Well-being in urban environments: the use of ecosystem services as a tool towards sustainable urban planning

Well-being in urban environments: the use of ecosystem services as a tool towards sustainable urban planning Proposal for a four-year research programme in a nutshell: The rationale of the proposal builds upon the evident socio-ecological problems stemming from the current trend of consolidation and densification of city structure to cut carbon emissions. This ideology will cause conflicting interests between various urban land uses the most prominent consequence being the loss of urban green space and the multitude of ecosystem services it provides at the expense of e.g. dense housing structure. We aim to investigate the importance of urban green space in mitigating various environmental problems caused by urbanization. Special emphasis is put on ecosystem services - their ability to improve human well-being and enhance the sustainability of urban areas in northern latitudes. Pivotal questions are: Considering the plans towards urban densification, are ecosystems services worth a penny in the urban planners agenda? Does the conceptual complexity of ecosystem service hinder its applicability to urban planning? 1. Background In our first application for Urban Research and Metropolitan Policy Cooperation Programme, we proposed a four-year research project Well-being in urban environments: the use of ecosystem services as a tool towards sustainable urban planning, where we applied and were granted funding for the first year (2011) of the programme. Then, in our consequent proposal we applied and were granted funding for the second year (2012) of the programme. As the first two years of our research have proceeded very successfully, we now propose continuation for our research project by presenting funding for the third year (2013) of the programme. The background of our proposal has been presented in length in the first application (Setälä et al. 2010) and is not thus repeated here. We do present here again our research objectives, which have mostly remained the same with some minor updates, our research methods, which have been updated and revised according to the experiences and results gained during the first two years of the programme. In the Methods and Results -section we present our research findings achieved so far. The Novelty of the research is still valid and is repeated here. Performers and resources, schedule and budget of the project have been updated and are presented according to the requirements of the third year 2013. 2. Objectives The objectives of our research proposal fit well into, and complement the Thematic Research Areas described in the Call of the Urban Research and Metropolitan Policy Cooperation Programme. Our research questions fall under the Main Theme Living Environments and Urban Structure, and therein under the subtheme Urban 1

Environment and Effects of Climate Change, and therein specifically under the presented subcategories (i) Urban biodiversity and ecosystem services, (ii) Challenges of climate change, and (iii) Urban green space and health and well-being. Our overarching objective is to explore the potential of urban green areas, including their value and effectiveness, to provide ecosystem services that may help in mitigating the various environmental problems that global change (including climate and land-use change) bring about. Importantly, as many of the life-supporting ecosystem services actualize at a local scale and thereby cannot be imported, we manifest the importance of exploring ecosystem services at a local scale - e.g. within a district when air quality regulation services are concerned. Our specific objectives include: (i) to quantify (i.e., assess the amount of urban green space required to provide ecosystem services) and qualify (what types of urban green is desirable) those ecosystem services that play a crucial socio-ecological-economical role in cities. Special emphasis is put on urban air (air pollution removal, CO 2 sequestration) and hydrology (stormwater retention and purification). (ii) to produce tools that will help urban planners and decision-makers plan for more sustainable cities through placing a monetary value on some important ecosystem services in cities (i.e., exploring how the green capital produced by ecosystem services compares to, and trades off with other urban land-use targets). (iii) to examine the perceptions of urban residents, city officials and decision-makers with regards to ecosystem services provided by urban green areas, and technical solutions (such as underground pipe lines to manage urban runoff, i.e. stormwater pipe lines, smoke/air filtering systems etc.) commonly applied in environmental problem solving as compared to natural, ecosystem service-related ones (stormwater retention/purification structures, urban green as the filtering apparatus etc.). (iv) to advance a holistic approach of integrating ecological and social aspects in addressing issues of urbanization through active collaboration between ecologists, urban planners, decision-makers and the public. During the first and second year of the research programme such advancement has proceeded e.g. in the form of Urban Ecology Collaborative Work Group, where researchers of our project, as part of the Urban Ecosystems Research Group and Urban Ecology Research Group from the Univ. Helsinki, as well as environmental and planning officials of the cities of the Metropolitan Area and other relevant stakeholders such as Green Environment Association collaborate. This collaboration has during 2011 and 2012 included e.g. seminars on issues related to urban ecology and ecosystem services related issues, targeted to urban planners, managers, decision-makers and other stakeholders. Such training seminars focus on contemporary problems and conflicts in urban development, making use of the latest scientific knowledge. More such events will follow in 2013. Educational activities will be developed with the EU project UrbanEnviro that is coordinated by the Lahti University Consortium, and are also related to the Master s Degree Programme in Multidisciplinary Studies on Urban Environmental Issues (MURE) and Helsinki Summer School 2013. 2

