Risk assessment concerning urban ecosystem disservices: The example of street trees in Berlin, Germany

Abstract Urban green infrastructure, including street trees, is thought to play an important role in providing urban ecosystem services (UES) such as carbon sequestration and air quality improvement. The concept of urban ecosystem disservices (UEDS) is comparably new in landscape ecology. Research into UEDS assessment is low compared to that of UES. This paper demonstrates an approach to assess the distribution of UEDS risks caused by street trees within the city of Berlin. The approach adapts concepts from urban ecosystem service and natural hazard and risk research to demonstrate the importance of including context-specific vulnerability indicators as additional information in the assessment of UEDS risks. A cluster analysis is carried out to recognize patterns in UEDS risk distribution throughout the city. The paper demonstrates, that using context indicators in addition to biophysical indicators supports the assessment of UEDS as part of the relationship between humans and the environment.