A framework for incorporating ecosystem connectivity into urban planning for resilient cities

Urban land-use planners are faced with competing and often conflicting demands for transportation, housing, safety and economic development but frequently lack the tools to integrate these with protecting environmental functions at the landscape level. Incorporating benefits from nature, or ecosystem services (ES), could help prioritize ecological connectivity, but ES are not often included in land-use planning because values are not readily available or lack credibility. However, failure to consider the benefits of ecosystem connectivity can result in increased fragmentation of habitats and ecological flows, especially in urban and urbanizing areas resulting in environmental inequities, loss of biodiversity and decreased human health. To address this we developed a novel, integrated framework, the Connectivity Services Framework (CSF), that combines the ES from four categories of ecological connectivity with benefit relevant indicators minimizing the need for monetary valuation of the ES. The CSF enables practitioners to integrate connectivity into urban planning via inclusive stakeholder engagement. It provides a method to identify and visualize multiple and overlapping benefits from connectivity management actions to aid in prioritizing initiatives. Unlike software tools that incorporate generalized ES values at a landscape level, the CSF guides a systematic approach to community-engaged land-use planning that prioritizes localized societal needs. We demonstrate application of the framework using two examples from Portland: 1) incorporating connectivity into Southwest Corridor Light Rail planning and 2) prioritizing Metro Parks and Nature’s projects that support multiple objectives of connectivity. The CSF can be used anywhere at any scale to facilitate land-use decisions resulting in more equitable and resilient cities.