The objectives build on our previous work and on the literature review (completed as a prestudy in 2010 by the funding of Urban Research and Metropolitan Policy Cooperation Programme), in which the impacts of consolidation of urban structure and ecosystem services were focused (Theme Group Living Environment and Urban Structure ; Yli-Pelkonen 2011). 3. Methods and results from 2011-2012 Three types of ecosystem services have been selected for detailed investigation: the ability of urban green space to (i) sequester carbon, (ii) remove air pollutants and (iii) reduce the amount of stormwater and improve its the quality. These studies are performed in the cities of Lahti, Helsinki and Vantaa (with Espoo being optional in the future). The research is divided into three, yet mutually inclusive parts: (1) Empirical studies on ecosystem services (2) Monetary valuation of ecosystem services (3) Estimation of sociological aspects of ecosystem services and urban planning 3.1. Empirical data Field data on ecosystem services are collected at (i) selected park areas, (ii) selected air quality measurement sites, and (iii) the two existing urban LTSER sites and selected case study areas in Lahti and Helsinki. Carbon sequestration and storage (i): During the first two years (2011 and 2012) the study of estimating the carbon sequestration and storage potential of urban parks in Helsinki has proceeded in collaboration with the City of Helsinki (Public Works Department, Juha Raisio). The City of Helsinki has previously calculated the carbon sequestration and storage potential of their urban forests, but estimating the similar potential of urban parks has been challenging due to their variability in vegetation cover and species composition. Partial vegetation sampling on randomly selected parks and park patches was done in Autumn 2011 by Susanna Turunen (MSc thesis work), and the analysis and writing her thesis has proceeded in 2012. A research paper will be written about this work after the MSc thesis is finalized. A similar study was done in Lahti where the ability of urban forests and city parks to sequester and store carbon was estimated as an end product of a 9 credit point Master s degree course. After consulting with the internationally renowned urban ecosystem service analyst Dr. David Nowak (in March 2011), we will continue with the carbon topic using the most recent model developed by Dr. Nowak. We consider that it is essentially important to evaluate the ability of urban green to sequester and store CO 2 because the idea of the ongoing city consolidation largely stems from the need to cut CO 2 emission by traffic. A relevant question therefore is: does urban vegetation have the potential to reduce CO 2 in the air? Air pollutant removal (ii): 3

Results so far from 2011 and 2012 During the first two years (2011 and 2012) the ability of urban green areas to remove air pollutants, harmful to human health, was studied using passive samplers and active monitors. Dry-deposition passive-samplers were placed under tree canopies in tree-covered park areas and in adjacent treeless open areas in the cities of Helsinki and Lahti. The pollutants measured were nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), a selection of typical anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particle deposition and gaseous polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The first phase of measurements was done during two seasons: August-September 2011 (leaf period, from here on called August) and March-April 2012 (leafless period, from here on called March) when twenty sites, 10 in Helsinki and 10 in Lahti (Fig. 1), were established at the perimeters of roads with moderate to heavy traffic flows. Each site consisted of a pair of sampling units: one each in an open, treeless area and tree-covered area totaling 40 sampling units. An additional study was conducted in June 2012 (summer, leaf period) to measure short-term particulate concentrations (PM 2.5, PM 10 ) using active monitors. Five of the ten previously measured sites in the city of Lahti were selected, sampling again in the tree-covered and open areas with three repeated 1-hour measurements. Figure 1. Location of the study sites in Helsinki (left panel) and Lahti (right panel). Within each site (displayed as circle) air quality was measured in open and tree-covered area. Site number 20 in Helsinki was situated 8.8 km to the NE from site 19. As the concentrations of each air pollutant both in the tree-covered and open areas followed mostly the same pattern in Helsinki and Lahti during the two sampling seasons, the results for each pollutant from the two cities are presented as pooled values in Fig. 2, which shows a decrease in air contaminant (NO 2, TVOCs and particle deposition) concentrations in the treecovered areas as compared to the open areas. PAH results, which surprisingly showed generally much higher concentrations of PAHs in tree-covered areas than in open areas, are still under work and will be presented separately in the future after an additional PAH study to develop the understanding of the results so far (see planned studies for 2013 here, page 7). It 4

