IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2019i1p95-d300598.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The ‘GartenApp’: Assessing and Communicating the Ecological Potential of Private Gardens

Author

Listed:
  • Anne-Katrin Schneider

    (Landscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany)

  • Michael W. Strohbach

    (Landscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany)

  • Mario App

    (Landscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
    Institute of Biodiversity, Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany)

  • Boris Schröder

    (Landscape Ecology and Environmental Systems Analysis, Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
    Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, 14195 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

Private gardens make up large parts of urban green space. In contrast to public green spaces, planning and management is usually uncoordinated and independent of municipal planning and management strategies. Therefore, the potential for private gardens to provide ecosystem services and habitat and to function as corridors for wildlife is not fully utilized. In order to improve public knowledge on gardens, as well as provide individual gardeners with information on what they can contribute to enhance ecosystem services provision, we developed a GIS-based web application for the city of Braunschweig (Germany): the ‘GartenApp’ (garden app). Users of the app have to outline their garden on a web map and provide information on biodiversity related features and management practices. Finally, they are asked about observations of well recognizable species in their gardens. As an output, the gardeners are provided with an estimate of the ecosystem services their garden provides, with an evaluation of the biodiversity friendliness, customized advice on improving ecosystem services provision, and results from connectivity models that show gardeners the role of their garden in the green network of the city. In this paper, we describe the app architecture and show the first results from its application. We finish with a discussion on the potential of GIS-based web applications for urban sustainability, planning and conservation.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne-Katrin Schneider & Michael W. Strohbach & Mario App & Boris Schröder, 2019. "The ‘GartenApp’: Assessing and Communicating the Ecological Potential of Private Gardens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2019:i:1:p:95-:d:300598
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/95/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/95/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cláudia Reis & António Lopes, 2019. "Evaluating the Cooling Potential of Urban Green Spaces to Tackle Urban Climate Change in Lisbon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Goddard, Mark A. & Dougill, Andrew J. & Benton, Tim G., 2013. "Why garden for wildlife? Social and ecological drivers, motivations and barriers for biodiversity management in residential landscapes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 258-273.
    3. Maragno, Denis & Gaglio, Mattias & Robbi, Martina & Appiotti, Federica & Fano, Elisa Anna & Gissi, Elena, 2018. "Fine-scale analysis of urban flooding reduction from green infrastructure: An ecosystem services approach for the management of water flows," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 386(C), pages 1-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jaekyoung Kim & Junsuk Kang, 2020. "Analysis of Flood Damage in the Seoul Metropolitan Government Using Climate Change Scenarios and Mitigation Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-28, December.
    2. Ziang Cai & Mengmeng Gui & Rui Chen & Shan Wang & Dan Zhao & Peihao Peng & Juan Wang, 2024. "Identification and Prioritization of Thermal Environment Regulation Hotspots in Chengdu," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Eduardo Medeiros & Bernardo Valente & Ricardo Pinto & Miguel Sales Dias, 2023. "Using the Impact-WEB_GIS Platform to Assess the Impacts of Environmental Sustainability Public Policies in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Coisnon, Thomas & Rousselière, Damien & Rousselière, Samira, 2018. "Information on biodiversity and environmental behaviors: a European study of individual and institutional drivers to adopt sustainable gardening practices," Working Papers 272611, Institut National de la recherche Agronomique (INRA), Departement Sciences Sociales, Agriculture et Alimentation, Espace et Environnement (SAE2).
    5. Chunyu Chen & Linglan Bi & Kuanfan Zhu, 2021. "Study on Spatial-Temporal Change of Urban Green Space in Yangtze River Economic Belt and Its Driving Mechanism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-20, November.
    6. Jane Mills & Peter Gaskell & Julie Ingram & Janet Dwyer & Matt Reed & Christopher Short, 2017. "Engaging farmers in environmental management through a better understanding of behaviour," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(2), pages 283-299, June.
    7. Derk Jan Stobbelaar & Wim van der Knaap & Joop Spijker, 2021. "Greening the City: How to Get Rid of Garden Pavement! The ‘Steenbreek’ Program as a Dutch Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-30, March.
    8. Tianlin Zhai & Jing Wang & Ying Fang & Longyang Huang & Jingjing Liu & Chenchen Zhao, 2021. "Integrating Ecosystem Services Supply, Demand and Flow in Ecological Compensation: A Case Study of Carbon Sequestration Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    9. Jian Tian & Suiping Zeng & Jian Zeng & Feiyang Jiang, 2022. "Assessment of Supply and Demand of Regional Flood Regulation Ecosystem Services and Zoning Management in Response to Flood Disasters: A Case Study of Fujian Delta," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-23, December.
    10. Wenbo Cai & Wei Jiang & Hongyu Du & Ruishan Chen & Yongli Cai, 2021. "Assessing Ecosystem Services Supply-Demand (Mis)Matches for Differential City Management in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-22, July.
    11. Mara Ottoboni & Salvatore Eugenio Pappalardo & Massimo De Marchi & Fabrizio Ungaro, 2023. "Characterization and Mapping of Public and Private Green Areas in the Municipality of Forlì (NE Italy) Using High-Resolution Images," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Gaglio, M. & Aschonitis, V. & Pieretti, L. & Santos, L. & Gissi, E. & Castaldelli, G. & Fano, E.A., 2019. "Modelling past, present and future Ecosystem Services supply in a protected floodplain under land use and climate changes," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 403(C), pages 23-34.
    13. Mattia Bertin & Eugenia Vincenti, 2024. "Eco-Zip: Climate-Proofing an International Logistic Hub," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-20, March.
    14. Pia Minixhofer & Rosemarie Stangl, 2021. "Green Infrastructures and the Consideration of Their Soil-Related Ecosystem Services in Urban Areas—A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-21, March.
    15. Miguel Amado & Evelina Rodrigues & Francesca Poggi & Manuel Duarte Pinheiro & António Ribeiro Amado & Helder José, 2020. "Using Different Levels of Information in Planning Green Infrastructure in Luanda, Angola," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-26, April.
    16. Peng Ren & Xinxin Zhang & Haoyan Liang & Qinglin Meng, 2019. "Assessing the Impact of Land Cover Changes on Surface Urban Heat Islands with High-Spatial-Resolution Imagery on a Local Scale: Workflow and Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-24, September.
    17. Xiao Ouyang & Zhenbo Wang & Xiang Zhu, 2019. "Construction of the Ecological Security Pattern of Urban Agglomeration under the Framework of Supply and Demand of Ecosystem Services Using Bayesian Network Machine Learning: Case Study of the Changsh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-16, November.
    18. Ryohei Ogawa & Ye Zhang & Vouchlay Theng & Zhongyu Guo & Manna Wang & Chihiro Yoshimura, 2023. "Capacity Assessment of Urban Green Space for Mitigating Combined Sewer Overflows in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, April.
    19. Dennis, M. & James, P., 2018. "Urban Social-ecological Innovation: Implications for Adaptive Natural Resource Management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 153-164.
    20. Wenjing Wang & Tong Wu & Yuanzheng Li & Hua Zheng & Zhiyun Ouyang, 2021. "Matching Ecosystem Services Supply and Demand through Land Use Optimization: A Study of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Megacity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-15, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2019:i:1:p:95-:d:300598. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.