Urban Allotment Gardens with Turf Reduce Biodiversity and Provide Limited Regulatory Ecosystem Services

Marta Melon (), Tomasz Dzieduszyński, Beata Gawryszewska, Maciej Lasocki, Adrian Hoppa, Arkadiusz Przybysz () and Piotr Sikorski
Additional contact information
Marta Melon: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Tomasz Dzieduszyński: Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Koszykowa 55, 00-659 Warsaw, Poland
Beata Gawryszewska: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Maciej Lasocki: Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Koszykowa 55, 00-659 Warsaw, Poland
Adrian Hoppa: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Arkadiusz Przybysz: Centre for Climate Research, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Piotr Sikorski: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-22

Abstract: Urban gardens, including family allotment gardens (FAGs) and community gardens (CGs), play an increasingly important role in urban resilience to climate change—particularly through the delivery of regulatory ecosystem services. They occupy as much as 2.6% of Warsaw’s land area and thus have a tangible impact on the entire metropolitan system. These gardens are used in different ways, and each use affects the magnitude of the provided ecosystem services. This preliminary study explores how different types of allotment garden uses affect biodiversity and ecosystem services, addressing a critical knowledge gap in the classification and ecological functioning of urban gardens. We surveyed 44 plots in Warsaw, categorizing them into five vegetation use types: turf, flower, vegetable, orchard, and abandoned. For each plot, we assessed the floristic diversity, vegetation structure (leaf area index, LAI), and six regulatory services: air and soil cooling, water retention, humidity regulation, PM 2.5 retention, and nectar provision. Flower gardens had the highest species diversity (Shannon index = 1.93), while turf gardens had the lowest (1.43) but the highest proportion of native species (92%). Abandoned plots stood out due to the densest vegetation (LAI = 4.93) and ecological distinctiveness. Principal component analysis showed that the selected ecosystem services explained 25% of the variation in vegetation types. We propose a use-based classification of urban gardens and highlight abandoned plots as a functionally unique and overlooked ecological category.

Keywords: urban gardens; ecosystem services; biodiversity; land use types; abandoned plots urban planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/6216/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/6216/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:6216-:d:1696367

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().