Description

Degree of physical (“structural”) connectivity between natural environments within a defined urban area.

Biodiversity is the measure of biological variety in the environment and it has an important role in functioning ecosystems services and health of environment and society. Biodiversity is an aspect of natural environment that is most directly affected by anthropogenic influence. City biodiversity is seen as an important aspect of sustainable and resilient urban development. The fragmentation of natural environments is a major threat to biodiversity as scattered and non-connected natural areas are much less efficient in preserving biodiversity than large and connected areas.

Scale as linked to D2.2 framework

• City
• Neighborhood

Data source [ link to data framework]

• Satellite/ map

Data needs

• Data on zones in natural or naturalized condition in the urban area of interest from, e.g., government agencies, municipalities, nature groups, universities, etc.
• Land use map

Expected Outputs

• Annual measurements
• Quantitative

Calculation methods

• To estimate fragmentation, natural areas are defined and then an estimation is made about their connections. A mesh indicator value is calculated. Natural areas are categorized into separate interconnected patches. The area of each patch is summed, squared and these squares are summed and divided by the total area of natural areas.
• 
• This index (in hectares) is a metric - mesh indicator - used in the indicator value.

Links and references

• Chan, L., Hillel, O., Elmqvist, T., Werner, P., Holman, N., Mader, A., & Calcaterra, E. (2014). User’s Manual on the Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity (also known as the City Biodiversity Index). Singapore: National Parks Board, Singapore.