State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2013 Nov 6;10(11):5874-85. doi: 10.3390/ijerph10115874.
The concept of ecosystem health is a way to assess the holistic operations and development potential of urban ecosystems. Accelerated by the practical need for integrated ecosystem management, assessment of urban ecosystem health has been greatly developed and extensively applied in urban planning and management. Development is aimed at comprehensively evaluating the performance of urban ecosystems, identifying the limiting factors, and providing suggestions for urban regulation. The time has come for reviewing and establishing an instructional framework for urban ecosystem health assessment to shed light on certain essential issues of urban ecosystem health. Based on literature reviews and series of practice, a holistic framework of urban ecosystem health assessment is proposed. The framework covers the essential elements of urban ecosystem health and integrates three dimensions: theoretical foundation, assessment method, and practical application. Concrete assessment methods are also established, focusing on both external performance and internal metabolic processes. The practice of urban ecosystem health assessment in China is illustrated to briefly demonstrate the application of the established framework and methods. Some prospects are discussed for urban ecosystem health assessment and its application in urban planning and management.
生态系统健康的概念是评估城市生态系统整体运作和发展潜力的一种方法。由于对综合生态系统管理的实际需求的推动，城市生态系统健康评估得到了极大的发展，并广泛应用于城市规划和管理中。其目的是全面评估城市生态系统的性能，识别限制因素，并为城市调控提供建议。现在是时候回顾和建立城市生态系统健康评估的指导框架了，以阐明城市生态系统健康的某些基本问题。基于文献回顾和一系列实践，提出了一个城市生态系统健康评估的综合框架。该框架涵盖了城市生态系统健康的基本要素，并整合了三个维度：理论基础、评估方法和实际应用。还建立了具体的评估方法，既关注外部表现，又关注内部代谢过程。本文以中国的城市生态系统健康评估实践为例，简要说明了所建立框架和方法的应用。最后还讨论了城市生态系统健康评估及其在城市规划和管理中的应用的一些前景。
