Ecosystem Services Integration into Local Policies and Strategies in the City of Bologna: Analysis of the State of the Art and Recommendations for Future Development

The enhancement of the role of ecosystem services to guarantee the sustainable transformation of urban areas has been at the centre of sustainable development discussion for some years. Nevertheless, the integration of such concepts into local policies and strategies is still far from complete. In this chapter, first the issue of defining and classifying relevant ecosystem services for urban areas is presented, followed by a brief presentation of the case study analysed. The chapter presents an analysis of the integration of urban ecosystem services (UES) concepts into the City of Bologna’s urban planning, greening and climate policies. Even though the overall framework of UES is not explicitly mentioned in Bologna’s urban policies, as only the Climate Adaptation Plan clearly refers to it, several UES – mostly regulating and cultural services – have been included in the documents analysed including indicators, criteria and parameters to enhance them. However, an overall framework with clear targets and monitoring programme is currently missing, leaving great opportunities for the integration of UES concepts within the new City Master Plan.