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Ecosystem Services of Ecological Infrastructure and Quality of Life: Contributions to the Analysis of the Sustainability of the Urban and Peri-urban Area of Mar del Plata, Argentina

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Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

Existing green areas in cities generate multiple benefits on the quality of life of their inhabitants that, from a socio-ecological perspective, can be interpreted in terms of urban ecosystem services. The provision of this type of services contributes to enhance the resilience of cities, which is crucial to achieving sustainability goals. Within this framework, the main objective of this chapter is to analyze, in the first instance, some ecosystem services provided by urban green areas and their impact on quality of life, taking the city of Mar del Plata (Argentina) as a case study. In particular, and in order to contribute to the overall objective, the work aims to assess the availability of green areas and vegetation cover in the study area, and to analyze the temperature regulation ecosystem service provided by these structures, and how some of their physical attributes could relate to the provision of cultural ecosystem services, based on objective dimensions of quality of life. For that purpose, a set of environmental indicators was used, which helped exemplify some questions related to the provision of such services in the study area. This approach would help to rethink areas, incorporating both their ability to regulate natural processes, as well as issues such as equity, environmental justice and aesthetic values, in order to generate synergies that allow to increase the positive impact that these spaces have on the quality of life of people.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Gathered under the concept of ecological infrastructure (EI).

  2. 2.

    The provision of cultural ES includes both objective and subjective dimensions of quality of life (Celemín et al. 2015). However, in the present research progress was made in the analysis of cultural services that can be objectively evaluated.

  3. 3.

    The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2003, 2005) was an initiative of the United Nations that convened natural and social scientists from different parts of the world in order to learn about the state and trends of ecosystem deterioration. To this end, a conceptual framework was developed that included, among others, the definition of ES, a form of classification of these and a scheme that relates them to different components of human well-being.

  4. 4.

    These proposals refer to a recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) according to which cities should have a minimum of 9 or 10 m2 of green area per capita with an ideal value of 15 m2. However, there is no official WHO document to support it.

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Mujica, C.M., Karis, C.M. (2021). Ecosystem Services of Ecological Infrastructure and Quality of Life: Contributions to the Analysis of the Sustainability of the Urban and Peri-urban Area of Mar del Plata, Argentina. In: Martinez, J., Mikkelsen, C.A., Phillips, R. (eds) Handbook of Quality of Life and Sustainability. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50540-0_21

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