Thomas Elmqvist, Michail Fragkias, Julie Goodness, Burak Güneralp, Peter J. Marcotullio, Robert I. McDonald, Susan Parnell, Maria Schewenius, Marte Sendstad, Karen C. Seto, and Cathy Wilkinson, 719–746. Dordrecht: Springer.
Fainstein, Susan S., and James DeFilippis. 2016. Readings in Planning Theory. Chicester: John Wiley & Sons.
Frantzeskaki, Niki, Derk Loorbach, and James Meadowcroft. 2012. Governing Societal Transitions to Sustainability. International Journal of Sustainable Development 15 (1–2): 19–36.
Frantzeskaki, Niki, Julia Wittmayer, and Derk Loorbach. 2014. The Role of Partnerships in ‘Realising’ Urban Sustainability in Rotterdam’s City Ports Area, the Netherlands. Journal of Cleaner Production 65: 406–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.09.023.
Geels, Frank W. 2002. Technological Transitions as Evolutionary Reconfiguration Processes: A Multi-Level Perspective and a Case-Study. Research Policy 31 (8–9): 1257–1274. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(02)00062-8.
Geels, Frank W., and Johan Schot. 2007. Typology of Sociotechnical Transition Pathways. Research Policy 36 (3): 399–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2007.01.003.
Gómez-Baggethun, Erik, Åsa Gren, David N. Barton, Johannes Langemeyer, Timon McPhearson, Patrick O’Farrell, Erik Andersson, Zoé Hamstead, and Peleg Kremer. 2013. Urban Ecosystem Services. In Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities. A Global Assessment, ed. Thomas Elmqvist, Michail Fragkias, Julie Goodness, Burak Güneralp, Peter J. Marcotullio, Robert I. McDonald, Susan Parnell, Maria Schewenius, Marte Sendstad, Karen C. Seto, and Cathy Wilkinson, 175–251. Dordrecht: Springer.
Grimm, Nancy B., Stanley H. Faeth, Nancy E. Golubiewski, Charles L. Redman, Wu Jianguo, Xuemei Bai, and John M. Briggs. 2008. Global Change and the Ecology of Cities. Science 319 (5864): 756–760. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1150195.
Lindholm, G. 2017. The Implementation of Green Infrastructure: Relating a General Concept to Context and Site. Sustainability (Switzerland) 9 (4). https://doi.org/10.3390/su9040610.
Loorbach, Derk. 2010. Transition Management for Sustainable Development: A Prescriptive, Complexity-Based Governance Framework. Governance 23 (1): 161–183. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2009.01471.x.
Maddison, Sarah, and Richard Denniss. 2013. An Introduction to Australian Public Policy: Theory and Practice. 2nd ed. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
McPhearson, T., D. Haase, N. Kabisch, and Å. Gren. 2016a. Advancing Understanding of the Complex Nature of Urban Systems. Ecological Indicators 70: 566–573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.03.054.
McPhearson, T., S.T.A. Pickett, N.B. Grimm, J. Niemelä, M. Alberti, T. Elmqvist, C. Weber, D. Haase, J. Breuste, and S. Qureshi. 2016b. Advancing Urban Ecology Toward a Science of Cities. BioScience 66 (3): 198–212. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biw002.
MEA. 2003. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: A Framework for Assessment. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Mell, Ian C. 2012. Can You Tell a Green Field from a Cold Steel Rail? Examining the “Green” of Green Infrastructure Development. Local Environment 18 (2): 152–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.719019.
———. 2017. Green Infrastructure: Reflections on Past, Present and Future Praxis. Landscape Research 42 (2): 135–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2016.1250875.
MTPC. 1929. Plan of General Development. Edited by Metropolitan Town Planning Commission. Melbourne: Victorian Government, Metropolitan Town Planning Commission.
Nesshöver, Carsten, Timo Assmuth, Katherine N. Irvine, Graciela M. Rusch, Kerry A. Waylen, Ben Delbaere, Dagmar Haase, Lawrence Jones-Walters, Hans Keune, Eszter Kovacs, Kinga Krauze, Mart Külvik, Freddy Rey, Jiska van Dijk, Odd Inge Vistad, Mark E. Wilkinson, and Heidi Wittmer. 2017. The Science, Policy and Practice of Nature-Based Solutions: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. Science of the Total Environment 579: 1215–1227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.106.
Register, Richard. 2006. Ecocities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature. Revised ed. Gabriola, BC: New Society Publishers.
Rotmans, Jan, Rene Kemp, and Marjolein van Asselt. 2001. More Evolution than Revolution: Transition Management in Public Policy. Foresight 3 (1): 15–31.
Trundle, A., and D. McEvoy. 2016. Urban Greening, Human Health, and Wellbeing. In The Routledge Handbook of Urbanization and Global Environmental Change, ed. Karen C. Seto, William Solecki, and Corrie Griffith, 276–292. New York: Routledge.
Turner, Tom. 2005. Garden History: Philosophy and Design 2000 BC–2000 AD. London: Taylor and Francis.
van den Bosch, M., and Å. Ode Sang. 2017. Urban Natural Environments as Nature-Based Solutions for Improved Public Health—A Systematic Review of Reviews. Environmental Research 158: 373–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.05.040.
Wolfram, M., and N. Frantzeskaki. 2016. Cities and Systemic Change for Sustainability: Prevailing Epistemologies and an Emerging Research Agenda. Sustainability 8 (2): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8020144.
Xing, Y., P. Jones, and I. Donnison. 2017. Characterisation of Nature-Based Solutions for the Built Environment. Sustainability (Switzerland) 9 (1): 149. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9010149.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bush, J., Hes, D. (2018). Urban Green Space in the Transition to the Eco-City: Policies, Multifunctionality and Narrative. In: Hes, D., Bush, J. (eds) Enabling Eco-Cities. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7320-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7320-5_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-7319-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7320-5
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)