is worth noticing that neither trees or other vegetation produce PAHs, indicating that the PAHs were generates elsewhere. Mean NO 2 concentrations were slightly, but not significantly, lower in the tree-covered area compared to the open area, similar between the two seasons (Fig. 2a), and somewhat higher in Helsinki than in Lahti (results not shown). Concentrations of total TVOCs in August were notably but insignificantly lower in the tree-covered areas in both cities, but for the combined data the reduction (19.1 %) was statistically significant (p = 0.035; Fig. 2b). Yet in March the pattern was different between the cities: in Lahti there was again notable but insignificant reduction in TVOC, while in Helsinki the concentrations were notably but insignificantly higher in tree-covered areas. Concentrations of TVOCs were higher in Lahti (results not shown), and in both cities TVOCs were ca. three times higher in March than in August. As for particle deposition, differences between the open and tree-covered areas were more apparent than for the gaseous pollutants. The deposition rate of particles were, on average, 36.1% (p < 0.001) and 40.1% (p = 0.006) lower under tree canopies than in open areas in August and March, respectively (Fig. 2c). Particle deposition levels were over three times higher in winter than in summer (Fig. 2c) with no differences between the two cities investigated (results not shown). In August none of the vegetation properties measured (canopy closure, number of trees, size of the trees, number of conifers, understorey density) correlated significantly with the change (i.e., improvement) of air quality at the tree-covered sampling units. In March the number of large trees explained (R 2 = 0.319, p = 0.018) air quality improvement in terms of particle deposition. p = 0.085 Figure 2. Concentration (mean ± SD; n = 20) of NO 2 (a), total VOCs (b) and particle deposition (c; mass of airborne particles deposited on the sampler) in open and tree-covered areas. Data from 5

Helsinki and Lahti are pooled so as to form two composite samples within each sampling season, and are corrected for the dilution effect caused by variation in distance from the road of the open area sampling units. The measured PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentrations using the active air samplers showed little differences between the open and tree-covered areas. Particle number concentration (PNC) was clearly higher in open than tree-covered sampling units at two sites, and showed higher temporal variation, especially in open areas. Wind speed was significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the tree-covered areas (0.3 m/s ± 0.46; mean ± SD) than in the open areas (1.43 m/s ± 0.53; mean ± SD). In this field study, urban green infrastructure proved to have some but insignificant influence on the removal of gaseous (NO 2, VOCs) and particulate matter originating from traffic. These findings are in contrast to model calculations and data obtained via active air monitoring, which commonly predict urban forest to have a significant role in air pollution removal. One of the most interesting findings in the current study was that the relative contribution of treecovered areas to affect air pollution concentrations did not differ between winter and summer. This challenges the common belief that foliage is largely responsible for air quality improvement in urban settings. It is possible that tree trunks and branches, especially when covered with snow, can trap some of the pollutants. The various unexpected observations in the current study, as well as the lack of mechanistic understanding of the factors controlling air pollutant removal by urban vegetation warrant further empirical field research. A research manuscript on this study has been submitted in August 2012 (Setälä et al., submitted) and the study will also produce a MSc thesis (Viljami Viippola) to be completed in 2012. In November 2011 Prof. Heikki Setälä and Dr. Vesa Yli-Pelkonen visited in USA, to familiarize with the ecosystem services research by the distinguished research teams in Ithaca (Cornell University, Prof. Tom Whitlow et al.), Washington DC (US Forest Service, Dr. Richard Pouyat), Baltimore (Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Kathy Szlavecz) and in Syracuse (US Forest Service, Dr. David Nowak). The visit was extremely fruitful and the experiences are being applied in our studies in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. In June 2012 Prof. Heikki Setälä and Dr. Vesa Yli-Pelkonen participated Urban Environmental Pollution conference in Amsterdam, where a paper on the air quality studies so far was presented and numerous useful international research contacts were gained. In 2012 we also established collaboration with Dr. Arto Pennanen (National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Environmental Health) who provided active monitors and his research expertise in the particle study in July 2012. Ongoing study in 2012 and planned studies and activities for 2013 Air pollutant removal by urban green is being further studied during summer/autumn 2012 by concentrating on studying air quality changes at variable distances from pollution sources (roads), with different vegetation types (urban tree-covered areas and open field areas). The first phase of this study was done in August-September 2012 (leaf period), when altogether 16 gradient measurement lines, each consisting of 5-6 sampling units (containing a set of 6

