Prospects of use of ecosystem services for estimation of scenarios of urban development

• Main Authors: V V Erokhova, V I Vasenev
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2018-12-01
• Series: RUDN Journal of Agronomy and Animal Industries
• Subjects: урбанизация; экосистемные сервисы; город; оценочный подход; устойчивое развитие; городское сельское хозяйство; городские фермы
• Online Access: http://journals.rudn.ru/agronomy/article/view/18684

One of the main trends in changing existing land use is the urbanization process [2]. Since any change bears both positive aspects and negative aspects, an approach is needed to evaluate the various scenarios of this process. Advantages and advantages include the development of infrastructure and the emergence of various social organizations, the development of new projects for cultural leisure and recreation. To the problems of urbanization is the deterioration of the ecological characteristics of urbanized territories, the migration of the population becomes unregulated, the depletion of forest resources, the degradation of the fertility of soils and their functions in general. Anthropogenic impact on territories subject to land use change affects the benefits derived from ecosystems, namely ecosystem services. The main problem of changing the type of land use, and, as a consequence of the volume of ecosystem services, is the lack of a structured methodology for conducting research, in order to forecast such development scenarios that conserve and increase the benefits of ecosystems. This article provides an overview of the literature sources that reflect the problem posed, examines the main categories of ecosystem services, provides approaches to the assessment of soil characteristics from the point of view of ecosystem services, and suggests a methodology for assessing the example of the village of Ryzhovo, TiANAO, Moscow. The article provides the rationale for developing the principles of urban farming, based on the idea of which is the preservation and improvement of soil characteristics. Also, basic methods for assessing the various ecosystem services are applied, both in the overall assessment of services for urban areas and for assessing the land on which the construction of urban farming facilities is planned. The principle of the choice of territories for the organization of urban agriculture is shown, based on an analysis of existing urbanization trends.