Publications

Colding, J.; Barthel, S. 2017. The Role of University Campuses in Reconnecting Humans to the Biosphere. Sustainability 9, no. 12: 2349

In this paper, we explore the potential for integrating university campuses in a global sustainability agenda for a closer reconnection of urban residents to the biosphere. This calls for a socio-cultural transition that allows universities and colleges to reconnect to the biosphere and become active stewards of the Earth System. Recognizing their pivotal role of fostering coming generations of humans, university campuses repr...

Colding, J., Barthel, S. 2017. An urban ecology critique on the “Smart City” model. Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume 164, 15 October 2017, Pages 95–101

The aim of this letter is to raise some critical concerns and gaps in the booming literature on Smart Cities; concerns that we think deserve greater attention from scientists, policy makers and urban planners. Using an urban ecology lens, we provide some reflections that need to forgo any wider-scale implementation of the Smart City-model with the goal to enhance urban sustainability. We discuss that the Smart City literature ...

Colding, J. 2015. Stärkt hållbarhet, sid 25-32 in Sju perspektiv på hållbar utveckling. Arbetsmaterial 2015:1, Uppdragsbeskrivning för forskar- och expertinsats i delprojekt Stärkt hållbarhet, programarbete för en ny RUFS. Tillväxt- och regionalplaneförvaltningen, Stockholms Läns Landsting.

Detta pm fokuserar till stora delar på resiliensbegreppet i en socialekologisk kontext. En allt större del av forskarsamhället i dag inser att de sociala och naturliga systemen är intimt sammankopplade i tid och rum (Norgaard 1994; Vitousek 1997; Adger 2000), och att människan i en allt högre grad påverkar biosfären, varför man kan betrakta de sociala, ekonomiska och ekologiska delsystemen som ett enda socialekologiskt system ...

Andersson, E., J. Colding 2014. Understanding how built urban form influences biodiversity. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 13, 221-226

This study seeks to contribute to a more complete understanding of how urban form influences biodiversity by investigating the effects of green area distribution and that of built form. We investigated breeding bird diversity in three types of housing development with approximately the same amount of tree cover. No significant differences in terms of bird communities were found between housing types in any of the survey perio...

Andersson E, Barthel S, Borgström S, Colding J, Elmqvist T, Folke C, Gren Å. 2014. Reconnecting cities to the biosphere: stewardship of green infrastructure and urban ecosystem services. Ambio 43(4):445-53. doi: 10.1007/s13280-014-0506-y

Within-city green infrastructure can offer opportunities and new contexts for people to become stewards of ecosystem services. We analyze cities as social–ecological systems, synthesize the literature, and provide examples from more than 15 years of research in the Stockholm urban region, Sweden. The social–ecological approach spans from investigating ecosystem properties to the social frameworks and personal values that driv...

Colding, J., Marcus, L., Barthel, S., Andersson, E., Gren, J. and Borgström, S. 2013. Ekosystemtjänsterna i Stockholmsregionen. Ett underlag för diskussion och planering. Tillväxt, miljö och regionplanering Rapport 2013:3. Regional Growth, Environment and Planning, Stockholm County Council.

Barthel, S., J. Colding, H. Erixon, S. Grahn, C. Kärsten, L. Marcus, J. Torsvall. 2013. Principles of Social-Ecological Urbanism - Case Study: Albano Campus, Stockholm. Trita-ARK Forskningspublikationer 2013:3

Barthel, S. Parker, J. Folke, C and Colding J. 2013. Urban Gardens-Pockets of Social-Ecological Memory. In Tidball, KG and ME Krasny (eds.) Greening in the red zone: Disaster, resilience, and urgent biophilia, Springer, ISBN 978-90-481-9946-4

It is well known that urban allotment gardens provide important ecosystem services. Their potential to act as sources of local resilience during times of crisis is less appreciated, despite the role they have played as areas of food security during times of crisis in history. Their ability to provide such relief, however, requires that the skills and knowledge needed for effective gardening can be transmitted over time and a...

Colding, J. and Barthel, S. (2013) The potential of ‘Urban Green Commons’ in the resilience building of cities. Ecological Economics 86, 156–166.

While cultural diversity is increasing in cities at a global level as a result of urbanization, biodiversity is decreasing with a subsequent loss of ecosystem services. It is clear that diversity plays a pivotal role in the resilience building of ecosystems; however, it is less clear what role cultural diversity plays in the resilience building of urban systems. In this paper we provide innovative insights on how common prope...

Colding, J., et al., Urban green commons: Insights on urban common property systems. Global Environ. Change (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.05.006

The aim of this paper is to shed new light on urban common property systems. We deal with urban commons in relation to urban green-space management, referring to them as urban green commons. Applying a property-rights analytic perspective, we synthesize information on urban green commons from three case-study regions in Sweden, Germany, and South Africa, and elaborate on their role for biodiversity conservation in urban setti...