passive samplers for NO 2, VOCs and particle deposition) varying from 0 m to 100 m distance from the road, were set up in Helsinki, Vantaa and Lahti for seven weeks. During the third year of the programme (2013) we plan to conduct a second phase of this gradient study in March-April (leafless period) using the same gradient measurement lines as in Aug.-Sept. 2012 in order to get further information on the pollution removal during different seasons in northern conditions. The results from both summer/autumn 2012 and winter 2013 will then analyzed together, also in the light of our earlier findings in treecovered and open study areas. In 2013 we propose to bring Prof. Tom Whitlow (Cornell Univ., USA) to Finland with his portable dry deposition active monitor device mounted in a backpack and active measurements of (air particles of various size-classes) will be conducted on selected gradient measurement areas in May. Prof. Whitlow has ample experience on such measurements and his expertise and collaboration will be very important for our project. We will also aim at bringing Dr. Richard Pouyat (USDA Forest Service, USA), a world-leading urban soil and ecosystem ecologist, to Finland to collaborate with air quality and soil measurements, and planning future studies related to urban soils and ecosystem services. We also plan to shed more light on our peculiar, unexpected observation that PAH concentrations in urban parks/forests were many fold compared to those in the open, no-tree areas. We will do an additional PAH study to increase our understanding on the interaction between soil, vegetation and air related to PAH concentrations. MSc Viljami Viippola, will start his PhD research built on his MSc thesis work in this project and continue with the project. As we have so far measured only dry deposition, we will expand our study methods to include wet deposition analyses on the same gradient measurement areas in summer/autumn. This work is planned to take place in 2014. Moreover, we will expand our air pollution removal studies on green roofs, which are intensively studied in the HENVI-funded ENSURE project (where our research team is also involved). We plan to set up a similar research with passive samplers on green roofs of variable types and altitudes in the middle of city structure in Autumn 2012 and during 2013. We will compare our results with calculations by the UFORE model developed by Dr. David Nowak in the USA. To our understanding the UFORE model albeit widely applied worldwide cannot give accurate predictions on air quality variation due to its methodological short comings. By comparing the UFORE-based data (we will calculate this as well) and our on-site passive sampler data we hope to get interesting comparative data. Our goal in the future is to also link our studies to variable health aspects of the air pollution removal capacity of urban green (link to cultural ecosystem services). Urban hydrology/stormwater (iii): The status of HMA-LTSER (Helsinki Metropolitan Area Long Term Socio-Ecological Research site) was in 2007 given by an international 7

