Ecosystem services, smart technologies, planning support systems, and landscape design: A framework for optimizing the benefits of urban green space using smart technologies

Urban green spaces and natural areas are common objects of landscape design. These areas provide vital services to urban residents including climate and water regulation, disaster mitigation, and recreational opportunities (among other benefits). While contemporary landscape architects are well aware of the importance of these and other ecosystem services, their understanding of the ecological principles on which these services are based is limited and usually based on empirical or qualitative sources. Consequently, quantitative analysis including ecological processes and assessments on how ecosystem services are impacted by design decisions can be absent from typical landscape design work-flows. In this study, we propose a quantitative analytical framework based on ‘smart’ approaches that combine planning support systems, landscape stress analysis, and ecological modeling in support of landscape design and decision making. The analytical framework is tested on a potential community development project to illustrate how designers can benefit from easy access to such information via planning support system models.