Urban Ecosystem Services: Human Health and Well-Being

Amid fast-growing urban sprawls, the urban population is projected to reach 6.5 billion by 2050. This necessitates a conservation-oriented outlook for the future of urban ecosystems, with reference to global warming and human health concerns. Natural ecosystems in urban areas have significant climate adaptation capacities that are crucial to developing socio-ecological resilience to ensure the good health and well-being of urban residents. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for urban areas provide compelling evidence for supporting the development and implementation of a comprehensive urban resilience framework. This framework ensures urban sustainability by enhancing sociocultural security, generating economic benefits, and promoting the uninterrupted flow of ecosystem services (ES). There is a pressing need to develop integrated ecosystem management frameworks that assess urban risks, ecosystem health, and the impacts of the demand–supply gap in green spaces on human health and well-being. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of human health linkages with urban green spaces (UGS), ecosystem services, urban socio-ecological system dynamics, and the relevance of urban–rural gradients. It explores key scientific concepts of environmental neuroscience (ENS), biophilia, environmental affordances, and environmental constraints and their applicability in order to mainstream potential NbS options and opportunities in urban planning for the conservation of fast-depleting urban natural ecosystems in the Global South. With evidences and experiences from different countries across the world, the present chapter endorses and stresses the necessity of scaling up NbS for addressing urban stress and psychological benefits, along with diverse health risks, to develop resilient cities in the warming and fast-urbanizing world.