evaluation panel for urban areas in which our research team has started to study various questions related to urbanization. Briefly, in Lahti and Helsinki 3+3 urban catchment areas, differing in their intensity of land use (proportion of sealed surface, quantity and quality of urban green, type of housing, social infrastructure, traffic intensity etc.) were selected in 2008. Each catchment area has been equipped with a modern, fully automatic device to analyze stormwater quantity and quality (such as metal and nutrient concentrations). This work started in 2009 at the study sites, and has been continuing in 2011 and 2012. It has thus far become evident that the quantity of urban green often associated with the share of pervious soil surface has a clear influence on the quantity and quality of urban run-off water. The more urban parks, forest and lawns an urban catchment has, the less water escapes the system (mitigates flooding problems) and the better is its quality (groundwater and surface water improvement). We will continue the work on this to obtain complete, long-term between-year data series, but since enough funding for this comes from other research projects in 2013, we do not apply funding for this study part here for the third year (2013) of the programme. One paper on the topic is to be published soon (Krebs et al. 2012). Besides in HMA-LTSER catchments, stormwater issues have been and will be studied also on green roofs. The major objective is to find out the quantity and quality of runoff from various types of green roofs, both in experimental, constructed systems (Lahti) and in existing, real green roofs (Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa). The study started in summer 2011 as a part of the ENSURE project and in parallel with our Well-being in urban environments project and was continued in 2012. Our results show that green roofs can be effective in absorbing (retaining) rain water, especially when the bottom part of the green roof structure contains char coal (biochar). These studies will be expanded in 2013. 3.2. Monetary valuation The empirical data that we have successfully collected at the (i) park areas (CO 2 sequestration and storage), and (ii) LTSER catchment sites (stormwater) will serve as raw material for the calculation of monetary values. The work on this regarding (ii) has started in 2012. We plan to apply the following methodologies: Replacement cost method for Carbon sequestration and storage ability (i), where valuation methods may be based on energy savings due to reduced CO 2 concentrations and/or extrapolation of the energy tax set for producing a given amount of CO 2 (such as the Swedish Carbon tax). Avoided cost method for the Alleviation of stormwater-induced problems (iii), where the costs of building and managing conventional hard, technical structures in stormwater management (underground pipeline network etc.) are calculated. The work on estimating costs avoided related to the alleviation of stormwater-induced problems has proceeded in 2012 (MURE MSc thesis work, Sveta Silvennoinen), in collaboration with Dr. Marko Lindroos (UHEL, Dept. Economics & Management). In the valuation of the benefits of urban forests in sequestering/storing CO 2 -C we will also apply data deriving from the IMMU project (carried out by Aalto University/Lahti Applied 8

University, supported by the European Regional Funding) in Lahti (Reettä Jänis), and the forest carbon budget data by the Helsinki Public Works department (Nea Kielineva and Juha Raisio). 3.3. Estimation of sociological parameters The work with sociological parameters has been slightly reformulated and started in summer/autumn 2012. The consequent monetary valuation (3.2.) is still at an early phase, and sociological work on that will be started later on. The estimation of sociological parameters includes: (a) Urban residents perceptions of ecosystem services provided by local green areas. Here we study how the urban residents in two different areas in Lahti perceive ecosystem services that their local forests provide to them. We investigate the awareness of the residents on (i) how much and what kind of ecosystem services such green areas can provide, and (ii) how different management methods of the local forests affect the ecosystem services provision. Furthermore, we study (iii) what kind of impact the provision of ecological information (e.g. information on the ecosystem in question and related ecosystem services) has on how the residents see the local forests close to their homes and how they wish these forests to be managed. This study part has started in summer/autumn 2012, when a largescale questionnaire study (at least 1000 households targeted) is being planned and piloted by PhD student Kaisa Hauru and MSc student Hanna Eskelinen. Two study areas in Lahti will be selected and compared: Kiveriö residential area, where intensive forest management methods have been recently used, and another study area otherwise similar to Kiveriö, but with little or no forest management carried out in recent years. The questionnaires will be sent to the households in these two study areas in early January 2013 and the results will be analyzed in winter/spring 2013. In summer 2013 a small sample of residents living in these two areas will be interviewed in order to deepen the understanding of the perceptions of and attitudes toward the forest ecosystem services and preferred management options. Interviews will be analyzed in autumn 2013 and the study report will be finished by the end of 2013. (b) City residents, officials and decision-makers perceptions of the benefits of ecosystem services in alleviating the negative effects of urbanization. Provided that urban green areas can provide sufficient ecosystem services to alleviate stormwater and air quality problems in cities, will the residents, officials and decision makers, be amenable to the preservation of urban green areas at the expense of city consolidation and infilling? Once field data on these ecosystem services have been collected and monetary valuations (e.g. costs/benefits) on them have been made, information regarding the efficiency of urban green space in providing such ecosystem services is given to public, planners and decision-makers, and a Before and After Impact Study will be conducted with questionnaires to determine potential preference changes. A control group, without such information provision, will be used. Moreover, regarding the estimations of carbon sequestration and storage capacity and value, we will conduct an interview study on how this information as a part of carbon/energy balance calculations of cities will affect related municipal planning and decision-making. The 9

