Climate Regulation by Diverse Urban Green Spaces: Risks and Opportunities Related to Climate and Land Use Change

Abstract

Climate regulation provided by urban trees and green spaces is one of the main ecosystem services for urban areas. Urban green spaces are increasingly threatened by urbanization, and changing temperatures and precipitation due to climate change might impair the ability of trees to cool their surroundings. Thus urban planning is faced with the challenge of improving climate regulation in the face of urbanization and climate change. How should the urban green spaces be designed to meet this challenge? Does climate regulation improve with higher tree diversity, or is a single tree species sufficient?