Urban Green Infrastructure for Coping with Climate Extremes in Holguín: Ecological Engineering Solutions in the Cuban Context

Abstract

Nature can make important contributions to the mitigation of climate extremes through urban green infrastructure (UGI) as of nature-based solutions (NbS). Ecosystem-related planning methodologies are a comprehensive approach to foster sustainable development. Moreover, NbS contribute to land recycling and soil restoration, as well as wastewater purification and disaster risk reduction. In the frame of sustainable urbanization, NbS may support the water cycle restoration on all catchment scales, as well as the improvement of water quality. In addition, NbS generate further additional benefits like ecosystem services and can be considered more cost-effective on the long term. The present contribution illustrates the options for the development of tailored UGI in the urban realm through a showcase from Holguín (Cuba) and the estimation of the respective ecosystem services net benefits using the i-Tree software. Here, beside the development of an UGI potential map, three pilot sites are investigated to apply ecological engineering solutions.