interview will be focused to urban planners. Interviews will be conducted in late spring / early summer (before the city offices close in June) and analyzed in autumn 2013. The study report will be finished by the end of 2013 (c) The willingness of professionals to incorporate ecosystem services approach and valuation in the cost-benefit analysis related to urban planning. This will be studied once tangible and alternative solutions related to studied regulation ecosystem services are provided in the engineering of the urban landscape. Studies on cultural ecosystem services, as in (a), benefiting residents well-being and good quality of life will be linked to these solutions (also related recent papers of Hauru et al. (2012) and Yli-Pelkonen (in press)). Professionals on the urban planning sector will be interviewed after providing them an information package of cost-benefit analysis resulting from our studies. Based on the analysis of the interview data we will show the potential benefits and obstacles regarding using such valuation data in urban planning. This study part will take place in 2014. 4. Novelty of the research The hitherto scarcely published data on the role of ecosystem services in improving human well-being and/or reducing economic costs in urban areas are based on model calculations using data from the literature as variables. The novelty proposed in this application lies in the use of current data to more precisely determine the ability of urban green of various sizes and qualities to reduce the quantity of urban-derived compounds (such as irritating air pollutants and CO 2, heavy metals and stormwater pollution). This renders a possibly more valid evaluation of a particular ecosystem service. For example, does it pay to have, e.g., a 1 ha urban park in the city centre, or is there a threshold in the percentage of green space in urban districts to reduce or even eliminate urban-derived compounds, via measured ecosystem services? This approach, in which urban ecosystem services are explicitly measured and their potential quantified using real data, is the first of its kind in Finland and, to our knowledge, the first of its kind in the world in which urban ecosystem services are explicitly measured and their potential quantified using real data. 5. Performers of the research and resources Our multidisciplinary research team is composed of scientist working with various urbanization-related aspects: Environmental ecology and socio-ecological studies: Prof. Heikki Setälä, Dr. Vesa Yli- Pelkonen, Dr. Kirsi Kuoppamäki, Viljami Viippola (MSc/PhD student), Kaisa Hauru (PhD student), Hanna Eskelinen (MSc student); UHEL, Dept. Environmental Sciences Urban health studies: Dr. Arto Pennanen (National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Environmental Health) Urban chemistry: Dr. Anna-Lea Rantalainen, Olga Honkonen (PhD Student): UHEL, Dept. Environmental Sciences Environmental Economy: Dr. Marko Lindroos; UHEL, Dept. Economics & Management 10

Stakeholder engagement: Representatives from the cities of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area are crucially important and are linked to the process. Resources: An already established LTSER field site network equipped with device for automatic environmental analyses, sets of dry deposition passive samplers, and portable dry deposition active monitors for air quality analyses. Other supporting resources are available from related ongoing ENSURE research project. The LTSER status given to the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, AlmaLab facilities (Lahti) and the UrbanEnviro project (educational support: funded by ESR Fund) provide resources for this study. There have already in 2011 and 2012 been three MSc students from the MURE Master s Programme working in this project and more such students will be recruited in the future. 6. Implementation schedule In our first application for Urban Research and Metropolitan Policy Cooperation Programme, we proposed a four-year research programme, 2011 being the first and 2012 the second year. The Table below shows the implemented research in 2011 and 2012 and the planned implementation schedule for the year 2013: Action 1 st year 2011 2 nd year 2012 3 rd year 2013 Empirical studies on ecosystem services in Helsinki + Vantaa + Lahti - CO 2 sequestration and storage measurements, start summer 2011 - Air pollutant removal measurements, start August 2011 - Extensive stormwater data collection, ongoing the whole year - CO 2 sequestration and storage, analysis and writing - Air pollutant removal measurements, continue (during winter and summer) - Extensive stormwater data collection, continues the whole year in Lahti and Helsinki, data analysis continues - CO 2 sequestration and storage, publication - Air pollutant removal measurements, continue (during winter and summer) - Extensive stormwater data collection, continues the whole year in Lahti and Helsinki, data analysis continues Monetary valuation Hydrology/stormwater valuation, start summer 2011 Hydrology/stormwater valuation, continues Hydrology/stormwater valuation, analysis, writing Valuation of CO 2 proceeds Sociological studies Research visits Conferences Stakeholder engagement November 2011 visit to USA (Setälä & Yli- Pelkonen) Perception study (3.3.a) starts June 2012 Urban Env. Pollution conf. in Amsterdam (Setälä & Yli-Pelkonen) ongoing ongoing ongoing Perception study (3.3.a) continues and (3.3.b) starts June 2013 Air Pollution conf. in Siena, Italy (Setälä & Yli- Pelkonen). Invited visitors (Whitlow and Pouyat) to Finland 7. Budget In our first application we proposed a four-year research programme with a budget totaling ca. 300 000. After a successful first two years (2011 and 2012), we now present funding for the third year of the programme (2013) using the kokonaiskustannusmalli : 11

