Landscape Units for Ecological Infrastructure Planning in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas: A Case Study of a Medium-Sized Latin American City

Abstract

Planning an ecological infrastructure (EI) network requires defining its components and assessing the ecosystem services (ES) it provides. In this context, classifying the landscape into units facilitates information integration and serves as a spatial reference framework for analyzing its structure, organization, and functioning. This study aims to delineate landscape units in the urban and peri-urban areas of a medium-sized Latin American city to support EI planning and the conservation of ES, with a particular focus on cultural services. Using Mar del Plata, Argentina, as a case study?where cultural ES have been previously analyzed from different perspectives?this research identifies landscape units based on an assessment of EI and its components, evaluating each unit?s status concerning cultural ES. The results indicate that landscape units differ in the cultural ES they provide, as well as in user activities and perceived needs, such as vegetation, safety, and accessibility. The integration of spatial data from multiple sources supports the development of guidelines and recommendations to enhance EI across different landscape units. These findings are expected to provide valuable information for local decision making, while the proposed approach can be transferred to other cities.