Salaries: Dr. Vesa Yli-Pelkonen: 6 months = 17151 (empirical measurement of ecosystem services (ES), monetary valuation, assessment of socio-ecological linkages) PhD student Kaisa Hauru (MSc): 3 months = 6504 (socio-ecological aspects of ES) MSc students: 4 x 1 months = 6464 (air-quality, socio-ecological aspects of ES, monetary valuation) Henkilöstö ja yleiskustannukset yhteensä 106441 Analyses and services: Air-quality analyses: 13 500 Sociological analyses (questionnaire etc.): 3000 Travelling: 5200 : - Domestic travelling (500 ), - Conference trip (Setälä & Yli-Pelkonen; Siena, Italy, June 3-5: Air Pollution 2013-21st International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution (2000 ), - Other foreign trips (800 ) - Invitation of Prof. Tom Whitlow (USA) and Dr. Richard Pouyat (USA) to engage Finland-USA collaboration in Urban Ecosystem Ecology Research (incl. travel 1400 ), and accommodation (500 ). Palkat, YK, muut kustannukset yhteensä: 128141 Rahoitussuunnitelma 2013: Katumetro/rahoittajan osuus (80%) 102513 HY omarahoitusosuus (20%) 25268 Rahoitus yhteensä 128141 This proposal is linked to the Urban Research and Metropolitan Policy Cooperation Programme proposal by prof. Peter Clark, where Green Space Issues and the Metropolitan City 1990-2011 are being explored (especially their Infilling and domestic gardens part). Furthermore, the current proposal is partially linked to our HENVI (Helsinki University Centre for Environment) funded research programme ENSURE, especially related to the estimation of sociological parameters as well as the potential of green roofs in providing cities with ecosystem services. 8. References Krebs, G., Kokkonen, T., Valtanen, M., Koivusalo, H., Setälä, H. A high resolution SWMM application using genetic parameter optimization. Urban Water Journal. In press. Hauru K., Lehvävirta S., Korpela K & Kotze D.J. (2012) Closure of view to the urban matrix has positive effects on perceived restorativeness in urban forests in Helsinki, Finland. Landscape and Urban Planning 107: 361-369. Setälä H., et al. (2010) Proposal Well-being in urban environments: the use of ecosystem services as a tool towards sustainable urban planning for the Urban Research and Metropolitan Policy Cooperation Programme. Setälä H., Viippola V., Rantalainen A.-L., Pennanen A. & Yli-Pelkonen V. Urban vegetation has little influence on mitigating air pollution in northern conditions. Submitted manuscript. 12

Yli-Pelkonen V. (2011) Kaupunkirakenteen tiivistyminen ja ekosysteemipalvelut (Densification of urban structure and ecosystem services). In: Näkökulmia kaupunkirakenteen tiivistymiseen Helsingin seudulla. Aalto-yliopiston julkaisusarja CROSSOVER 7/2011, Aalto-yliopisto, Yhdyskuntasuunnittelun tutkimus- ja koulutuskeskus, Espoo, pp. 7-28 [in Finnish]. http://lib.tkk.fi/crossover/2011/isbn9789526043623.pdf Yli-Pelkonen V. Importance of recreational ecosystem services in Helsinki, Finland. Management of Environmental Quality. In press. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hakijan CV toimitettu edellisten hakemusten ohessa. 13